About Us

The Hiwa Times is an independent English language publication covering Kurdistan, the Middle East. We report on the politics, conflicts, culture and ideas that matter in one of the most important and complex regions on earth.

We started The Hiwa Times with a simple belief: that the region deserves a publication that puts the reader first. We are funded by our readers and editorially independent. Our only commitment is to our readers and to getting the story right. We cover the news others overlook, give voice to perspectives that go unheard and report with the honesty that our audience deserves.

Inspired byRafiq Hilmi

The Hiwa Times takes its name from Hîwa (meaning Hope), the first organised Kurdish political party, founded in 1938 by Rafiq Hilmi. Born in Kirkuk in 1898, Hilmi was a historian and political pioneer who built the foundations of modern Kurdish political life at a time when organised Kurdish politics barely existed.  His party was the first to bring Kurdish intellectuals and civil servants under one roof. Hilmi understood that Kurdish aspirations required not just passion but structure and alignment with the West. He championed a pro-British position within the party at a time when that was neither the easy nor the popular choice. That political instinct, organised and pro-West, is the founding spirit of The Hiwa Times. We carry his name because we share his belief that the Kurdish cause is best served through engagement with the democratic world