PRESS RELEASE: Giran Ozcan Joins JINSA as Fellow for Kurdish Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 8, 2025
Contact: Blake Johnson
bjohnson@jinsa.org

Giran Ozcan Joins JINSA as Fellow for Kurdish Affairs

Washington, DC – The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Giran Ozcan as JINSA’s inaugural Fellow for Kurdish Affairs.

Born and raised in London, Giran comes to JINSA from the Kurdish Peace Institute where he was the founding Executive Director. As the inaugural Fellow for Kurdish Affairs, Giran will provide rigorous analysis, informed commentary, and strategic insights on Kurdish politics across all four countries they inhabit—Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran—and their implications for the United States and its allies.

“We are truly delighted to have Giran join us as our inaugural Fellow for Kurdish Affairs,” said JINSA President and CEO Michael Makovsky. “Denied their own state following World War I and scattered across four countries, the Kurds play a major role in shaping the Middle East and yet do not receive enough attention in Washington and with U.S. policymaking. I’m confident Giran’s work will help foster greater understanding about one of the Middle East’s most complex and consequential communities, and their impact on U.S. security interests.”

“I am very excited to be the inaugural Fellow for Kurdish Affairs at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America,” said Ozcan. “I hope to contribute to JINSA’s excellent research and analysis on the Middle East by offering a deeper understanding of critical Kurdish affairs and their impact on U.S. interests.”

Prior to JINSA, Giran was the founding Executive Director of the Kurdish Peace Institute. He has previously worked with Turkey’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in its overseas representative offices and was the HDP Representative to the United States of America between 2017 and 2021. After graduating from the University of Warwick, he worked at the Centre for Turkey Studies in London between 2011 and 2016. His bylines include The Independent, The Guardian, The National Interest, and The Jerusalem Post.

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