ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Kurdish intellectual and writer Professor Jamal Nabaz originally from Sulaimani passed away on Saturday in Germany at the age of 85.
Nabaz was born in 1933 in Sulaimani that is now a part of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He succumbed to illness after being hospitalized on November 11.
He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Baghdad and then immigrated to Europe at the age of 28.
Nabaz studied at the Universities of Munich, Wurzburg and Hamburg and then eventually at the Free University of Berlin. He focused on Islamic studies, Iranian studies, and pedagogy, as well as political science, journalism and law.
He founded the National Union of the Kurdish Students in Europe (NUKSE) in Germany and then later the Kurdish Academy of Science and Arts that was based in Stockholm with fellow expat Kurds.
“Professor Jamal Nabaz played an important role in national movements in all the parts of Kurdistan. He along with six of his colleagues established KAZHIK — Nabaz was its most notable founder. In Kazhiknama and his other books, he wrote about the foundations of contemporary Kurdish nationalism," Rudaw CEO Ako Mohammed has previously said.
"He delivered tens of seminars to European academic and intellectual centers. He accounted for part of contemporary Kurdish history in a scientific manner. He produced outstanding scientific work on Kurdish language and standardizing written Kurdish language and explained the structure of Kurdish words,” concluded Mohammed.
Nabaz published hundreds of scientific research papers in Kurdish, Arabic, English and German languages.
He also reviewed Rudaw Stylebook which the newspaper follows.
Nabaz is credited with publishing the first physics book in Kurdish as well as books on algebra and other mathematics. He also translated some of Shakespeare and Nikolai Gogol's works into Kurdish.
Nabaz was born in 1933 in Sulaimani that is now a part of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He succumbed to illness after being hospitalized on November 11.
He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Baghdad and then immigrated to Europe at the age of 28.
Nabaz studied at the Universities of Munich, Wurzburg and Hamburg and then eventually at the Free University of Berlin. He focused on Islamic studies, Iranian studies, and pedagogy, as well as political science, journalism and law.
He founded the National Union of the Kurdish Students in Europe (NUKSE) in Germany and then later the Kurdish Academy of Science and Arts that was based in Stockholm with fellow expat Kurds.
“Professor Jamal Nabaz played an important role in national movements in all the parts of Kurdistan. He along with six of his colleagues established KAZHIK — Nabaz was its most notable founder. In Kazhiknama and his other books, he wrote about the foundations of contemporary Kurdish nationalism," Rudaw CEO Ako Mohammed has previously said.
KAZHIK is an acronym for the Kurdish Freedom, Revival and Unity Group.
Mohammed credited Nabaz with explaining the Kurdish question to the wider world, in particular in Iraq and the Middle East especially during the Kurdish September (Aylul) revolutions in the 1960s in the weekly newspaper Midia. The Aylul revolts were a series of Kurdish uprisings against the Iraqi government, often called the First Iraqi-Kurdish War, as Kurds sought autonomy from Baghdad.
"He delivered tens of seminars to European academic and intellectual centers. He accounted for part of contemporary Kurdish history in a scientific manner. He produced outstanding scientific work on Kurdish language and standardizing written Kurdish language and explained the structure of Kurdish words,” concluded Mohammed.
Nabaz published hundreds of scientific research papers in Kurdish, Arabic, English and German languages.
He also reviewed Rudaw Stylebook which the newspaper follows.
Professor Jamal Nabaz (left) and KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani. Composite photo: Rudaw
PM Barzani sends condolences to 'our nation's great scholar'
“It is with a heavy heart that I received news of the passing of our nation’s renowned intellectual, scholar and writer Professor Dr Jamal Nabaz today. On this sad occasion, I extend my condolences to you, the relatives and colleagues of Professor Nabaz,” Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said in a statement.
It was not immediately announced where Nabaz will be buried; although, he did write a will — the details of which have not been publicly disclosed.
“The KRG is prepared to facilitate and help in any way with the process of his burial,” Barzani added.
The Kurdish premier noted the contributions which the Kurdish diaspora can make to the Kurdish cause.
“Professor Nabaz was our nation’s great scholar in Kurdish intellectual and political movements, supporting the rightful demands of his nation in diaspora, supporting and making Kurdistan revolution known to Europe’s intellectual centers. He also played an important role in circulating national awareness and thinking,” he detailed.
Updated 3:32 p.m.
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