Sulaimani University recognizes organization for preserving Kurdish culture

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An organization dedicated to documenting and preserving a wide range of Kurdish cultural items was officially recognized on Saturday as a scientific and academic center by the Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani University.

The ceremony was held in the city of Sulaimani, often called the autonomous region’s capital of culture, in the presence of various Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials, as well as artists and academics.

Established in 2003, the Kurdish Heritage Institute (KHI) began its efforts to preserve Kurdish culture as a non-governmental organization and institute. To date, it has compiled some 400,000 cultural items, from photographs and artwork to handwritten documents, from across Kurdish-majority parts of Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey.

Compiling the ethnic group's traditional music is also among the top priorities of the KHI, now working on digitalizing its archives that will be available on the group's website in early 2022, according to the center.

The recognition by the University of Sulaimani can benefit its students for research purposes, according to the institution's president, Dr. Raza Hassan.

“We want to show the intellectual assets that we have preserved at the center to the world through the internet and our website,” KHI Director Mazhari Khalaqi told Kurdistan 24.

Khalqi is a renowned Kurdish singer who has recorded and released numerous successful musical albums.

The digitalization efforts of the collection are supported in part by a grant of the United States.

Editing by John J. Catherine