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'''Saad Eskander''' ({{langx|ar|سعد اسکندر}}; born 1962) is a contemporary [[Iraq]]i [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] academic and researcher. He was born in [[Baghdad]], joined the Kurdish [[Peshmerga]] in 1981 and lived in the mountains of [[Iraqi Kurdistan]] for four years, then moved to [[Iran]] and [[Syria]].<ref>His interview with ''The Guardian'' [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/09/iraq.iraqandthearts Books, tears and blood], ''[[The Guardian]]'', June 9, 2008.</ref>

He received his [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in modern history from the [[University of North London]] and his [[PhD]] in international relations and history from the [[London School of Economics]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070514174330/http://www.pbs.org/now/news/312.html Saad Eskander on Rebuilding Iraq], [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]], March 23, 2007.</ref> His thesis was titled [http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2625/ ''Britain's Policy Towards the Kurdish Question, 1915–1923''.]<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Eskander|first=Saad Basheer|date=1999|title=Britain's policy towards the Kurdish question, 1915-1923|type=PhD|publisher=London School of Economics and Political Science|url=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2625/|access-date=28 June 2021}}</ref> He returned to [[Iraq]] in 2003 after the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion]] and since then has served as the director of the [[Iraq National Library and Archive]] until 2015.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Looting and Repatriation of Iraq's Archives: A Conversation with Saad Eskander and Sara Farhan |url=https://iranianstudies.utoronto.ca/video/the-looting-and-repatriation-of-iraqs-archives-a-conversation-with-saad-eskander-and-sara-farhan/ |access-date=2024-09-02 |website=Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies |language=en-US}}</ref> As of 2023, Eskander was serving in two roles: Cultural Heritage Advisor to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, and as the Technical Supervisor of the Iraq National Archive.<ref name=":0" />

During the height of civil war in Iraq, he wrote a [[blog]] diary about the harrowing experience of living in Baghdad, which was subsequently published on the [[British Library]]'s website. The diary was written between November 2006 and July 2007.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070106030143/http://www.bl.uk/iraqdiary.html Diary of Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive(covering the period November 2006 - July 2007)]</ref>

==Awards and honours==
He was awarded Archivist of the Year Award by New York's Scone Foundation at a ceremony at [[Columbia University]] in New York on 12 November 2007.<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/dr_eskanderaward.html Dr Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive, is named Archivist of the Year 2007<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> He also won the MESA Academic Freedom Award of the Middle East Studies Association in 2007.<ref>[http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/excellence/academic.htm MESA Academic Freedom Award<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

He was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) in recognition of his distinguished service at a ceremony hosted at the British Library in December 2008.<ref>British Library Website: http://www.bl.uk/iraqdiary/cilip.html</ref>

In 2010, Dr. Eskander was elected as Iraq's representative at the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for promoting the Return of Cultural Property to the Country of their Origins.

==See also==
* [[Ba'ath Party archives]]

==Notes==
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[[Category:1962 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Iraqi Kurdish people]]
[[Category:People from Baghdad]]
[[Category:Iraqi librarians]]
[[Category:Kurdish scholars]]
[[Category:Kurdish historians]]
[[Category:20th-century Kurdish writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Kurdish writers]]