19 Facts About Najmiddin Karim

Najmiddin Karim, known as Najmadin Karim, was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who was governor of Kirkuk Governorate from 2011 to 2017.

Najmiddin Karim was born in Kirkuk in 1949, and lived there until he completed secondary school, when he moved to Mosul, where he studied medicine at the Mosul Medical College.

Najmiddin Karim became involved in politics at university, being elected to the leadership of the Kurdish Student Union in 1971, and then later joining the Peshmerga in 1972.

Najmiddin Karim later completed neurosurgery training at George Washington University, and started his own medical practice in the Washington, DC area.

Najmiddin Karim became an American citizen and lived in the United States until 2009, when he returned to Kirkuk.

Dr Najmiddin Karim co-founded the Kurdish National Congress of North America, established the Washington Kurdish Institute, worked with the Senate and State Department to provide Kurdish-language programming on Voice of America, and made frequent appearances on major news outlets.

Najmiddin Karim returned to Iraq in 2009 to stand for the Kurdistan Alliance in the parliamentary election, and was elected as a member of parliament for Kirkuk.

Najmiddin Karim was elected as governor of Kirkuk Governorate by Kirkuk's Governorate Council on 29 March 2011.

Najmiddin Karim was sworn in as the governor on 3 April 2011.

Dr Najmiddin Karim was the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's Kirkuk list in the 2014 general elections where he drew enormous support across ethnic groups with over 150,000 votes.

On 14 September 2017, Najmiddin Karim was removed from the governorship by Iraqi parliament for holding the Kurdish referendum in Kirkuk.

Najmiddin Karim however stated he will not follow the dismissal order and will stay in office.

In October 2017, Najmiddin Karim had to leave the city of Kirkuk after Iranian backed militias and the Iraqi federal army entered the province.

Najmiddin Karim was accused of corruption in connection with Project "Kirkuk Eagle", which aimed to wirelessly monitor vehicle movements into and out of the province to prevent theft, which the court claimed was a fraud.

Najmiddin Karim had both Iraqi and American citizenship, and prior to his return to Iraq lived in the United States with his wife and family, where he ran his medical practice.

Najmiddin Karim was a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan until 16 October 2017, when he left the party.

Najmiddin Karim stated his reasons for leaving the party was due to the agreement made by the PUK to order the withdrawal of all Peshmerga forces from the city of Kirkuk causing it to be captured by the Iraqi forces.

On 31 October 2020, Najmiddin Karim died in hospital in the United States at the age of 71.

Najmiddin Karim was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer around fall of 2019.