Muhammed Amin Zaki Bey, (1880

Sulaymaniyah Sulaymaniyah, also spelled as Slemani ( ku, سلێمانی, Silêmanî, ar, السليمانية, as-Sulaymāniyyah), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, not far from the Iran–Iraq border. It is surrounded by the Azmar, ...

–1948 Sulaymaniyah), was a Kurdish writer,

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and politician. He was born in Sulaimaniya, son of Hagi Abdul Rahman. After studying in Sulaimaniya Military School and Baghdad Military High School, on 10 February 1902, he graduated from the Ottoman Military Academy (P. 1317-23) as the 23rd of the class and joined the

Ottoman Army The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...

as Infantry

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

(''Mülâzım-ı Sani'' ). He graduated from the

Ottoman Military College The Ottoman Military College or Imperial Military Staff College or Ottoman Army War College ( ota, مكتب اركان حربيه شاهانه, Mekteb-i Erkân-ı Harbiyye-i Şâhâne or اركان حربيه مكتب, romanized: ''Erkân-ı Har ...

(Staff College) at

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

as distinguished officer (''Mümtaz subayı'' ) on 11 January 1905. And then he served as a staff officer (major) in the Ottoman Army. He left his last duty at the Military history department on 23 July 1923 for Baghdad, and started to give lecture at the Iraqi Military Academy. He also served in the

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

i administration under the British mandate in the 1920s and was appointed as Defence Minister in 1928. His two-volume book on history of the Kurdish people and states is one of the acclaimed works on this subject and has been translated into several languages including

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

. He was the president of the Chamber of Deputies from December 1944 to June 1946. He died in Sulaimaniyah in July 1948.Mihemed Emîn Zekî Beg, ''Dîroka Kurd û Kurdistanê'', Avesta, İstanbul, 2002, , p. 4.

Books

His books were in Kurdish, Arabic and Turkish. His works primarily focused on Kurdish history, and include: #''A Short History of the Kurds and Kurdistan'', in two volumes, Dar al-Islami Publishers, Baghdad, 1931. (in Kurdish: ''Tarîxî Kurd û Kurdistan'', Kurmancî: ''Dîroka Kurd û Kurdistanê'' ) Vol.I: From the Antiquity to the Present., Vol.II: History of the Kurdish States and Principalities. #''Meşahirî Kurd'' #''Tarîxî Silêmani''

Political life

Zeki was MP of Sulaymaniyah on a number of occasions. He also served as a minister in different portfolios: * ''Transport minister (1925-1927)'' * ''Education minister (1927-1928)'' * ''Defence minister (1929)'' * ''Economics and finance minister (1931)''

Books

Political life

Notes

Further reading