Washington Kurdish Institute is an educational and research organization focused on

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...

. It was established in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in September 1996 by Dr.

Najmaldin Karim Najmiddin Karim ( ku, نەجمەدین کەریم; 1949 – 31 October 2020), also known as Najmaldin Karim, was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who was governor of Kirkuk Governorate from 2011 to 2017. Prior to the invasion of Iraq, Karim had ...

, Its objectives are raising awareness of Kurdish issues, promoting human rights in Kurdish areas and supporting development of civil society among Kurds. The institute has a Board of Directors headed by Dr.

. It also has an advisory committee composed of renowned Kurdologists such as

Martin van Bruinessen Martin van Bruinessen (born 10 July 1946, Schoonhoven, Kingdom of the Netherlands) is a Dutch anthropologist and author, who has published a number of publications on the Kurdish, Indonesia, Turkish, Persian cultures, and also on aspects of Isl ...

, Abbas Vali,

Amir Hassanpour Amir Hassanpour, (17 November 1943 – 24 June 2017; fa, امیر حسن‌پور; ku, ئه‌میر حه‌سه‌نپوور, translit=Emîr Hesenpûr), was a prominent Iranian-Kurdish scholar and researcher. He was born in Mahabad, in nort ...

and Michael Chyet. The institute offers Kurdish language courses at beginner and advanced levels for both dialects of

Sorani Central Kurdish (), also called Sorani (), is a Kurdish dialect or a language that is spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Sorani is one of the two o ...

and

Kurmanji Kurmanji ( ku, کورمانجی, lit=Kurdish, translit=Kurmancî, also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northern dialect of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Sy ...

said in 2000 that the Washington Kurdish Institute was "playing an important role in political lobbying on behalf of the Kurds".

References

Kurdish organisations {{kurdistan-stub