Mustafa Karadaghi has dedicated his entire life to advancing the human rights of the
Kurdish people. He served as major leader of his people with conviction, commitment,
and compassion. He describes the Kurdish people as: "30 million, living in a vast and
rich homeland the size of France... that is divided among the states of
Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. A diplomat, freedom fighter, human rights activist and writer, he
first came to the United States in the 1950's as a student in Denver, Colorado and
Berkley, California. He received his B.A. and Masters degree in Political
Science. He returned to Kurdistan and lead Kurdish forces in the mountains of Iraq to oppose the
brutal campaign of the despot Saddam Hussein to obliterate the Kurdish civilization in
Iraq. He served as a freedom fighter for 7 years, from 1963-1970, until the signing of the
Autonomy of Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan. Shortly thereafter Saddam started his campaign
to destroy the Kurdish leadership. To escape execution, the honorable Mustafa Karadaghi
fled in 1974 and became a refugee in the United States. In America, he established the
Kurdish Human Rights Watch, Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to advocating for
the rights of the Kurdish people. He published the quarterly journal Kurdistan Times that
makes the plight of the Kurdish people known to the western democratic world.
Throughout his life he has defended the basic human rights of the Kurdish people.
