Kamaran Badr Khan was the son of Amin Ali Badrkhan, the last Emir of the Badrkhans. The most active personality of Badrkhans is Kamaran Badrkhan who was born in Istanbul in 1895 and began writing at the age of 14. He spoke six languages and played an important role in the Kurdistan liberation movement, Kurdish journalism, and literature. Kamaran Badrkhan's siblings are Suraya and Jaladet, who also played an important role in the Kurdish political, journalistic, and literary struggle.
In 1889, Kamaran Badrkhan co-founded the Union and Progress Association with Sheikh Obaidullah Nahri, the first political party in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Later, in 1908, he tried to establish the Kurdish Union and Progress Association but failed because of their exposure.
At the end of the revolution of Sheikh Saeed Piran, his family had to move to Syria and after 1925, with his brother Jaladet Badrkhan, he began a secret struggle and played a major role in the establishment of the Khoibun Association. Kamaran Badrkhan later moved to Germany to complete his higher education and received a doctorate in law.
In addition, he constantly helped his brother Jaladat Badrkhan in publishing the magazines Hawar and Runahi. In 1943, he temporarily settled in Beirut and published a magazine in the Kurmanji dialect called Rozha No. At the end of the same year, he published another magazine, Ster. In the late 1940s, he opened the Kurdish Radio in Beirut. In 1959, he played the main role in the opening of the Kurdish Voice Radio in Cairo. The radio was closed in 1963 under Turkish pressure.
Character Designer: Hemn Qaremani
After receiving his Ph.D. in law, Kamaran Badrkhan worked as a lecturer at the University of Paris in France and as the head of the Kurdish language department at the Institute of Language and Civilization of the East. He later founded an institute for Kurdish studies in Paris, where he supervised university students as a Kurdish language expert. In 1954, he became a lecturer at the Sorbonne University.
Kamaran Badrkhan politically had broad contacts with most of the world's leaders and Arab countries. In 1948, he presented Kurdish demands to the United Nations in New York. He is considered the founder of relations between Kurds and Israel in the region. In the 1950s, he organized a meeting for Jalal Talabani and the Israeli Foreign Minister in Paris. This was the beginning of Kurds and Israel relations.
In 1962, he went to Tel Aviv and asked for help for the Kurdish revolution. Eventually, he obtained Israeli military assistance for the Kurds. Kamaran organized relations between the revolution and Egypt, Algeria, and Jordan and was considered the founder of Kurdish diplomatic relations from 1940 to 1969.
After the March 11 agreement, he cut his relationship with the revolution because he was concerned about the agreement. He passed away in Paris in 1978 and donated his body to the Paris Institute of Science.
French journalist and photographer, Francois Lovat, says, “When we went to meet Barzani, he was surprised that I was French and spoke fluent Kurdish. I said, 'Don't be surprised. I am a friend of Kamaran Badrkhan. He taught me Kurdish. Anyone who meets him once would love Kurds and want to know more about Kurds. I am one of Kamaran Badrkhan's friends."
