Background
He was born in the village of Sûsiz near Kars in north-eastern Turkey into a Yezidi family.
He was born in the village of Sûsiz near Kars in north-eastern Turkey into a Yezidi family.
He attended a Kurdish school in Tbilisi. In 1928, he went to Saint St. Petersburg to continue his studies, where he attended the Language, history and literature department of University of Leningrad. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in 1941.
Many other Kurdish writers (such as Doctor Çerkez Bakayêv) in the former Soviet Union were also educated in that school. After World World War II he began teaching Kurdish language and culture in the faculty of Oriental Studies. In 1960, he became the head of the new Kurdology section of the faculty.
Especially important parts of Kurdo"s legacy are the Kurdish (Kurmanci)-Russian dictionary («Курдско-русский словарь (курманджи)») and the Kurdish (Sorani)-Russian dictionary («Курдско-русский словарь (сорани)»), that he compiled together with Z.A. Yusupova.
In 1972 a large collection of Kurdish folklore, prepared by Qanate Kurdo was published in Bagdad. Kurdo died in Leningrad on October 31, 1985.