Who Is Asya Abdullah? Asya Abdullah is a Kurdish Syrian politician born in 1967 in Afrin in Syrian Kurdistan who served as co-chair of the PYD (Democratic Union Party) alongside Salih Muslim — the model of co-leadership (one man, one woman) that the party implements at all levels as an expression of its gender equality principles. She was central to implementing the gender equality principles of Rojava's autonomous administration — the mandatory co-leadership at every lev

Who Is Gültan Kışanak? Gültan Kışanak is a Kurdish Turkish politician born in 1961 who served as co-mayor of Diyarbakır from 2014 to 2016 — a period during which she led a significant cultural and political transformation of the city, including renaming streets, restoring Kurdish cultural institutions, and implementing progressive policies on gender equality and minority rights. She was removed from office by the Turkish government in 2016 and imprisoned on terrorism-relate

Who Is Pervin Buldan? Pervin Buldan is a Kurdish Turkish politician born in 1965 who served as co-chair of Turkey's Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) — one of the most senior positions in Kurdish political life in Turkey — and has been a consistent voice for Kurdish and women's rights across a long parliamentary career. She has served multiple terms as a member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and was one of the most prominent Kurdish female politicians in Turkish parli

Who Is Barham Salih? Barham Salih is a Kurdish Iraqi politician and economist born in 1960 in Sulaymaniyah who served as President of Iraq from October 2018 to October 2022 — the third Kurdish person to hold Iraq's highest office — and twice as Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He is one of the most internationally recognised Kurdish political figures and statesmen of his generation. He studied engineering and computer science in the UK and US and pursued a

Who Is Zakia Hakki? Zakia Hakki is a Kurdish Iraqi judge and politician born in 1939 in Kirkuk who made history as the first woman ever to serve as a judge in Iraq — a groundbreaking achievement in Iraqi legal history that placed her among the pioneers of women's professional advancement in the Arab world. She was appointed to the judiciary in the 1950s, making her achievement all the more remarkable for its era. After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, she was appointed

Who Is Mala Bakhtiyar? Mala Bakhtiyar is a Kurdish Iraqi politician born in 1953 in Sulaymaniyah who has been one of the most senior members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) political bureau across four decades. He is one of the most experienced and influential figures in the PUK's political leadership and has been involved in the party's key political decisions across the period from the armed struggle against Saddam Hussein through the establishment and developme

Who Is Kosrat Rasul Ali? Kosrat Rasul Ali is a Kurdish Iraqi politician and Peshmerga commander born in 1950 in Sulaymaniyah who served as Vice President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and was one of the most senior Peshmerga military commanders in the PUK. He played a significant role in the Kurdish military resistance to Saddam Hussein's regime and in the post-liberation politics of the Kurdistan Region. His career spans the decades of Kurdish armed struggle against Ba

Who Is Salih Muslim? Salih Muslim is a Kurdish Syrian politician born in 1951 in Kobanê — the city that became the symbol of Kurdish resistance to ISIS — who served as co-chair of the PYD (Democratic Union Party) and was one of the key architects of the Rojava autonomous administration established in northern Syria during the Syrian civil war. When Syrian government forces withdrew from Kurdish areas in 2012, the PYD under Salih Muslim's leadership established the autonom

Who Is Abdulla Mohtadi? Abdulla Mohtadi is a Kurdish Iranian politician born in 1947 who has served as Secretary-General of Komala — the Kurdistan Organisation of the Communist Party of Iran — for many years, making him one of the longest-serving leaders of a significant Kurdish political organisation. Komala was one of the most important Kurdish political-military organisations in Iran in the period following the 1979 revolution, fighting for Kurdish autonomy and leftist p

Who Is Sedigh Kamangar? Sedigh Kamangar is a Kurdish Iranian teacher and activist born in 1967 in Kurdistan Province who became one of Iran's longest-serving political prisoners — sentenced to death in 2008 for his Kurdish educational activism, with the sentence later commuted to 28 years in prison. He had been active in advocating for Kurdish-language education in Iran and was a member of various Kurdish cultural and political organisations. His case attracted significan

