KURD CHARISMA
Mohammad Karim Khan Zand
Diplomat, Leader
Mohammad Karim Khan Zand (Persian: محمدکریم خان زند, romanized: Mohammad Karīm Khān-e Zand), better known as Karim Khan Zand (کریم خان زند), was the founder of the Zand Dynasty, ruling from 1751 to 1779. He ruled all of Iran (Persia) except for Khorasan. He also ruled over some Caucasian lands and occupied Basra for some years.
Sharaf al-Din Khan Bedlisi
Historian, author, penman
Sharaf al-Din Khan b. Shams al-Din b. Sharaf Beg Bedlisi (Kurdish: شەرەفخانی بەدلیسی, Şerefxanê Bedlîsî; Persian: شرفالدین خان بن شمسالدین بن شرف بیگ بدلیسی) (949-1012/1543-1603-04) was a medieval Kurdish emir and a politician from the Emirate of Bitlis.
Nizami Ganjavi
poet
Nizami Ganjavi (Persian: نظامی گنجوی, romanized: Niẓāmī Ganjavī, lit. 'Niẓāmī of Ganja') (1141–1209), Nizami Ganje'i, Nizami, or Nezāmi, whose formal name was Jamal ad-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās ibn-Yūsuf ibn-Zakkī, was a 12th-century Persian Sunni Muslim poet. Nezāmi is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, who brought a colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic. His heritage is widely appreciated and shared by Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, the Kurdistan region and Tajikistan.
Mustafa Yamulki
Office manager
Mustafa Yamulki (25 January 1866 – 25 May 1936), also known as "Nemrud" Mustafa Pasha, was a Kurdish military officer chairman of the Ottoman military court, minister for education in the Kingdom of Kurdistan and a journalist. Mustafa was born in the city of Sulaimaniyah which was then in the Mosul Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.
Abdullah Cevdet
ِDiplomat
Abdullah Cevdet (Ottoman Turkish: عبدالله جودت; Turkish: Abdullah Cevdet Karlıdağ; 9 September 1869 – 29 November 1932) was an Ottoman-born Turkish intellectual and physician of ethnic Kurdish origin. He was one of the founders of the Committee of Union and Progress. In 1908, he turned against the Committee of Union and Progress and joined the Democratic Party which merged with the Freedom and Accord Party in 1911. He was also a poet, translator, radical free-thinker, and an ideologist of the Young Turks until 1908.
Simko Shikak
Diplomat
Simko Shikak (also known as "Simitquh"; born Ismail Agha Shikak 1887 – 1930) was a Kurdish chieftain of the Shakak tribe. He was born into a prominent Kurdish feudal family based in Chihriq castle located near the Baranduz river in the Urmia region of northwestern Iran. By 1920, parts of Iranian Azerbaijan located west of Lake Urmia were under his control.
Ihsan Nuri
Diplomat, Leader
Ihsan Nuri, also known as Ihsan Nuri Pasha (Kurdish: Îhsan Nûrî Paşa) (1892 or 1893, Bitlis – 25 March 1976, Tehran) was a Kurdish soldier and politician, former officer of the Ottoman and Turkish Army, and one of the leaders of the Ararat rebellion as the generalissimo of the Kurdish National Forces.
Qazi Muhammad
Diplomat, Leader
Qazi Muhammad (Kurdish: قازی محەممەد / Qazî Mihemed) (1 May 1893 – 29 March 1947) was an Iranian Kurdish leader who founded the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and headed the short-lived Republic of Mahabad. He was hanged by the Pahlavi dynasty for treason.
Nur Ali Elahi
author، penman
Nur Ali Elahi (or Ostad Elahi var. Nūr ‘Alī Ilāhī, Nour Ali Elahi, Persian: نورعلی الهی - استاد الهی) (September 11, 1895 – October 19, 1974) was an Iranian philosopher, jurist and musician of Kurdish descent whose work investigated the metaphysical dimension of human beings.
