Those who wrote this memory
Figures
Twelve figures who shaped — in ink, sword or film — the face of modern Kurdish memory.
Ahmedê Xanî
1651 – 1707
Ahmedê Xanî was born in 1651 in Bohtan, east of Amed, into a religious family from a Kurdish mountain region then contested between the Otto...
Cegerxwîn
1903 – 1984
Cegerxwîn — 'the broken-hearted' — was the pen name of the poet Şêxmûs Hesen (1903–1984), the greatest Kurdish nationalist poet of the twent...
Mustafa Barzani
1903 – 1979
Mullah Mustafa Barzani (1903–1979), the greatest Kurdish military leader of the twentieth century and the founder of the modern Kurdish nati...
Qazi Muhammad
1893 – 1947
Mohammad son of Qazi Ali was born in 1893 in Mahabad to a distinguished religious family: his father was the city's chief Islamic judge and...
Saladin (Salah ad-Din)
1137 – 1193
Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub was born in 1137 at the citadel of Tikrit into a Kurdish family of the Rawadiya tribe, originally from the Dvin regi...
Sherko Bêkes
1940 – 2013
Sherko Bêkes (1940–2013), the greatest of contemporary Kurdish poets and pioneer of the new Kurdish 'image poetry'. He was born in Sulaymani...
Şivan Perwer
1955 –
Şivan Perwer (born 1955), the greatest contemporary Kurdish singer and composer, who alone composed the anthems of the Kurdish national move...
Yılmaz Güney
1937 – 1984
Yılmaz Güney (1937–1984) — Kurdish-Turkish actor, director and writer, one of the great world directors of the twentieth century. Born Yılma...
Bahman Ghobadi
1969 –
Bahman Ghobadi (born 1969), Iranian Kurdish director, second only to Yılmaz Güney as a Kurdish filmmaker. Born in Baneh in Iranian Kurdistan...
Jalal Talabani
1933 – 2017
Jalal Talabani (1933–2017), the first Kurdish president of Iraq and one of the great Kurdish leaders of the twentieth century. Born in the v...
Leyla Zana
1961 –
Leyla Zana (born 1961), Kurdish-Turkish politician and the first Kurdish woman in the Turkish parliament. Born in the village of Bahce near...
Melayê Cizîrî
1570 – 1640
Melayê Cizîrî (1570–1640), the greatest of Kurdish classical poets before Ahmedê Xanî. Born in Cizîrê (Cizre) in Bohtan to a religious famil...