Who Is Fuad Hussein? Fuad Hussein is a Kurdish Iraqi politician and scholar born in 1947 in Khanaqin in Iraqi Kurdistan who has been a senior figure in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) for decades and currently serves as Iraq's Foreign Minister — appointed in 2020. He previously served as chief of staff to President Jalal Talabani and as chief of staff of the Kurdistan Region. He studied in Europe — including in Germany — and brings academic formation to his politic

Who Is Latif Rashid? Latif Rashid is a Kurdish Iraqi politician born in 1944 in Sulaymaniyah who became President of Iraq in October 2022 — the third Kurdish person to hold Iraq's highest office, after Jalal Talabani (2005-2014) and Fuad Masum (2014-2018) and Barham Salih (2018-2022). He is a senior figure in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and previously served as Iraq's Water Resources Minister from 2003 to 2010, managing one of Iraq's most critical resource port

Who Is Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat? Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat was a Kurdish politician born in 1943 who was a co-founder of Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) — the party that has governed Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since 2002 — and served as its deputy chair. He was the most senior Kurd in Turkey's governing AKP during its early years, representing the Kurdish community's participation in the Islamist conservative political movement rather than the secular Kurdi

Who Is Ahmet Türk? Ahmet Türk is a Kurdish Turkish politician born in 1942 in Mardin in southeastern Turkey who is the longest-serving and most respected Kurdish political figure in Turkey's democratic history. He has served as a member of the Turkish parliament across multiple successive Kurdish political parties — from HEP through DEP, HADEP, DEHAP, DTP, BDP, and HDP — as each was successively closed by the Turkish Constitutional Court on charges of separatism, only to be

Who Is Tosinê Reşîd? Tosinê Reşîd is a Kurdish Syrian poet and cultural figure from the Jazira region of Syrian Kurdistan who has contributed to the Kurdish literary and cultural tradition in Syria. He is part of the generation of Syrian Kurdish cultural workers who have maintained Kurdish cultural identity through the difficult conditions of Ba'ath rule and the subsequent Syrian civil war. Like Eskerê Boyîk and the tradition of Cigerxwîn before them, Syrian Kurdish cultu

Who Is Eskerê Boyîk? Eskerê Boyîk is a Kurdish Syrian poet from the Jazira region of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) who has contributed to the Kurmanji Kurdish literary tradition in Syria. He is part of the tradition of Kurdish poetry in Syria that was pioneered by Cigerxwîn and that has been maintained by generations of Syrian Kurdish poets working in Kurmanji. The Kurdish literary tradition in Syria — based primarily in the Jazira region of northeastern Syria and the Afrin r

Who Is Adel Karasholi? Adel Karasholi is a Kurdish Syrian poet born in 1936 in Damascus who has been based in Leipzig, Germany since 1960, where he has built a six-decade career as one of the most celebrated Arab-Kurdish cultural figures in Germany. He writes poetry in Arabic and German, translates between the two languages, and has been a leading figure in German-Arab cultural exchange for decades. His Kurdish background from Damascus — the city that also produced Khalid

Who Is Yitzhak Mordechai? Yitzhak Mordechai is a Kurdish Israeli general and politician born in 1944 in Zakho in Iraqi Kurdistan — a member of the ancient Kurdish Jewish community of Zakho that emigrated to Israel in the early 1950s. He rose through the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces to become a general, and subsequently served as Defence Minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His Zakho Kurdish Jewish background connects him to t

Who Is Tahir Elçi? Tahir Elçi was a Kurdish lawyer and human rights advocate born in 1966 in Cizre — the city that had also produced the classical poet Melayê Cizîrî and the politician Şerafettin Elçi — who served as president of the Diyarbakır Bar Association and was one of the most prominent Kurdish legal figures in Turkey. He was shot and killed on 28 November 2015 in Diyarbakır while making a press statement calling for the protection of the historic Four-Legged Minaret

Who Is Abdulbaset Sieda? Abdulbaset Sieda is a Kurdish Syrian politician and academic born in 1956 in Amouda in the Jazira region of Syrian Kurdistan who became the president of the Syrian National Council (SNC) in 2012 — the first Kurd to lead a major Syrian opposition body in the context of the Syrian civil war. He was based in Sweden before the Syrian revolution, where he pursued an academic career. When the Syrian uprising began in 2011 and the Syrian National Council