Mustafa Barzani
Leader
Mustafa Barzani (Kurdish: مستهفا بارزانی, romanized: Mistefa Barzanî) (March 14, 1903 – March 1, 1979) also known as Mullah Mustafa, was a Kurdish nationalist leader, and one of the most prominent political figures in modern Kurdish politics. In 1946, he was chosen as the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to lead the Kurdish revolution against Iraqi regimes, although at times he also allied himself to the Iranian government. Barzani was the primary political and military leader of the Kurdish revolution until his death in March 1979. He led campaigns of armed struggle against both the Iraqi and Iranian governments.
Husni al-Za'im
Diplomat
Husni al-Za'im (11 May 1897 – 14 August 1949) (Arabic: حسني الزعيم) was a Syrian military officer and politician. Husni al-Za'im, whose family was of Kurdish ancestry, had been an officer in the Ottoman Army. After France instituted its colonial mandate over Syria after the First World War, he became an officer in the French Army. After Syria's independence in 1946 he was made Chief of Staff, and was ordered to lead the Syrian Army into war with the Israeli Army in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The defeat of the Arab league forces in that war shook Syria and undermined confidence in the country's chaotic parliamentary democracy, allowing him to seize power in 1949. However, his reign as head of state would be brief: he was executed within a few months.
Mahmud Barzanji
Diplomat, Leader
Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji (Kurdish: شێخ مهحموود بەرزنجی) or Mahmud Hafid Zadeh (1878 – October 9, 1956) was the leader of a series of Kurdish uprisings against the British Mandate of Iraq. He was sheikh of a Qadiriyah Sufi family of the Barzanji clan from the city of Sulaymaniyah, which is now in Iraqi Kurdistan. He was named King of Kurdistan during several of these uprisings.
Jalal Talabani
Diplomat, Leader
Jalal Talabani (Arabic: جلال طالباني Jalāl Ṭālabānī; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the 8th President of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, as well as the President of the Governing Council of Iraq. He was the first non-Arab president of Iraq. He is known as Mam Jalal (uncle Jalal) in the Middle East. The surname Talabani means 'scholar' in native Kurdish.
Masoud Barzani
Diplomat, Leader
Masoud Barzani (Kurdish: مەسعوود بارزانی, romanized: Mesûd Barzanî; born 16 August 1946) is a Kurdish politician who was President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region from 2005 to 2017. However, Barzani’s post sparked controversy, as his mandate expired 19 August 2015. He is also leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979.
Abdullah Ocalan
Diplomat, Leader, Historian, Author, Penman
Abdullah Öcalan (/ˈoʊdʒəlɑːn/ OH-jə-lahn; Turkish: [œdʒaɫan]; born about 1947), also known as Apo (short for both Abdullah and "uncle" in Kurdish), is a Kurdish leader and one of the founding members of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Abdullah Öcalan (/ˈoʊdʒəlɑːn/ OH-jə-lahn; Turkish: [œdʒaɫan]; born about 1947), also known as Apo (short for both Abdullah and "uncle" in Kurdish), is a Kurdish leader and one of the founding members of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Salih Muslim Muhammad
Diplomat
Salih Muslim Muhammad (Kurmanji Kurdish: Salih Muslim Mihemed, Arabic: صالح مسلم محمد, romanized: Ṣāliḥ Muslim Muḥammad) is the former co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the driving power behind the de facto autonomous Kurdish-controlled region of Rojava in Northern Syria. As the deputy coordinator of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, he is also the most prominent member of the Kurdish opposition in the Syrian Civil War.
Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou
Diplomat, Leader, Historian, Author, Penman
Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou (Persian: عبدالرحمان قاسملو; 22 December 1930 – 13 July 1989) was an Iranian politician of Kurdish descent. Ghassemlou was the leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) from 1973 until his assassination in 1989 by individuals suspected of being agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Shahram Nazeri
Singer
Shahram Nazeri (Persian: شهرام ناظری; Persian pronunciation: [ʃæhˈɾɒːm nɒːzɛˈɾiː]; also Romanized as Shahrām Nāzeri; born 18 February 1950) is a contemporary Iranian tenor from Kermanshah who sings classical music. He has been accompanied by some of the authorities of Iranian traditional music such as Jalil Shahnaz, Hossein Alizadeh, Jalal Zolfonoun and Faramarz Payvar. He has also worked with his son Hafez Nazeri, a composer.
