Kurdish banker awarded the best in Kazakhstan

ASTANA, Kazakhstan (Kurdistan24) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank awarded a Kazakh Kurdish bank manager Narin Nadirova as the best banker of the year for 2016.

Hailing from a family whose origins she traces to the Kurdish province of Van in Turkey, Nadirova takes pride in her achievement as a member of the small minority residing in Kazakhstan.

Nadirova is the Deputy Chairperson of the Home Credit Bank Kazakhstan and the Director of Banking Operations Department.

Speaking to Kurdistan24 at her office in the Kazakh capital of Astana, Nadirova shared her experiences in the banking industry.

Nadirova said she witnessed the birth and growth of the Turkic country’s banking system in the early 1990s after she graduated from University, coinciding with the Kazakh independence in late 1991.

“It has been 20 years since I am doing this job. The award is a great honor for me. I present it to my people,” Nadirova, a graduate of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, stated.

Additionally, she spoke of her story as one of exemplary success for younger generations of Kurds in her adopted country, who she said could study and excel in their professions.

There are over 38,000 Kazakh Kurds, according to Kazakhstan’s 2009 national population census report.

The majority of the Kurds in Kazakhstan are descendants of tens of thousands of Soviet Union authority exiles from Caucasian countries to Central Asia.

Nadirova herself is the bride of the Nakhchivan-born, renowned Soviet scientist and gas and oil engineer Nadir Nadirov who was a victim of the mass deportations.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

(Khoshawi Muhammad reported from Astana)