| Pîremêrd | |
| Native Name: | Kurdish: پیرەمێرد |
| Native Name Lang: | Kurdish |
| Birth Name: | Tawfeq Mahmoud Hamza |
| Birth Date: | 1867 |
| Birth Place: | Sulaymaniyah, Ottoman Empire |
| Death Date: | (aged 83) |
| Death Place: | Sulaymaniyah, Iraq |
| Resting Place: | Mameyare Hill in Sulaymaniyah |
| Nationality: | Kurd |
| Occupation: | Poet, writer, journalist[1] |
| Known For: | Jîn Newspaper, Nawroz poem (look: Newroz as celebrated by Kurds) |
| Footnotes: | [2] |
Tawfeq Mahmoud Hamza or Piramerd (Kurdish: پیرەمێرد / Pîremêrd) (1867 – 19 June 1950) was a Kurdish poet, writer, novelist and journalist. He was born in the Goija neighborhood of Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region. In 1926, he became the editor of the Kurdish newspaper Jîyan. He also established a private Kurdish school in Kurdistan, called Pertûkxaney Zanistî (Scientific School).[3]
Tawfeq Mahmoud Hamza was born in the Goyje neighborhood of Sulaymaniyah, Iraq in 1867.
He studied Arabic and Islamic Fiqh in Sulaimaniya, and Baneh in Iran. From 1882 to 1895, he worked as an employee for different local government offices in Sulaimaniya, Halabja, Sharbazher (Şarbajêr). In 1898, he was invited by the Ottoman Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II to Istanbul where he stayed for one year. He went on Hajj pilgrimage and was given the title of Bey by the Sultan. After this, his title became Haji Tawfeq Bey. He met Wafaei, Kurdish poet, during the pilgrimage. In 1899, he was appointed as a member of the High Majlis of Istanbul. Within the same period, he was admitted to the faculty of law in Istanbul.[4]
In 1907, he became a member of the Kurdish organization Kurd Teavun ve Terakki Cemiyeti in Istanbul and was head writer for the organisation's journal. From 1909 to 1923, he served as the governor of several districts in Turkey and Kurdistan, among them Hakkari (Kurdish: Çolemêrg), Qeremursil, Balawa, Beytüşşebap (in Şırnak Province), Gumuskoy, Adapazarı and Amasya.
He wrote poetry under the pen name of Pîremêrd (Kurdish), meaning Old-man (English).
In 1925, he returned to Sulaimaniya via Baghdad. In 1926, he became the editor of the Kurdish newspaper Jîyan and in 1932 he was promoted to the post of Manager. In 1938, he changed the name of the newspaper to Jîn, and continued publishing it until 1950. He is also credited with the establishment of the first private Kurdish school in Kurdistan called Qutabxaney Zanistî (Scientific School).[5]
He died on 19 June 1950.