Mazhar died in Germany on March 16, but coronavirus-related restrictions delayed his body’s return to the Kurdistan Region until Tuesday night, when it arrived at Erbil International Airport.

The Region’s political leaders honored the historian by laying a wreath at the Kurdistan Region Presidency’s offices in Erbil on Wednesday, before Mazhar made a final trip to Sulaimani for burial.

Born in 1937 in Sulaimani’s Aghjalar village, he studied history at Baghdad University and then travelled to the Soviet Union for further education. He published numerous books on Kurdish history in both Kurdish and Arabic.

"Dr. Kamal Mazhar was born in Kirkuk. Being Kirkuki is not an easy task. Since, unfortunately, over the past decades, for the Kirkuki Kurds, being Kirkuki meant a hard life, insecurity, and facing constant denial of one’s rights on their own land. Dr. Kamal Mazhar wrote about these struggles and provided evidence of the injustices committed against Kirkuk in his book, 'Kirkuk and its Surroundings'," Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said at the ceremony.

"Dr. Kamal Mazhar was a scholar of the history of Kurdistan and the greater region. His relentless efforts throughout his career shed light on the history of the Kurds, Kurdistan and the region, by investigating thousands of documents and explaining the chain of historical events. His work is exceedingly valued and influential," the president further added.

Meanwhile Sulaimani Governor Haval Abubakir said during the burial service that all of Mazhar’s research was based on his true understanding of the Kurdistan Region and the Kurds.

“He did not look at our history as a Kurd, but as a scholar,” Abubakir said, adding that with his work, Mazhar made people to see themselves as if in a mirror: just the way they are and not the way they desire.

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