Erfan Ali Abdulaziz

Erfan Ali Abdulaziz (born 12 December, 1964 in Halabja), is a Kurdish politician and the current leader of the Kurdistan Islamic Movement.

Early life

He was born at 12 December, 1964 in Halabja to a botable religious family. He attended primary school in Halabja and then attended the Islamic Institute of Halabja, which was headed by his uncle Uthman Abd al-Aziz.

Career

In the late 1970s and early 1980s he took part in demonstrations against Saddam Hussein and was expelled from school on orders from the Ba'ath Party. In 1987, he fled to Iranian Kurdistan with his uncle Osman Abdulaziz, the founder and first leader of the Kurdistan Islamic Movement, and his father Ali Abdulaziz Halabji, who led the movement's military wing. After the founding of the Kurdistan Islamic Movement, he was a member of the movement's military wing until 1990. He then went to the University of Tehran to complete his degree in political science. He then graduated from Sharia College in 1994 and then began studying international relations. In 1996 he returned to Iraqi Kurdistan and worked as an advisor to his uncle Osman Abdulaziz. He then became head of the Kurdistan Islamic Movement's Center for Political and Strategic Research and edited a political magazine called Bawar. He left Iraqi Kurdistan in 2003 and only returned in 2007. On July 28, 2016, he was re-elected as the leader of the Islamic Movement at the party's 11th Congress. On February 5, 2022, he was re-elected as leader of the Islamic Movement for the third time at the 12th Congress.