Miss Kurdistan bids for Miss Grand International

ERBIL, Kurdistan – A 24-year-old Kurdish woman is among the 20 participants competing for the title of Miss Grand International 2015 in a pageant to be held Monday in Thailand.

Leyli Chupani, from the ethnically Kurdish area of Iran, works in Dubai as a nurse and model.

“Now, I am in Thailand and preparations for pageant have already kicked off,” Chupani told Rudaw by phone. "As a participant from Kurdistan, everybody here is treating me with lots of respects and the organizers of the festival have recognized Kurdistan as a state.” 

Chupani said her ability to speak Persian allowed her to form a friendship with this year's Miss Iran. 

Miss Grand International is an annual international beauty contest that seeks to find women to encourage the campaign "Stop War and Violence" and to help people to avoid conflict and violence.