Leyla Zana
Diplomat
Leyla Zana (born 3 May 1961), is a Kurdish politician, who was imprisoned for 10 years for her political activism, which was deemed by the Turkish courts to be against the unity of the country. When she was a member of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, she was banned from joining any political party for five years with the Constitutional Court's decision to ban this party. She has been elected as an independent member of parliament for Diyarbakır by the support of Peace and Democracy Party.
Widad Akreyi
Diplomat, Active Human Rights
Widad Akreyi is a health expert and human rights activist of Kurdish ancestry. She has co-founded the human rights organization Defend International and is the author of several books about both health issues and human rights.
Bahman Ghobadi
Cinema Director
Bahman Ghobadi (Persian: بهمن قبادی; Kurdish: بههمهن قوبادی / Behmen Qubadî) is an Iranian Kurdish film director, producer and writer. He was born on February 1, 1969 in Baneh, Kurdistan province. Ghobadi belongs to the "new wave" of Iranian cinema.
Hamdi Ulukaya
Merchant
Hamdi Ulukaya (born c. 26 October 1972) is a Turkish-Kurdish businessman, entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, based in the United States. Ulukaya is the owner, founder, chairman, and CEO of Chobani, the #1-selling strained yogurt (Greek-style) brand in the US. He established production facilities first in upstate New York, and since then has expanded. As of June 2018, Ulukaya's net worth is US$1.7 billion. On April 26, 2016, Ulukaya announced to his employees that he would be giving them 10% of the shares in Chobani.
Nali
Poet, Author
Nalî (Kurdish: نالی), also known as Mallah Xidir Ehmed Şawaysî Mîkayalî (Kurdish: مەلا خدر (خضر) کوڕی ئەحمەدی شاوەیسی ئاڵی بەگی میکایلی) (1800 Shahrizor - 1856 in Constantinople), was born in Khakoo Khol, a village of Sulaymani province. He was a Kurdish polymath; a poet, linguist, translator and mathematician, who is considered to be one of the greatest Kurdish poets in the Kurdish classical period.
Abdul Karim Mudarris
Author, spiritual
Mala Abdul Karim Mudarris or Shaykh Abdul Karim Mudarris (1901–2005) (Kurdish: Mele Ebdulkerîmê Muderîs) also known as Nami was the contemporary Kurdish poet, writer, translator, Faqih and the Mufti of Iraq. Most of his works are in Kurdish and Arabic and a few of them are in Persian. is known for his numerous literary, historic and religious works like the collection and expounding of the poems of Kurdish poets like Nalî, Mahwi and Mawlawi Tawagozi. He has influenced many Kurdish students and many recent imams and polymaths.
Selahattin Demirtash
Diplomat
Selahattin Demirtaş (About this soundTurkish pronunciation (help·info); born 10 April 1973) is a Turkish politician of Zaza Kurdish descent, member of the parliament of Turkey since 2007. He was co-leader of the left-wing pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), serving alongside Figen Yüksekdağ from 2014 to 2018. Since November 2016 he has been detained by the Turkish state.
Hemin Mukriyani
Poet, Author
Hemin Mukriyani or Hêmin Mukriyānī (1921–1986) was the pen name for Seyed Mohammad-Amin Shaikholislami Mukri, Kurdish poet, journalist, translator, and literary critic.
Abdurrahman Sharafkand
Poet, Author
Abdurrahman Sharafkandi or Hazhar or Hajar, (Kurdish: Hejar, ههژار; Persian: هژار Hazhar) (April 13, 1921 – February 21, 1991), was a renowned Kurdish writer, poet, lexicographer, linguist, and translator, from Iran. Some sources of Sharafkandi birthplace have been mentioned in the village of Sharafkand, which is a district of Bukan .
Mastoureh Ardalan
Historian, author, penman
Mah Sharaf Khanom Mastoureh Ardalan or Mastura Ardalan (1805, Sanandaj –1848, Sulaymaniyah) was a Kurdish poet, historian, and writer.
