Areen Barzani Won a Global Award. Really?

Areen and the Great Global Award Joke… 1,800 Winners a Year and Areen Got One Too

Alan M. Nouri | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated from Kurdish Awene

Dear Areen received an award… Let’s be happy for him!

Is there anyone left who hasn’t heard that Areen Masrour Barzani received a “global” award? His own media organization, its various pages and electronic platforms, along with those of his father, uncle, party, and so on… are all celebrating this “historic” future leader of ours.

Therefore, with great enthusiasm, every corner of their institutional and social media has been filled with the news… and this is undoubtedly because there must be something very great in it for the Kurdish people. But, unfortunately, we still can’t wrap our heads around it.

What is the award, and why is it good?

The name of the award, which is also the name of the business that runs the award, is the Global Recognition Award, meaning a global recognition award. This business was registered in Singapore in 2018. Its owner is a person named Jethro Sparks.

There is no information available about him, his educational background, his business experience, or his business history on the company’s website or on major sources of information.

There is not even a photograph of him available anywhere on those sources. Its website says that over the past eight years, 14,400 people have received the award. That means 1,800 people receive this award every year.

So, what does this mean? How a Kebab Maker Could Win the Same Award

It means that the business only has “global” in its name and has no major global, international, or worldwide organizational affiliation or backing. Its “global” nature is like this: tomorrow, an unknown and unheard-of kebab maker from Erbil could create an organization called the Global Kebab-Making Awards, send application forms around the world every year, and give awards to 1,800 kebab makers each year.

It would only make it “global” if at least 1,800 “kebab people” every year (meaning they do not even have to be kebab makers; all that matters is that they like kebabs) from more than two countries submitted applications. Now, according to the website, Mr. Jethra Sparks received applications from people in 50 countries, so it is global… but global!

So why is it good?

According to its website, applying for this award is free, and anyone who wants can nominate themselves. But if those people want their applications to be reviewed by the judges, they have to pay to have them reviewed! The website does not say anywhere how much that fee is… This type of business, which they call Pay-to-Play Awards (meaning, “Pay for your own award and dance with joy!”), is enough by itself to make people suspect that it is fake.

There are many well-known similar award-business models around the world, but this one is not among them. For example, an awards organization such as J.D. Power in the United States is backed by American automobile companies and was created to mislead American consumers into believing that American automobile brands are better than all other brands.

Every year, the winners of this award are American brands. This is despite the fact that the impartial and nonprofit American Consumer Reports places those brands among the most problematic and behind Japanese foreign brands. But the Singapore-based one looks more like the kebab-maker organization from Erbil than something openly backed by American automobile companies.

Another part of this eight-year-old award’s “Pay for your own award and dance with joy!” model is that it sells different promotional packages to winners after they win, and it proudly says that 40% of the winners have purchased these packages. And what are the packages? The packages simply involve placing news about the winner on global websites such as Yahoo Finance, Forbes, and so on.

Areen Barzani walks behind his father, Masrour Barzani, Iraqi Kurdistan, November 23, 2024. Photo: Barzani’s Press Office/ikurd.net

The more you choose, the cheaper each one becomes. And placing the news is not like a news story selected by the editorial staff of those websites to highlight the winner. Rather, it is like a paid advertisement!! This is something the kebab maker from Erbil could do as well, if he had received enough money in advance.

So then, why is it good?!!

This award is good because the two words “global” and “award” put together have created an occasion for a flood of praise and admiration for the future historic leader of our people, whose value we, the ignorant people we are, still have a long way to recognize.

This lesson being taught to our own people is worth much more than the Forbes-and-Morbes package. Because imposing a historic leader on the minds of an ignorant people requires continuous work and constant reminders… Let’s be happy for him!

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in Awene Newspaper on August 14, 2026, translated by iKurd.net.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of iKurd.net or its editorial team.