Kurdish politician and member of the Presidential Council of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Saleh Muslim, died on Wednesday evening, March 11, 2026, in a hospital in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, at the age of 75, following a struggle with illness.
Muslim had been suffering from a chronic kidney disease and had recently undergone dialysis sessions in hospitals in Sulaymaniyah. About a week ago, he was transferred to Maryamana Hospital in the Ankawa district of Erbil, where he passed away as a result of his illness.
The body of the late politician is scheduled to be transferred on Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. from the city of Erbil to Rojava Kurdistan عبر the Semalka border crossing, where he will be laid to rest in the city of Kobani.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, mourned the late leader, stressing that he was “a national politician who played a pivotal role in the Kurdish people’s struggle for freedom.”
Abdi said in a statement that the deceased “was the father of a martyr, a prominent struggler, a close friend, and a Kurdish national politician who played a pivotal role in the Kurdish people’s struggle for freedom over four decades.” He noted that Muslim had been repeatedly arrested and interrogated by the Baath regime and was among the pioneering leaders of the Rojava Revolution. He stressed that the path of “Bavê Welat” would continue until his aspirations for the Kurdish people’s cause are realized, offering condolences to his family, the Democratic Union Party, and the Kurdish people.
The President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, also expressed his condolences over Muslim’s death, extending sympathy to his family and comrades. In a condolence message dated March 11, 2026, he said the late figure “spent many years of his life in political struggle and in advocating for the legitimate rights of the Kurdish people. He was one of the prominent Kurdish leaders in Syria and played notable roles at various stages of the struggle.”
For its part, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) mourned leader Saleh Muslim in a statement, affirming that his passing represents “a great loss.” The party noted that he was a struggler who dedicated his life to serving the cause of his people and defending their legitimate rights, contributing through many years of political and organizational work to strengthening the values of struggle and freedom. The party pledged in its statement to continue along the path he followed and to pursue his struggle until achieving the goals he believed in and fought for.
The Political Bureau of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) also offered condolences, stating that since the beginning of the revolution in Syria and Rojava, Muslim had presented “an important example in the struggle for the rights of the Kurdish people and in building the experience of self-administration.” It added that his passing represents “a loss for the struggle in Rojava and for the process of a new democratic Syria.”
Who is Saleh Muslim?
Saleh Muslim was born in 1951 in the village of Shiran, affiliated with the city of Kobani in Rojava (northern Syria). He graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Istanbul Technical University in 1977 and later worked as an engineer in Saudi Arabia during the 1980s.
He became involved in political work in the 1990s and was among the founders of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in 2003. He served as its co-chair between 2010 and 2017, before later being elected a member of the party’s Presidential Council.
Throughout his political career, he held several positions, including membership in the Kurdish Supreme Committee, participation in Kurdish–Kurdish dialogue delegations, and membership in the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), in addition to taking part in political dialogues related to the Syrian crisis.
Muslim was arrested several times by the Syrian authorities. He was also detained in the Czech capital Prague in 2018 before being released later.
It is also noted that Muslim was the father of the martyr Sharvan Muslim, who lost his life during battles against the ISIS organization in Kobani in 2014.
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