Kurdish History Journal
Articles filed under Kurdish Icons.
Selahattin Demirtaş (born 1973), Kurdish Turkish politician and poet, co-chaired the HDP and ran twice for Turkey's presidency — imprisoned since 2016 in defiance of European Court of Human Rights orders for his release.
Read article →Amineh Kakabaveh (born 1975), Kurdish Iranian-Swedish politician and former Peshmerga fighter, served as a member of the Swedish Parliament — one of the most remarkable journeys from Kurdish armed struggle to European democracy.
Read article →Asya Abdullah (born 1967), Kurdish Syrian politician and PYD co-chair, was central to implementing Rojava's gender equality principles — co-leadership, women's councils, and the YPJ — in the autonomous administration.
Read article →Gültan Kışanak (born 1961), Kurdish Turkish politician, served as co-mayor of Diyarbakır — transforming the city culturally and politically — before being removed and imprisoned by the Turkish state in 2016.
Read article →Pervin Buldan (born 1965), Kurdish Turkish politician from Izmir, served as co-chair of Turkey's HDP — one of the most senior Kurdish women in Turkish political history and a tireless advocate for Kurdish and women's rights.
Read article →Barham Salih (born 1960), Kurdish Iraqi PUK politician and economist, served as President of Iraq 2018-2022 and Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region — one of the most internationally recognised Kurdish statesmen.
Read article →Zakia Hakki (born 1939), Kurdish Iraqi judge and politician, was the first woman to serve as a judge in Iraqi history and later one of the first female members of the Iraqi Governing Council after 2003.
Read article →Mala Bakhtiyar (born 1953), senior member of the PUK political bureau from Sulaymaniyah, has been one of the most influential political figures in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan across four decades.
Read article →Kosrat Rasul Ali (born 1950), Kurdish Iraqi PUK politician and Peshmerga commander, served as Vice President of the Kurdistan Region — a senior military and political figure in Iraqi Kurdish history.
Read article →Salih Muslim (born 1951), co-chair of the PYD (Democratic Union Party) of Syrian Kurdistan, was one of the key architects of the Rojava autonomous administration established during the Syrian civil war.
Read article →Abdulla Mohtadi (born 1947), Secretary-General of Komala (Kurdistan Organisation of the Communist Party of Iran), has led one of the most significant Kurdish leftist organisations for decades from Iraqi Kurdistan exile.
Read article →Sedigh Kamangar (born 1967), Kurdish Iranian teacher from Kurdistan Province, was sentenced to death then to 28 years in prison — one of the longest-serving political prisoners in Iran — for his Kurdish educational activism.
Read article →Fuad Hussein (born 1947), Kurdish Iraqi PUK politician and scholar, served as Iraq's Foreign Minister from 2020 — a senior Kurdish diplomat who was also Jalal Talabani's chief of staff for many years.
Read article →Latif Rashid (born 1944), Kurdish Iraqi PUK politician, became President of Iraq in October 2022 — the third Kurdish person to hold Iraq's highest office, succeeding Barham Salih.
Read article →Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat (1943-2021), Kurdish politician from Urfa, was a co-founder of Turkey's AKP party and served as its deputy chair — the most senior Kurd in Turkey's governing party for years.
Read article →Ahmet Türk (born 1942), Kurdish Turkish politician from Mardin, is the longest-serving and most respected Kurdish political figure in Turkey — a parliamentarian across multiple parties who has dedicated five decades to Kurdish democratic rights.
Read article →Tosinê Reşîd is a Kurdish Syrian poet and cultural figure from the Jazira region who has contributed to the Kurdish literary and cultural tradition in Syria and the Kurdish diaspora.
Read article →Eskerê Boyîk is a Kurdish Syrian poet from the Jazira region who has contributed to the Kurmanji Kurdish literary tradition in Syria — continuing the poetic legacy of Cigerxwîn and the Syrian Kurdish literary world.
Read article →Adel Karasholi (born 1936), Kurdish Syrian poet based in Leipzig, writes poetry in Arabic and German — one of the most celebrated Arab and Kurdish cultural figures in Germany and a bridge between East and West.
Read article →Yitzhak Mordechai (born 1944), Kurdish Israeli general and politician, served as Israel's Defence Minister (1996-1999) — one of the highest positions ever held by a person of Kurdish origin in the Israeli state.
Read article →Tahir Elçi (1966-2015), president of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, was shot dead while making a press statement about protecting a historic minaret — becoming a symbol of Kurdish legal advocacy and the quest for peace.
Read article →Abdulbaset Sieda (born 1956), Kurdish Syrian politician and academic, led the Syrian National Council in 2012 — becoming the first Kurd to lead a major Syrian opposition body during the Syrian civil war.
Read article →Tofy Mussivand (1943-2021), Kurdish Iranian-Canadian inventor and surgeon from Kermanshah, invented the mechanical heart pump that has saved thousands of cardiac patients worldwide — one of the great Kurdish scientific achievements.
Read article →Amir Hassanpour (1943-2017), Kurdish Iranian-Canadian scholar, wrote Nationalism and Language in Kurdistan — the foundational academic work on Kurdish language policy — and pioneered Kurdish media studies.
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