Background
He was born in the village of Mam Rasha in district of Sheikhan in Mosul province in northern Iraq.
He was born in the village of Mam Rasha in district of Sheikhan in Mosul province in northern Iraq.
From 1970 to 1974 he studied at the department of Kurdish language and literature of University of Baghdad. He moved to Czechoslovakia in 1986 and received his Doctor of Philosophy from the Oriental Institute of Charles University in Prague in 1991.
From 1985 to 1991 he was the head of Society of Kurdish Students in Europe (KSSE). He has been teaching Kurdish language at the University of Göttingen since 1996.
After the fall of communism, he sought refuge in Germany in 1992.