'''Noşîrwan Mistefa''' (*1944 Silêmanî) siyasetmedar û rewşenbîrekî kurd e.

Noşîrwan Mistefa yek ji damezrênerê YNK'ê bû û heta berfanbara 2006'a endamê polîtburoyê û cîgirê sekreterê YNK'ê bû.

thumb|200px|Noşîrwan Mistefa 2007

==Jînenîgarî==
Piştî bidawîkirina dibistanê Noşîrwan Mistefa diçê Bexdayê û li wir beşa zanistiya polîtîk dixwînê. Paşê vedigerê Silêmaniyê û di heftenameya Rizgarî de dixebitê. Di wê demê de bi çend kesên din re rexistina  Komala - ev rêxistin ji rêxistina Komala li Kurdistana rojhilat cûda ye - ava dikê. Ji ber van xebatê ew mecbûrî koçkirina derveyî welat tê kirin û diçê Viyanaya Avûstûryayê û li wir hiqûqa navneteweyî dixwînê. Di sala 1975'a de serhildana kurdan li başûr di bin pêşengiya PDK'ê ya di bin serokatiya Mistefa Barzanî dest pê dikê û Noşîrwan Mistefa bi  Celal Talabanî û hin kesên din re dikevê têkiliyan ku partiyeke nû ava bikin. Weke encama van hewldanan Yekîtî Niştimanî Kurdistân (YNK) tê damezrandin û Celal Talabanî dibê sekreterê YNK'ê û Noşîrwan Mistefa jî dibê cîgirê sekreterê YNK'ê. Celal Talabanî ji bo xebata derveyî welat û Noşîrwan Mistefa jî bo nava welat de tê wezîfedar kirin.

==Jiyana Pêşmergetî==
Noşîrwan Mistefa hem siyasetmedar û hem jî pêşmergeyekî jêhatî bû. Wî pêşengiya serhildanên kurdan yên salên 1976'a û 1991'a li dijî Rejîma Baasê kir. Di sala 1991'ê de wi weke fermandarê pêşmergeyan pêşengiya raperîna ji bo azadkirina bajarê Kerkûkê kir. Ligel karên xwe yên politîk û leşkerî Noşîrwan Mistefa weke nivîskar jî dixebitê û çend pirtûk li ser doza Kurdistanê û dîroka çapemeniya kurdî nivîsandine.

{{Infobox Politician
| name          = Nawshirwan Mustafa
| image         = Nawsherwan_mwstafa080507_3.jpg
| image         = Nawshirwan.jpg
| caption       = Nawshirwan with Peshmerga forces.
| birth_date    = 1944
| birth_place   = Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan
| residence     = Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan
| office        = Former - Deputy Secretary General PUK
| salary        = 
| term_start    = March 1, 1975
| term_end      = December 5, 2006
| predecessor   = Jalal Talabani
| successor     = Jalal Talabani
| party         = Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
| religion      = Sunni Muslim
| constituency  = 
| majority      = 
| spouse        = 
| children      = 
| footnotes     = 
}}

'''Nawshirwan Mustafa''' ()(born 1944) is a prominent Kurdish politician and scholar. He was the co-founder and until December 2006 the deputy secretary general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two leading political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan and Iraq in general.

== Biography ==
Nawshirwan Mustafa was born in 1944 in Sulaimaniyah City in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Nawshirwan has attended universities in Baghdad and Vienna. He studied Political Science and International Law.

Nawshirwan returned to Sulaimaniyah and was editor of the Kurdish weekly newspaper "Rizgary" (Kurdish for Salvation) a weekly journal set up in the brief lull in hostilities between the central Iraqi government and its Kurdish population. During this period he and several other Kurdish intellectuals formed a secret nationalist party named Komala. He was exiled soon after for involvement in Kurdish politics.
Mustafa was in his final year of studies in Vienna when the Barzani rebellion collapsed, after talks with Jalal Talabani, they decided that a new Kurdish movement needed to be organized. He made his way to Damascus where a number of meetings between prominent Kurdish politicians about the future of the Kurdish resistance were taking place. The result of these meeting was the foundation of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, At the meeting it was announced that Jalal Talalbani would become the secretary general and Nawshirwan the deputy Secretary general. in an understanding between the two leaders it was decided that Nawshirwan would lead and organize the movement in Kurdistan while Talabani would publicize and champion the cause outside Kurdistan.  
Following his return, Mustafa quickly became a leading light of the Komalai Ranjdaran grouping (a forerunner of the modern day PUK) and became general secretary of this organization, before taking part in the negotiations which led to the merging of the Komala with the Shoresh Garan grouping of current Iraqi president Jalal Talabani and the formation of the PUK.

On the 5th of December 2006, Mr Nawshirwan Mustafa resigned from his post as the deputy leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). His resignation came as his deep reformist agenda was blocked by the Iraqi president and the leader of the PUK, Jalal Talabani. He is currently planning to create an independent Kurdish media center in the city of Suleimani in Southern Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan).

==Military career==
A military commander as well as a political figure, Mustafa is a respected figure amongst the Kurdish people for his years of servitude, courage and tactical prowess in battle against the Ba'thist forces of Saddam. Mustafa both organized and lead the majority of the Kurdish resistance from its beginning in 1976 and was the most senior member of the PUK in Iraqi Kurdistan in the 1991 uprising which followed Iraq's defeat in the first Gulf war.  As such, he took charge of the war of liberation fought by the Kurdish people, which involved the liberation of the Kurdish population centers of northern Iraq including Kirkuk (being recognized as the architect of the Raparin - the term given to the 1991 Kurdish uprising which led to the creation of the safe haven in Iraqi Kurdistan and subsequently autonomy). Following the 1991 uprising Mustafa resigned from his post as Secretary General of Komala, and dissolved the Komala wing of the PUK (which compiled over 95% of the PUK membership) to increase the unity within the PUK and allow for the transition of power from the Peshmerga (the military wing of the PUK) to the civilian population.  Mustafa was then able to return to his initial career and began to organize Kurdish academia and wrote several books, while maintaining his political profile.

== Current Affairs ==
 thumb|200px|Nawshirwan Mustafa in 2007
Currently Mustafa is an independent Kurdish politician and writer living in the city of Suleimani in Kurdistan. In 2005-2006, he started a process of reform in the electoral system of PUK aiming to increase democracy within the party, end nepotism and to both allow and encourage the younger generation of Kurds to become actively involved in Kurdish politics. However due to differences and strong resistance from other factions of the PUK, especially that of Jalal Talabani, the process of reform failed. Consequently Mustafa resigned from his post and is working along new paths to implement reform within Kurdistan and Kurdish politics, and end the current reign of corruption and nepotism.<ref>URL:http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=13685</ref> After the recent scare over Jalal Talabanis health, Nawshirwan Mustafa has been recognized as the  only  feasible successor for the position of secretary general of the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan).

== Books ==

*'''"Kurds and Ejams"'''
:''A political history of Iranian Kurds''
Published in: 1992

*'''"From the Danaube shore to the Nawzang valley'''
:''political events in Iraq Kurdistan from'' (1975-1978)
Published in: 1997

*'''"The fingers which break each other."'''
:''Political events in Iraqi Kurdistan'' (1978-1983)
Published in: 1997<br />
Discusses the often treacherous nature of contemporary Kurdish politics.