From newsletter to institution: Feyli magazine celebrates 263 milestones

Shafaq News

By Ali Hussein Feyli

Publishing 263 issues of a magazine that carries a name as weighted with meaning as “Feyli” represents more than the continuation of a media project—it marks the consolidation of a mature cultural institution within the Shafaq Foundation.

Reaching this number shows that the magazine is not a passing journalistic product, but a historical record that, through patience and persistence, reshaped perceptions inside and outside the Feyli community. It moved a cause from complaint and outcry to documentation, study, and analysis.

The magazine’s voice is no longer tied to a single outlet. It has become part of the Feyli Kurdish identity itself, a symbol of cultural production and the revival of a national capital rooted in resilience and active engagement.

Over 22 years, the magazine has redefined how Feyli Kurds are seen in the wider Iraqi consciousness. Across 263 issues, it grew into an informal school that launched the careers of dozens, if not hundreds, of writers who first published in its pages before becoming researchers, activists, or influential voices.

Its value extends far beyond the issues printed. It builds collective identity, shared memory, and a horizon for generations who may never meet us, but will inherit an archive of serious, committed work.

Sustaining a monthly magazine with this consistency is not the product of a temporary experiment but of institutional maturity, and of people who cannot be reduced to labels like “minority” or “marginalized.”

What many overlook is that the magazine, over more than two decades, has built a quiet yet deep archive that documents the present and establishes the record of tomorrow. While new issues draw attention, what matters is the body of the work preserved: stories that would have been forgotten, faces that would have remained nameless, and records whose absence would have deepened cultural loss.

This occasion is marked not by ceremonies or photographs, but in the quiet space between heart and voice, a moment of gratitude to those who built this path with professional conscience and carried it beyond 263 issues.

When a magazine continues issue after issue, its message is clear: this experience is not fleeting. It has become part of the social fabric. Such continuity turns its stewards from temporary contributors into true owners of the house.

This article was originally written in Arabic.