Today commemorates eight years since the passing of Nawshirwan Mustafa, a key Kurdish political leader and founder of the Gorran (Change) Movement.

Nawshirwan Mustafa was born on December 22, 1944, on Sarshaqam Street, Sulaymaniyah. He graduated from the College of Political Sciences at Baghdad University. In the early 1960s, he served as a member of the Secretariat of the Kurdistan Students Union, and by 1967, he had joined the Sulaymaniyah branch of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

In 1975, following the Algiers Agreement, he abandoned his doctoral studies in Vienna and returned to the Middle East to help revive the Kurdish armed struggle. He became one of the founding members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Widely known as the “engineer” of the 1991 Kurdish uprising, Mustafa played a significant role in shaping modern Kurdish political history. He served as the Deputy Secretary General of the PUK, before resigning in 2006.

In 2009, he launched the Gorran Movement, which positioned itself as a reformist opposition group. The movement pledged to fight corruption, nepotism, and social injustice. Nawshirwan Mustafa served as Gorran’s General Coordinator until his death.

In addition to his political career, Mustafa was also active in writing and cultural work. He authored several books, many focused on Kurdish history, politics, and personal memoirs. His writings explored themes of Kurdish nationalism, democratic reform, political accountability, and the historical development of the Kurdish movement.

Nawshirwan Mustafa died on May 19, 2017, after a long illness. He was laid to rest in Zargata Hill in his hometown of Sulaymaniyah.