List of German people of Kurdish descent

This is a list of individuals who are of full or partial Kurdish origin who grew up and/or live in Germany.

Academia and Medicine

• Jamal Nebez, linguist, mathematician, politician, author, translator and writer
• Bachtyar Ali, novelist, intellectual, literary critic, essayist, and poet
• Rauf Ceylan, German-Turkish sociologist and author
• Khalil Rashow, academic, writer, and researcher
• Nadia Murad – human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
• Khanna Omarkhali - academic and researcher
• Gülşen Aktaş, educator

Artists

• Shwan Kamal
• Bahzad Sulaiman – performance maker and visual artist

Athletes

• Agit Kabayel, boxer
• Deniz Naki, football player
• Mahmoud Dahoud, football player
• Baker Barakat, boxer and kickboxer
• Deniz Undav, football player
• Mirkan Aydın, football player
• Aias Aosman, football player
• Shergo Biran, football player
• Youssef Amyn, football player
• Joan Oumari, football player
• Hassan Oumari, football player
• Dilan Ağgül, football player

Musicians

Rappers

• Haftbefehl (Kurdish father and Turkish mother)
• KC Rebell
• Eko Fresh (Kurdish mother and Turkish father)
• Azad
• Xatar
• Mudi (Kurdish father and Lebanese mother)
• Kurdo
• Eno
• Capo (Kurdish father and Turkish mother)
• AK Ausserkontrolle
• Fero47
• Bero Bass
• Pashanim

Singers

• Namosh
• Ferhat Tunç
• Engin Nurşani
• Nizamettin Ariç
• Ali Baran
• Hozan Canê
• Serhat Baran

DJs

• Kurd Maverick

Politicians

in German parties

• Ferat Koçak,
• Sevim Dağdelen, German politician and a member of the Left Party (Die Linke)
• Cem Ince, German politician (The Left)
• Evrim Sommer, German politician
• Gökay Akbulut, German politician and social scientist. She is currently serving in the Bundestag (federal parliament) as a member of The Left Party from the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg
• Kassem Taher Saleh, German civil engineer and politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens
• Kenan Engin, German-Kurdish political scientist
• Leyla Güven, Kurdish Politician
• Lamiya Haji Bashar, human rights activist. She was awarded the Sakharov Prize jointly with Nadia Murad in 2016
• Ali Atalan, Kurdish-German politician of Yazidi faith. He is a former member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia with Die Linke in Germany, and the Turkish Parliament with the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP)
• Cansu Özdemir, German politician of The Left from Hamburg. She is a member of the Hamburg Parliament
• Serdar Yüksel, German politician of SPD from Essen. He is since 2025 a member of the Bundestag
• Muhterem Aras,  German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens party. She has been a Member of the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg for the constituency Stuttgart I since May 2011, and Landtagspräsidentin (speaker) since May 2016
• Hamide Akbayir German politician
• Hüseyin Kenan Aydın, German politician and member of Die Linke.

in foreign parties or organisations

• Haji Ahmadi (Iran; grew up in Iran and lives in exile in Germany)
• Leyla Ä°mret (grew up in Germany and lived in Turkey)
• Feleknas Uca (grew up in Germany and lives in Turkey)
• Cuneyd Zapsu

Cinema

• Züli Aladağ, film director, film producer, and screenwriter (Kurdish and Turkish origin)
• Ayşe Polat, script writer and film director
• Yasemin Şamdereli, German film director, screenwriter and actress
• Düzen Tekkal, German author, television journalist, filmmaker, war correspondent, political scientist, and social entrepreneur of Kurdish–Yazidi descent
• Nizamettin Ariç, film director

Writers and Literature

• Seyran Ateş (Kurdish father and Turkish mother)
• Rohat Alakom
• Lamiya Haji Bashar
• Eskerê Boyîk
• Nadia Murad
• Bachtyar Ali
• Eskerê Boyîk, writer
• Khalil Rashow
• Fatma Aydemir, author and journalist
• Sherko Fatah, German writer
• Meşale Tolu, German journalist and translator

Miscellaneous

• Hatun Sürücü, victim of a so-called "honor killing" by her youngest brother in 2005

See also

• Kurds in Germany
• List of Kurds
• Kurdish diaspora

References