Hoshyar Zebari
Hoshyar Mahmud Mohammed Zebari, also simply known as Hoshyar Zebari is an Iraqi politician who formerly served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq in 2014 and also as the Minister of Finance until 2016. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2003 until 2014.Biography
Zebari was born to a Kurdish family in Aqrah, a city of Duhok Governorate, Iraq and grew up in Mosul. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from The University of Jordan in 1976. He also earned a Master of Arts in Sociology of Development from the University of Essex, United Kingdom in 1980. While studying in United Kingdom, he led the Kurdish Students Society in Europe and also served as the chairman of the Overseas Student Committee from 1978 to 1980.
He joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party in 1979. In the 1980s, he fought as a member of the Peshmerga against the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein. He went on to become a member of KDP's Central Committee as well as its Political Bureau. In 1988, he was given the charge of its foreign relations and represented the party in United States of America and United Kingdom. In 1992, he was appointed as a member of the executive committee of the Iraqi National Congress, as well as its Presidential Council in 1999.
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he was appointed as a member of the Iraqi Governing Council. He was appointed Foreign Minister of Iraq in September 2003. In July 2012, Zebari said that al-Qaeda in Iraq members went to Syria, where the militants previously received support and weapons.
On 11 July 2014, Zebari was replaced as foreign minister by Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraq's deputy prime minister, who assumed the position in an acting capacity, after Kurdish politicians withdrew from the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. On 8 September 2014, he was appointed as a Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq under the government of the new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
On 18 October 2014, he was appointed as the Minister of Finance of Iraq while Rowsch Shaways was appointed as the new Deputy Prime Minister in his place. On 21 September 2016, he was dismissed from his position as Finance Minister after losing a no-confidence motion over allegations of corruption.Personal life
Zebari is an Iraqi Kurd and a Sunni Muslim. His father was Mahmud Agha Zebari. He is also the uncle of Massoud Barzani, the current President of Iraqi Kurdistan. His sister Hamael Mahmoud Agha Zebari married Mustafa Barzani and gave birth to Massoud. He holds dual citizenship, being a citizen of both Iraq and United Kingdom.
