Fuad Masum
Who was Fuad Masum?
Kurdish intellectual and politician who served as the 7th President of Iraq from 2014 to 2018. He was a founding member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and spent years in exile before returning after 2003.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Fuad Masum (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Muhammad Fuad Masum Hurami was born on January 1, 1938, in Koy Sanjaq, a town in Iraq's Kurdistan Region. He studied at Al-Azhar University in Cairo and the University of Baghdad, focusing on law and philosophy. This education influenced his dedication to Kurdish political rights and Iraq's constitutional governance. His academic background set him apart in the Kurdish political movement as someone who combined deep thinking with active political involvement.
Masum was one of the founders of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) when it started in 1975, led by Jalal Talabani. The PUK became a key political and military advocate for Kurdish autonomy in Iraq, and Masum's early involvement put him at the heart of Kurdish political efforts during a very challenging time in the region’s recent history. When Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime was in power, Masum, like many Kurdish leaders, lived in exile, facing constant persecution and threats from the central government in Baghdad.
After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the fall of Saddam Hussein, Masum returned to Iraq and played a role in rebuilding the nation’s political landscape. He held various government roles post-2003, helping draft democratic structures and engaging in the Kurdish Regional Government's politics. He was known as a close ally of Jalal Talabani, Iraq's first Kurdish president, which helped establish Masum as a trusted leader in both Kurdish and Iraqi politics.
On July 24, 2014, Masum was elected as the seventh President of Iraq by the Iraqi Council of Representatives after the 2014 parliamentary elections, becoming the second non-Arab president in Iraq's history, following Jalal Talabani. His presidency took place during a crisis, with the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which captured large areas of Iraqi territory in 2014. During this time, Masum worked on delicate negotiations between the Kurdish Regional Government, the Baghdad federal government, and international allies fighting the militant group. He served as president until October 2, 2018, when Barham Salih succeeded him after elections earlier that year.
Before Fame
Fuad Masum grew up in Koy Sanjaq at a time when Iraqi Kurds lived under governments that often suppressed Kurdish culture and political hopes. He chose to study at Al-Azhar University in Cairo and then at the University of Baghdad, showing both his ambition and the limited but important chances available to young Kurds in mid-20th-century Iraq. His academic years in the 1950s and 1960s coincided with major political changes in the Arab world and Iraq, including the 1958 revolution that overthrew the monarchy.
By the time the Ba'ath Party took control of Iraq in the late 1960s, Masum had already dedicated himself to the Kurdish political cause. The harsh crackdown on Kurdish uprisings and the notorious Anfal campaigns under Saddam Hussein made political activities dangerous, forcing Masum and many of his colleagues into exile. In this climate of resistance and displacement, he co-founded the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in 1975, shaping his public life and establishing him as a key figure in modern Kurdish politics.
Key Achievements
- Served as the 7th President of Iraq from 24 July 2014 to 2 October 2018
- Became the second non-Arab president in Iraqi history
- Co-founded the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in 1975, one of Iraq's most influential political parties
- Navigated federal and regional political negotiations during the crisis period of Islamic State territorial expansion in Iraq
- Contributed to Iraq's post-2003 democratic political reconstruction after returning from years of exile
Did You Know?
- 01.Masum is the second non-Arab president of Iraq, a distinction he shares only with his predecessor and close associate Jalal Talabani.
- 02.He was born in Koy Sanjaq, a small town in the Erbil Governorate that has historically been part of the Kurdish-inhabited regions of northern Iraq.
- 03.Masum studied at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, one of the oldest and most prestigious Islamic scholarly institutions in the world, before completing further education at the University of Baghdad.
- 04.He was one of the original founding members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan when it was formed in 1975, making him part of the organization from its very inception.
- 05.His presidency began in the same month that the Islamic State declared a caliphate and rapidly seized Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, plunging the country into a major security crisis.