Washington Kurdish Institute is an educational and research organization focused on Kurds

Kurdish people

The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...

. It was established in September 1996 and is based in Washington DC. Its objectives are raising awareness of Kurdish issues, promoting human rights in Kurdish areas and supporting development of civil society among Kurds. The institute has a Board of Directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 headed by Dr. Najmaldin Karim. It also has an advisory committee composed of renowned Kurdologists such as Martin van Bruinessen, Abbas Vali, Amir Hassanpour

Amir Hassanpour

Amir Hassanpour, , is a prominent Iranian Kurdish scholar and researcher. He was born in Mahabad, in north-western Iran. He received Bachelor of Arts degree in English language in 1964 from University of Tehran. He taught in the secondary schools of Mahabad in the period of 1965-66.In 1968, he...

 and Michael Chyet. The institute offers Kurdish language courses at beginner and advanced levels for both dialects of Sorani

Soranî

Soranî is the name of a Kurdish language that is spoken in Iran and Iraq. Soranî is one of the main Kurdish languages, which are a branch of the Iranian languages.- Name :...

 and Kurmanji

Kurmanji

Kurmanji or Northern Kurdish is the most commonly spoken dialect of the Kurdish language.- Scripts and books :...

.