Roza Salih, a 35-year-old refugee originally from Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region, became the first Kurd and former asylum seeker elected to political office in Scotland.
Salih was a lead candidate for the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the Glasgow Region during the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections. A year later, in May 2022, she was elected as the SNP’s councilor for Greater Pollok in Glasgow.
Following her election, then-First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon posted on X that she shed a “very happy tear at this result. From asylum seeker to SNP councilor.”
“I have incredible parents who have always supported me. Thank you mum and dad, you are my best friends,” Salih posted on X at the time.
A natural advocate
Salih has campaigned for refugee rights since she was a teenager, when she and her school friends came together to protest the detention of a friend.
Salih’s family fled Iraqi Kurdistan when she was only 12 years old, after her grandfather and two uncles were executed for opposing Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist regime.
“I was born in Sulaymaniyah. My dad is from Kirkuk. We came to Scotland in 2001,” she told Kurdistan Chronicle. As a Scottish Kurd, she believes in Scottish Independence and has campaigned for it.
“The 2014 referendum deeply influenced me. I joined the SNP in 2015 after we lost it, but I still believe in independence and in the Scottish people’s right to make their own decisions. As a member of Glasgow Girls, I was familiar with campaigning. The Glasgow Girls’ story is very well known in Scotland,” she said. Founded in 2015, the group fought for the rights of asylum seekers and refugees, and ran campaigns against the deportation of school children.
In 2017, Salih was honored by the Saltire Society as an Outstanding Woman of Scotland. In December 2022, she was named by the BBC as one of the Top 100 Influential Women of 2022, recognizing her campaign for refugee rights when she was a teenager.
Salih completed an honors degree in law and politics at the University of Strathclyde in 2013, and worked with the Scottish Refugee Council and the Education Strategy Commission to establish funding from Strathclyde University for scholarships specifically for asylum seekers.
Scotland is home to over 7,000 Kurds, though exact numbers are difficult to determine.
“This is only an estimate, given that when there is a census, Kurds are listed under Iraq, Turkiye, Iran, and Syria. So, data collection could be improved in Scotland for the Kurds,” she said.
Scotland, Kurdistan, and independence
Salih also established a group called Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan. “I felt like the Scottish people needed to know about the Kurdish people and their struggles. At the time, Kobani was under attack, and we raised awareness through the Scottish Parliament and raised money to build a Scottish school in Kobani.”
On September 25, 2017, under the leadership of then-President Masoud Barzani, Iraqi Kurds held an independence referendum, in which over 93% of the people of the Kurdistan Region voted for independence.
“Of course there are many similarities, as we both want self-determination for our people,” Salih said on the Kurdish independence referendum. “However, the agreements between London and Scotland and between Baghdad and Erbil were different.”
“Scotland’s agreement with London was legal, and if we had won the referendum, we would have achieved it,” she added.
In Iraq, Salih noted, the case was different. “Of course, I believe the Kurds have the right to hold a referendum – that’s a democratic right of any nation if they wish to become independent. However, the fundamental difference was the legitimacy of the referendum. The Scottish Government can play a major role domestically, but currently has no power over foreign policy, which is reserved for the UK government.”
Recently, on April 7, the police in Scotland released a video message in Kurdish, which is a sign of more recognition of the Kurdish language in Scotland.
“I believe the Kurds are being recognized more than before, and now translations in Kurdish are provided in main government places,” Salih said. “This is important for the Kurds, as we have our own identity, culture, and language. We have a need for visibility, and I believe this can only be achieved if more Kurds become active citizens.”