Sherko Bekas
Poet, Author
Sherko Bekas (Kurdish: Şêrko Bêkes) (2 May 1940 – 4 August 2013), was a Kurdish poet. He was born on 2 May 1940 in Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan as a son of the Kurdish poet Fayak Bekas.
Ahmet Kaya
Kurdish Music
Ahmet Kaya (28 October 1957 – 16 November 2000) was a folk singer who was born in Malatya, Turkey. He was of mixed Kurdish-Turkish origin and often identified himself as a "Kurd of Turkey".
Ghader Abdollahzadeh
Classical Kurdish Music
Qadir Abdullahzada (23 October 1925 – 21 May 2009) also known as Qale Mere (Sorani Kurdish: قالەمەڕە) or Mame Qale (Sorani Kurdish: مامه قاله) born in village of Kulice (pron: Kulija; in Sorani Kurdish: كولیجه) in northwestern Iran, is one of the best known Kurdish traditional musicians.
Naser Razzazi
Classical Kurdish Music
orn June 21, 1955 (age 63) Sanandaj, Kurdistan (Iran) Genres Kurdish Folk Music Occupation(s) Poet, writer, singer, performer Instruments Kurdish daf-drum Years active Early 1970s-present
Muhammad Mamle
Classical Kurdish Music
Muhammad Mamle (Persian: محمد ماملی, Kurdish: Mihemedî Mamlê, 1925 – 13 January 1999) was a Kurdish musician and singer. He renewed hundreds of Kurdish folkloric songs.
Hassan Zirek
Classical Kurdish Music
Hassan Zirek (Kurdish: حهسهن زیرهک - Hesen Zîrek; 1921–1972) was a celebrated Kurd songwriter-singer from Bukan, Iran. He is known for his recordings of classical Kurdish folk songs. He was famous for his classical and sensual lyrics, and his outstanding voice. It is believed that he composed over thousand songs in his lifetime, despite being illegible.
Sayed Ali Asghar Kurdistani
Classical Kurdish Music
Sayed Ali Asghar Kurdistani (1882–1936) is a Kurdish singer and musician. He is one of the first Kurdish singers that his voice was recorded.
Siamand Rahman
professional athlete
Siamand Rahman (Persian: سیامند رحمان, Kurdish: سیامەند ڕەحمان / Siyamend Rehman, born March 21, 1989 in Oshnaviyeh, Iran)[2] is an Iranian Paralympic powerlifter. He won gold medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio and the 2010 Asian Para Games in Guangzhou. He is the current IPC Powerlifting World Record holder in the +107 kg category with a 310.0 kilograms (683.4 lb) bench press and also holds the junior world record with 290.0 kilograms (639.3 lb) and the Paralympic Championship Record with 310.0 kilograms
Mohammad Oraz
َAlpinist
Mohammad Oraz (Kurdish: Mihemed Ewraz), (Persian: محمد اوراز) (born 1969 in Naghadeh, Iran – died September 6, 2003, Islamabad, Pakistan) was an Iranian mountain climber. He was the second Iranian climber after Hooman Aprin to conquer Mount Everest, reaching the summit in 1998
Abbas Vali
Academics
Professor Abbas Vali (born 1949) is a Kurdish political and social theorist specialising in modern and contemporary political thought and modern Middle Eastern Politics.
Lokman Polat
Author
Lokman Polat (born in 1956 in Lice, Diyarbakır Province) is a Swedish writer of Kurdish origin. Before 1980, he was involved in publishing political commentaries and news. He has been arrested several times due to his activities in the field of Kurdish literature, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in absentia. He moved to Sweden in 1984 and began writing short stories in Kurdish.
Bachtyar Ali Muhammed
Author
Bachtyar Ali Muhammed (Kurdish: بەختیار عەلی, also transcribed Bextyar Elî, Bakhtiyar Ali, or Bakhtyar Ali), was born in the city of Slemani in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1960. He is a Kurdish novelist and intellectual, a literary critic, essayist, and poet.
