- Ali Ahmad Kurd
Ali Ahmad Kurd, is the former vice president of Pakistan Bar Council.He is known for his agressive speeches and hawkish attitude towards the military regime of General Pervaiz Musharraf.He is currently serving as a lawyer for the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in the reference filed against him by general Pervez Musharraf. Along with the CJP and other lawyers in his defense team, …
- Mohamed Anwar Kurd
Mohamed Anwar Kurd is a citizen of Iran held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba Kurd's Guantanamo detainee ID number 676. The Department of Defense reports that Kurd was born on March 4 1979, in Zahedan, Iran.
- Said Pasha Kurd
Said Pasha Kurd, Kurdish statesman in Ottoman Empire, son of Hussein Pasha and father of Şerif Pasha, was born in Suleimani. After holding various administrative posts he became governor-general of the Archipelago (1881), minister for foreign affairs (1881), ambassador at Berlin (1883) and again foreign minister in 1885. He was afterwards president of the Council of State, an office which he held until his death.
- Hoshyar Zebari
Hoshyar Zebari (born 1953) is the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq. A Kurd originally from Aqrah, a city in Iraqi Kurdistan, Zebari holds a masters degree in sociology from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom and studied political science in Jordan. He was the foreign spokesperson for the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the 1990s and represented the party to both, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- Amira Casar
Amira Casar is a British-born French actress. Born on July 1, 1971, the daughter of a Kurdish father and a Russian opera singer, Casar grew up in England and Ireland. Discovered by photographer Helmut Newton, she worked as a model for Chanel and Jean-Paul Gaultier, studying drama in the "Conservatoire National D'Art Dramatique" in Paris.
- Jay Garner
Jay Montgomery Garner (born April 15, 1938) is a retired United States Army general who was appointed in 2003 as Director of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq but was soon replaced by L. Paul Bremer. Born in Arcadia, Florida, Garner served a hitch with the Marines before attending Florida State University, where he received a degree in history in 1962.
- Rizgar Mohammed Amin
Rizgar Mohammed Amin is the former chief judge of the Iraqi Special Tribunal's Al-Dujail trial. He is the only judge whose identity was revealed on the trial's opening on 19 October 2005, the names and faces of his four colleagues remaining secret. Amin graduated from the Law School of Baghdad University in 1980. He is an ethnic Kurd, though he has no record of political activism, or connections to the "Peshmerga".
- Mullah Krekar
Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, commonly known as Mullah Krekar, born July 7, 1956, is an Iraqi Kurd who came to Norway as a refugee from northern Iraq in 1991. His wife and four children have Norwegian citizenship, but not Krekar himself. He speaks Kurdish, Arabic, Norwegian and English. Krekar was the original leader of the Islamist armed group Ansar al-Islam, which was set up and commenced operations in Iraqi Kurdistan while he had refugee status in Norway.
- Ibrahim Ahmed
Ibrahim Ahmed or Ibrahim Ahmad (1914-2000) was an Iraqi-Kurdish author; One of the founders and Secretary-General of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, from 1947-58. He was living in England after 1975. Ibrahim Ahmed was one of those who organized the famous demonstration against the then colonial power of Great Britain in Iraq, in front of the City Hall in the city Suleimani in 1930.
- Shahram Nazeri
Shahram Nazeri is a contemporary Iranian Kurdish musician who sings classical Persian and Kurdish music. He is one of Iran's most respected vocalists. He was born in 1950 to a Kurdish family in Kermanshah, Iran. His family was musical and he started studying music at an early age. He is said to have started singing in public at the age of eight. He specializes in the rich tradition of Sufi music, which turns to song the mystical poetry of Rumi, Hafiz, Attar, and others.
- Latif Rashid
Doctor Abdul Latif Rashid (born 1944) is the Iraqi Minister of Water Resources under the government of Nouri al-Maliki. He previously served as Minister of Water Resources under the Iraqi Transitional Government and as Minister of Irrigation under the Iraqi Interim Government. Dr Rashid was formerly a spokesperson for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in the United Kingdom. He is a graduate of the University of Manchester.
