Sweden-based Kurdish researcher and intellectual Mehmed Emin Bozarslan, originally from Amed (Diyarbakir), passed away on Monday in Uppsala at the age of 91.

Following the news, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani extended his condolences to Bozarslan’s family and all the intellectuals of Kurdistan.

“Mr. Bozarslan, through his valuable services and works, played a major role in preserving and advancing the Kurdish language and literature. His legacy will always remain alive in our memory,” President Barzani posted on X.

Bozarslan was born in 1935 in Lice, in the province of Diyarbakir. He pursued his studies in a Kurdish madrasa, or religious school, and was later appointed as a Islamic jurist in the town of Kulp. However, he was fired by the Turkish state after the publication of two of his books, and he continued to write and run a bookstore. 

He was jailed following the March 1971 military coup and, after his release in July 1974, began to work as a journalist. He later published Alfabe, his most famous work, translated Mem u Zin from Kurdish into Turkish, and translated the Serefname by the Kurdish prince Sharafkhan Bidlisi into Turkish. Due to legal threats, Bozarslan fled to Sweden in 1978, where he has lived ever since.

In Sweden, he continued to focus on Kurdish studies, publishing the transcription of Kurdish journals from the Ottoman period (Kurdistan and Jin) into the Kurdish Latin alphabet, a Kurdish dictionary (Ferhenga Kurdi), and several children’s books, some of which were translated into Swedish. 

According to the Kurdish Academy of Language, Bozarslan published a total of 17 books, most of them in the Kurdish language.“A gracious and erudite man, of great modesty, shunning honors and fame, Bozarslan dedicated his life to passing on Kurdish culture to new generations. His passing is a great loss for the Kurdish people and for Kurdish cultural and intellectual life. We extend our heartfelt condolences to our colleague Hamit Bozarslan, his son, to his family, and to all those close to him,” the Kurdish Institute of Paris said in a condolence statement.

 In a post on Facebook, Martin van Bruinessen, Emeritus Professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and a leading author on the Kurds known for his seminal work Agha, Shaikh and State: The Social and Political Structures of Kurdistan, praised Bozarslan for his contributions to Kurdish studies. 

“He has always been very generous in sharing his knowledge and experience with me. He was one of my idols when I became interested in Kurdish studies. I was happy to meet him, through a common friend, in 1976, and we have stayed in contact since,” he wrote. 

“When I was carrying out my first field research on Kurdish society, in 1974-1976, I often heard people mention Bozarslan and his books. Even among the Syrian Kurds, many appeared to be well acquainted with [him],” van Bruinessen explained.

“With his discipline of the [madrasa] and his knowledge of Arabic, Kurdish, Ottoman Turkish and some Persian, Bozarslan has continued to connect the current generation of Kurdish intellectuals to their history, making important historical sources available to them in modern Turkish translations.

“A scholar always stands on the shoulders of predecessors, who made his work possible. I have always been aware that my own work owes much to the great work done by Bozarslan. And I am proud to be one of those who stand on his shoulders,” he concluded