ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Friday paid tribute to the French writer Gerard Chaliand who had covered the Kurdish issue in Iraq for many years, describing him as "a steadfast and loyal friend to the cause of the people of Kurdistan."
The Kurdish Institute of Paris organized a tribute to Gerard Chaliand, who passed away on August 20 at the age of 91, in Paris on Friday. During the event, Ali Dolamari, the Kurdistan Region's representative to France, read a statement on behalf of President Nechirvan Barzani.
Chaliand "dedicated his life to the pursuit of truth, to the study of liberation movements, and to peoples’ striving for their rights. He was also a steadfast and loyal friend to the cause of the people of Kurdistan," said the statement.
"We knew him as a courageous voice in the defense of justice, a witness to the suffering and aspirations of the Kurds, and a messenger who carried their cause to intellectual and political circles in the Western world at a time when our voice was silenced. His writings and research profoundly shaped how the struggle of the Peshmerga was understood and helped highlight the justice of our cause against oppression and tyranny," Barzani added.
Chaliand was a member of the Kurdish Institute of Paris - one of the oldest Kurdish organizations in the West. The institute has served as an ambassador for the Kurdish language, history and cultural heritage. It has also been a meeting place for Kurdish and Western activists and specialists seeking to influence international policy.
The French writer was the co-founder and secretary general of the France-Kurdistan Association from 1973 to 1983 before becoming a member of the institute.
Chaliand was a renowned author and expert on geopolitics, revolutionary movements in the developing world, and terrorism, whose extensive body of work was shaped by firsthand experience in conflict zones.
In his nearly four decades of his profession, he spent time with guerrillas in several countries and regions, including what is now the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. Among his books on Kurds are The Kurdish Tragedy and A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan.
He coined the term Anti-Kurdism or Kurdophobia to describe the repressive and denialist policies employed by several regional states against Kurdish identity.
His only immediate survivor is his son, Roc Chaliand. His wife, sociologist Juliette Minces, passed away in 2021.
"The people of Kurdistan will always remember Gérard Chaliand with deep respect and gratitude—as a true friend who stood firmly by the side of truth and freedom, and who never hesitated to raise the voice of fairness and justice," said President Barzani in his statement to Paris event.