Kurdish History Journal
Musa Anter (1920-1992), Kurdish Turkish poet, journalist, and political activist, was assassinated in Diyarbakır in 1992 — becoming a martyr of Kurdish cultural freedom in Turkey.
Read article →Nûredin Zaza (1919-1988) was a Kurdish Syrian politician, writer, and co-founder of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Syria who spent decades in exile advocating for Kurdish rights.
Read article →Dildar (1918-1948), born Yusuf Salih, was a Kurdish poet from Sulaymaniyah who wrote Ey Reqib — the Kurdish national anthem — before dying at just 30 years old, leaving an immortal legacy.
Read article →Ahmed Kuftaro (1915-2004) was a Kurdish Syrian religious leader who served as Grand Mufti of Syria for over 40 years and became one of the Muslim world's most prominent advocates for interfaith dialogue.
Read article →Khalid Bakdash (1912-1995) was a Kurdish Syrian politician who led the Syrian Communist Party for over 60 years and was the first communist ever elected to parliament in the Arab world.
Read article →Qedrîcan (1911-1972), born Kadri Cemilpaşa, was the most beloved Kurdish classical singer of the 20th century whose recordings of traditional Kurdish songs brought Kurdish music to international audiences.
Read article →Samand Siabandov (1909-1989) was a Kurdish Soviet actor, director, and cultural figure who pioneered Kurdish theatre and performing arts in the Soviet Caucasus, founding Kurdish dramatic culture in the USSR.
Read article →Qanate Kurdo (1909-1985) was a Kurdish Soviet scholar who produced the first comprehensive Kurdish grammar and dictionary, founding Kurdish linguistics as a modern academic discipline.
Read article →Heciyê Cindî (1908-1990) was a Kurdish scholar from the Soviet Caucasus who pioneered the systematic study and documentation of Kurdish folklore, oral literature, and ethnography in the 20th century.
Read article →Abdolqader Zahedi (1907-2005) was a Kurdish Iranian politician who participated in the politics of Iranian Kurdistan across one of the longest political careers of any Kurdish figure — nearly a century of life.
Read article →Osman Sabri (1905-1993) was a Kurdish Syrian politician and writer who co-founded the Kurdish Democratic Party of Syria in 1957 — the first organised Kurdish political party in Syria.
Read article →Karim Sanjabi (1905-1995) was a Kurdish Iranian politician who led the National Front of Iran and briefly served as Foreign Minister in 1979, resigning in protest at the direction of the Islamic Revolution.
Read article →Abdullah Goran (1904-1962), Kurdish poet from Sulaymaniyah, revolutionised Sorani poetry by introducing free verse and modern sensibility, earning him the title father of modern Kurdish poetry.
Read article →Leyla Bedir Khan (1903-1986) was a Kurdish princess from the Bedir Khan family who became a celebrated dancer, artist, and cultural ambassador for Kurdish culture in Europe, and a scholar of Kurdish language.
Read article →Cigerxwîn (1903-1984), pen name meaning bleeding heart, was the greatest Kurdish nationalist poet of the 20th century whose Kurmanji verse called his people to consciousness, freedom, and dignity across five decades.
Read article →Rafiq Hilmi (1898-1960) was a Kurdish poet, scholar, and political activist from Sulaymaniyah who pioneered modern Sorani Kurdish poetry and contributed to the development of Kurdish political consciousness in Iraq.
Read article →Husni al-Za'im (1897-1949) was a Kurdish Syrian general who staged the first military coup in Syrian history in March 1949, became president, and was overthrown and executed just 137 days later.
Read article →Arab Shamilov (1897-1978) was a Kurdish writer from the Caucasus who pioneered Kurdish-language literature in the Soviet Union, writing novels, plays, and short stories that gave Soviet Kurds a literary voice.
Read article →Ahmed Barzani (1896-1969) was the elder brother of Mustafa Barzani and spiritual leader of the Barzani clan who led multiple uprisings against the Iraqi state and was revered as a religious figure by his followers.
Read article →Nur Ali Elahi (1895-1974), Kurdish Ahl-e Haqq spiritual master from Kermanshah, was a Sufi mystic, Islamic jurist, and virtuoso of the tanbur whose teachings bridged Kurdish mysticism and universal spirituality.
Read article →Kamuran Alî Bedirxan (1895-1978), brother of Celadet Alî Bedirxan, was a Kurdish scholar and the founding voice of Kurdish radio broadcasting at the BBC and Radio Paris, reaching Kurds across the Middle East.
Read article →Gholamreza Rashid-Yasemi (1895-1951) was a Kurdish-Iranian scholar and poet who wrote Kurd va Peyvastegi-ye Nezhadi va Tarikhi-ye U — the first major modern history of the Kurdish people written in Persian.
Read article →Celadet Alî Bedirxan (1893-1951), Kurdish linguist and grandson of Bedir Khan Beg, created the Latin-based Bedirxani alphabet for Kurdish in 1932 — the standard script still used for Kurmanji today.
Read article →Ahmed Barzani (1896-1969) was a Kurdish religious leader and the elder brother of Mustafa Barzani who led the Barzani tribe through the turbulent early decades of Iraqi Kurdistan and guided the family's resistance.
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