- Robert Baer
Robert "Bob" B. Baer (born July 1, 1952), is an author and former case officer at the Central Intelligence Agency.
- Taha Muhie-Eldin Marouf
Taha Muhie-eldin Marouf was a vice president of Iraq from 1975 to 2003. He was the only Kurd in Saddam Hussein's Baath Party hierarchy, but his appointment was seen largely as a gesture to the Kurdish minority and he had little real power. Born into a prominent family in Kurd-dominated northern Iraq in 1924, Marouf joined the Baath Party in 1968 and held several ministerial posts. He also served as ambassador to Italy, Malta and Albania.
- Narmin Othman
Narmin Othman ; Kurdish (Latin script): Nermîn Osman) is the Iraqi Minister for the Environment in the government of Nouri al-Maliki, a post she also held in the Iraqi Transitional Government.
- Nusrat Bhutto
Begum Nusrat Bhutto (Sindhi: بیگم نصرت ڀھٽو, Urdu: former first lady of Pakistan, widow of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and mother of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto, who is also a former Prime Minister of Pakistan.
- Peter Pilz
Peter Pilz (born January 22, 1954) is an Austrian politician and a leading member of the Austrian Green Party. Born to a Jewish family in Kapfenberg, Styria, Pilz has been a member of the Austrian Parliament ("Nationalrat") between 1986 and 1991 and since 1999. From 1992 to 1994 he also was federal spokesperson of the Greens. He is mainly concerned with legal matters and investigating political corruption. Commonly known wearing a black jacket and a red, …
- Brynjar Meling
Brynjar Nielsen Meling is a Norwegian lawyer and former Salvation Army soldier. He became famous overnight after being appointed as the public defender of Mullah Krekar, and has since also worked on a number of other high profile cases, mainly cases directly targeted against Norwegian commercial and political interests. Some of his more famous cases (not including the mullah Krekar case) include: *"Mohammed Shah Rais" (also known as "The bookseller of Kabul"), …
- Theodoros Pangalos
Theodoros Pangalos is a Greek politician. Pangalos was actively involved against the 1967 military dictatorship, and in 1968, the junta deprived him of his Greek citizenship. In 1981 he was elected a PASOK MP for the first time; he was re-elected in the 2004 general election. He is the grandson of general and 1926 dictator Theodoros Pangalos. Between 1996 and 1999 he was Minister for Foreign Affairs.
- Howar Ziad
Howar Ziad is the ambassador of Iraq to Canada. He is also a senior advisor to Mr. Jalal Talabani, the current president of Iraq. Prior to his diplomatic career, Mr. Ziad and his family had a long history of participation in the Kurdish freedom movement. His father, Muhammad Kaka Ziad, was a founding member and vice-president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq and was a member of the Iraqi Parliament from 1921 until 1958.
- Hikmat Sulayman
Hikmat Sulayman was prime minister of Iraq from October 30, 1936 to August 12, 1937. Sulayman, an ethnic Turkmen, was a key figure in the early days of Iraqi independence and the effort to create a multi-ethnic state. He came to power in Bakr Sidqi's coup, the first that the country experienced. His position was confirmed by king Ghazi. Together with Sidqi, an ethnic Kurd, Sulayman veered away from the pan-Arab nationalism of the preceding Iraqi governments.
- Bijan Kamkar
Bijan Kamkar is a Iranian Kurdish musician. He is a member of Kamkarha and is the lead singer for the group. He also plays tar, robab, tombak and daf - the Kurdish drum which he has introduced to the classical Iranian repertoire. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts in University of Tehran.
