The death of the great Kurdish poet Sherko Bekas

 Sherko Bekas, the acclaimed modern Kurdish poet, died yesterday (4 August) of cancer. Son of the poet Fayak Bekas, Sherko was born in Sulaymani in 1940. He joined the liberation movement in 1965, working for the Voice of Kurdistan radio station until he was forced into exile in 1986 and he then returned to south Kurdistan in 1992.