Karim, Najmaldin O.

(1949- )

   Dr. Najmaldin Karim is a prominent spokesman for the Kurdish cause in the United States and the former longtime president of the Kurdish National Congress of North America. In 1996, he helped establish the Washington Kurdish Institute in Washington, D.C., and continues to serve as its president.

   As a young man, Karim served as the personal physician of the elderly Mulla Mustafa Barzani. Later he became a prominent neurosurgeon living in Washington, D.C. Because of his knowledge and connections with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), as well as contacts made with officials in the United States, Karim plays an important, behind-the-scenes role in current Iraqi Kurdish politics. Recently, he moved to the Kirkuk region and was elected to the Iraqi parliament as a member of the KDP-PUK list in the elections held on 7 March 2010. He was also elected to the PUK politburo.