- Khalil Al-Zahawi
Khalil al-Zahawi (1946 - 25 May, 2007) was one of Iraq's most prominent Arabic calligraphers. An ethnic Kurd and a native of Diyala Governorate, he began studying calligraphy in 1959, and moved to Baghdad in 1963, where he gave his first exhibition in 1965. He later graduated from the Fine Arts Institute of Baghdad, and proceeded to work for the State Directorate for the Plastic Arts in the 1980s. Eventually, he found work as a lecturer at Baghdad University.
- Han Mahmud
Han Mahmud was a 19th century Kurdish Lord. He was born in Mukus (now Van, Turkey), and after his father Abdi Beg's death, he became Lord (Mir) of the Mukus Kurdish Emirate. In 1847, he fought in a Kurdish revolt against the Ottomans, which was organized with Bedirhan Beg, the Lord of Cizır-Botan. The revolt was quashed, Bedirhan Beg was exiled to Crete, and Han Mahmud was exiled to Rousse (now a Bulgarian city). Han Mahmud died in Rousse in 1866.
- Haji Qadir Koyi
Haji Qadir Koyi, was a Kurdish poet. He carried on the nationalistic message of Ahmad Khani in his writings. He wanted to enlighten the people and help them to remedy the problems of illiteracy and backwardness and ideas which result from lack of knowledge and religious fanaticism. He encouraged people instead to turn to science and to the realities of modern society in the struggle to liberate and build an independent Kurdistan.
- Arsalan Kamkar
Arsalan Kamkar (Kurdish: Erselan Kamkar, born in 1960) is a Kurdish musician from Iran. He has played violin in the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, and is also an excellent barbat player. His compositions are regularly performed and include a symphony called The Story of My Father's Land, written with his brother Ardeshir. He also plays the Oud. Arsalan Kamkar is a member of the musical group Kamkarha, …
- Fariborz Kamkari
Fariborz Kamkari is a Kurdish film director and producer. Kamkari was born in 1971 in Iran, where he studied cinema and theater. He has written several scripts for other Iranian directors, and has produced and directed some short films. In 2002, he wrote and directed his first feature film, "Black Tape". The film won the top jury prize at Cinequest Film Festival, and was in competition at several other festivals, including the Venice Film Festival.
- Ardeshir Kamkar
Ardeshir Kamkar (born 1962 in Sanandaj, Iran) is a Kurdish musician from Iran. He started his music training under the supervision of his father. He came to Tehran in 1980 and continued studying traditional arrangements under Mohammad Reza Lotfi and his brother Pashang. Ardeshir has always been keen to explore the range and capabilities of the kamancheh, for which he has written a number of pieces and books. Ardeshir has played with several famous ensembles such as, DASTAN, …
- Luqman Mohammed Kurdi Hussein
Luqman Mohammed Kurdi Hussein, originally from Dahuk (Kurdish region of Iraq), was a translator working for the Titan Corporation based in San Diego. He was beheaded in Iraq. Al Jazeera reported his death on 11 October 2004. The Army of Ansar Al-Sunna was named as the perpetrator of the killing.
- Maasoum Abdah Mouhammad
Maasoum Abdah Mouhammad is a citizen of Syria, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His detainee ID number is 330. Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1972, in Al Qameshle, Syria. He is from the Kurdish ethnic group.
- William Coupon
William Coupon is an American photographer, born in New York City, known principally for his formal painterly backdrop portraits of tribal people, politicians and celebrities. William Coupon was born in New York City, but moved to Washington, D.C. and later to San Francisco. He attended Syracuse University and ultimately moved to New York City to begin his photographic career. He began in 1979 to photograph backdrop portraits of New York’s youth culture, …
- Mustafa Pasha Yamolki
Mustafa Pasha Yamolki (25 January, 1866 - 25 May, 1936) was a Kurd born in the Sulaymaniyah "vilayet" in the Ottoman Empire (now part of Iraq, approximately corresponding to As Sulaymaniyah Governorate). He was appointed the Education Minister in the Kingdom of Kurdistan which was declared in 1922.
