Kurdish poet Sherko Bekas remembered in Sulaymaniyah on 13th anniversary of his death

SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq — A commemoration was held on Sunday evening in Sulaymaniyah to mark the 13th anniversary of the death of Kurdish poet Sherko Bekas, with cultural, literary and artistic figures attending a ceremony at his grave in Azadi Park. The event opened with a reading of poetry by the late poet's son, Hêlo, after which symbolic candles were placed at the grave. Attendees from the city's cultural community joined family members and admirers of Bekas. Artist Birhan Mohammed, speaking at the ceremony, described attendance as a duty of loyalty to Bekas and called him "the poet of two centuries." Mohammed said Bekas was not only a poet but an "literary school" for new generations, noting that his works had been translated into many languages and that his place in Kurdish literature remains central. Bekas devoted a significant part of his life to the unity of the Kurdish people, and his poetry carried messages of unity and peace, according to Mohammed, who called for the preservation of his cultural legacy. Bekas died in 2013 at the age of 73 in a hospital in Stockholm, where he had been receiving cancer treatment.