Armenian scholar awarded for contributing to Kurdish language, Yazidi community
The Berlin-based Jemal Nebez commission of the Jemal Nebez Foundation designated the religious scholar Khanna Omarkhali for the Jemal Nebez Award, which is a biennial accolade honoring individuals who have made significant contributions to Kurdish culture, language, and intellectual discourse.
“Omarkhali has significantly advanced the understanding of Yezidi theology, oral traditions, and the social structure of the Yezidi community,” the statement read, adding that her contributions to Kurdish grammar and linguistics “have deepened understanding of how Kurmanji Kurdish is used in both religious and secular contexts.”
She is a professor at Georg-August University of Göttingen and the Free University of Berlin. In addition to teaching and researching, Omarkhali has “systematically” documented Yezidi religious texts and advanced linguistic resources for the Kurmanji dialect of the Kurdish language, according to the statement by the commission.
“We are very pleased to award the prize this year to Khanna Omarkhali,” Fexriye Adsay, the coordinator in charge of the prize commission, told Rudaw, adding that Omarkhali is one of the “most prominent Yezidi Kurdish authors and researchers.”
The commission emphasized that Omarkhali’s efforts and dedication have helped amplify the voice of the Yazidis and shed light on their resilience in the face of persecution, oppression, and genocide.
Omarkhali is a Kurdish-Yazidi researcher and writer, born in 1981 in Armenia. She comes from a prominent Yazidi religious lineage in the country. She completed her university studies at Saint Petersburg University in 2002, specializing in Iranian linguistics and Kurdish studies.
In 2004, she earned her master’s degree, followed by a PhD in 2006, with her dissertation focusing on the Yazidi religion. This made her one of the first academically specialized researchers in this field.
The Jemal Nebez Award is presented biennially by a special commission of the Jemal Nebez Foundation in Berlin, Germany. It honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Kurdish language, culture, politics, or arts, or those with notable scientific achievements or exceptional services to Kurdistan that have left a lasting impact.