- Ronald E. Neumann
Ronald E. Neumann (b. 1945) is the current United States Ambassador to Afghanistan and previously served as ambassador to Algeria (1994-1997), and Bahrain (2001-2004). He is the son of former ambassador Robert G. Neumann and traveled extensively after college in Afghanistan while his father was ambassador there. He pronounces his last name Newmann (without the Germanic "neu") and his name is sometimes seen spelled that way. Mr.
- Baha' Al-Daula
Baha' al-Daula (d. December 22 1012) was the Buyid amir of Iraq (988-1012), along with Fars and Kerman (998-1012). He was the third son of 'Adud al-Daula. Upon the death of his brother Sharaf al-Daula in 988, Baha' al-Daula succeeded him, whereupon he took the additional title of "Diya' al-Milla". Another brother, Samsam al-Daula, prevented Baha' al-Daula from gaining all of Sharaf al-Daula's possessions by taking control of Fars, Kerman and Khuzestan.
- Samsam Al-Daula
Marzuban (c. 963-December 998) was the Buyid amir of Iraq (983-987), as well as Fars and Kerman (988 or 989-998). He was the second son of 'Adud al-Daula. During 'Adud al-Daula's lifetime, Marzuban was assigned the governorships of Buyid Oman and Khuzestan. Despite Marzuban's status as second son (Shirdil being the eldest), he was considered to be his father's heir. This issue was never completely clarified by 'Adud al-Daula before his death, …
- Abdel-Sattar Abdel-Jabbar
Sheikh Abdel-Sattar Abdel-Jabbar is one of the founding members of the joint Arab-Kurd Sunni Muslim Clerics Association. On behalf of the Association, he denounced the kidnapping of journalists and aid workers following the abduction of Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot by a group allegedly called the Islamic Army in Iraq. Reports indicated that he was detained by U.S. and Iraqi forces along with his two sons and neighbor on October 21, …
- Hiwa Abdul Rahman Rashul
Hiwa Abdul Rahman Rashul, nicknamed Triple-X by his American guards, was the first ghost detainee to be publicly acknowledged by American authorities. Captured by Kurdish forces in Iraq in June/July 2003, he was turned over to the CIA who believed he was a member of Ansar al-Islam. He was then moved to a prison in Afghanistan.
- Husni Al-Za'Im
Husni al-Za'im was a Syrian military man and politician. Husni al-Za'im, a member of Syria's Kurdish minority, had been an officer in the Turkish 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 he was made Chief of Staff, and led the Syrian Army into war with Zionist militias in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
- Mohammad Tufik Rahim
Mohammad Tawiq Rahim (b. 1953) was Minister of Industry and Mines in the cabinet appointed by the Interim Iraq Governing Council in September 2003. Originally from Sulaymaniyah, Rahim qualified as an engineer at the University of Bath (United Kingdom). He was leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Deputy Speaker of the Kurdish parliament from 1992. He also held numerous ministerial portfolios in subsequent governments in the region such as the Humanitarian, …
- Abu Taleb Rostam
Abu Taleb Rostam was the Buyid amir of Ray, a city in Iran (997-1029). He was the eldest son of Fakhr al-Daula. His reign saw the removal of the Buyids as a power in central Iran. Abu Taleb Rostam succeeded his father upon the latter's death in 997. At the time he was four years old. His younger brother, Abu Taher ("Shams al-Daula"), meanwhile, became the ruler of Hamadan. Since both brothers were in the age of minority, power was assumed by their mother Sayyida.
- Abd Al-Muhsin As-Sa'Dun
Abd al-Muhsin Bey Al-Saadoon (1879-1929) was prime minister of Iraq on four different occasions: # November 18, 1922 - November 21, 1923 # June 19, 1925 - November 1, 1926 # January 14, 1928 - January 20, 1929 # September 19, 1929 - November 13, 1929 An officer in the Ottoman army, Al-Saadoon served as "aide-de-camp" to Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II before returning to Iraq and embarking on a career in politics.