ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Milan Jaff, a Kurdish rapper who rose to prominence in Finland through music and social media, has rejected portrayals in Finnish media that describe him as a "mafia boss," saying such labels are misleading and based on his artistic image rather than his real life.
In an interview with Rudaw on January 11, Jaff said the characterization stems largely from the title of one of his songs, Kurdish Mafia, which he described as a performance concept rather than an organized group. He said he views himself primarily as an artist and performer, adding that the persona presented in music videos should not be confused with his personal life.
Jaff, who said he moved to Finland as a teenager and began his career through prank videos before turning to rap, acknowledged that he has been involved in legal cases in Finland but disputed the accuracy and context of many allegations reported about him. Finnish authorities have convicted him of a range of criminal charges, including violent and sexual offenses and weapons-related accusations. Jaff said several claims were unfounded or exaggerated and stressed that court proceedings are complex, saying that some charges have been dropped, reduced, or are still under appeal.
He also said he believes his case became politicized amid debates over migration and crime in Finland, arguing that public narratives about him were shaped by broader anti-immigrant sentiment.
Jaff said he served prison sentences in Finland and was later deported after authorities revoked his residency, though he said legal challenges related to his case remain ongoing. He returned to the Kurdistan Region voluntarily in 2025, according to his account.
While Jaff acknowledged making mistakes, he denied being part of organized crime and said he regrets situations where violence occurred. He said he plans to continue making music and emphasized that his work reflects artistic expression rather than real-world conduct.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Milan Jaff:
Rudaw: Finnish media covering you call you a mafia leader and mafia boss. Do you see yourself as a mafia boss?
Milan Jaff: No, that is simply propaganda and nothing more. I have a song called ‘Kurdish Mafia,’ and they have used that as a reason to label me that way. I am just a singer; I rap. ‘Kurdish Mafia’ is only the name of one of my songs.
Who is Milan Jaff? If someone doesn't know you and wants to find out, how would you introduce yourself?
I'm a young person who lives in Finland. I used to make prank videos and things like that, then I started singing, and through music, I became more known in Finland, yes.
Are you well-known in Finland?
Yes.
When you say you're well known, is it not that you became known in the ordinary sense?
No.
…Where are you from? How old are you? How did you get to Europe?
I'm from Garmiyan [independent administration]. I went to Europe when I was 15 or 16, and I've been in Finland since 2017. My life started there. I was in school before. I never liked school since childhood. I wanted to go into MMA. At the time when I was in a camp, a children's camp.
You left at 16 and arrived at 17? You were born in 2000, right?
Yes. In the children's camp, I wanted to… because we were always fighting and [doing] such things as kids, they were hitting me as a child, I wanted to grow up so no one could hit me, and so I'd be one of those who hit others. So I wanted to go into MMA and fight there. But at that time, at the children's camp, they wouldn't take me. I knew I was good at it because as kids that was always our thing, and then…
Fighting?
Yes, at school, you'd get hit, and you'd hit them.
Did you hit them or did they hit you?
Well, I'd hit them, and they'd hit back, as such.
From what age did no one manage to hit you? At what age could no one beat you?
From about 15 or 16, around that time.
Then, no one could hit you.
I don't remember it when I was very young, but…
You were in a camp when you were under 18, but you couldn't go into MMA?
Yes, the reason I couldn’t was because at the time they said… I was in a city called Lohja. I was away from Lohja and there was a place called Sintio, I lived there in a camp. It was a big house, like a large Airbnb. Because it was far, they said you can't go, because you're the only one who wants that thing, what is it called in Kurdish?
MMA.
You are the only person, the others are not going because it is difficult for them to take me and bring me back. Then when I turned 18, I went to Helsinki and my life started there.
But at 17, you wanted MMA? MMA, people here may not be very familiar with it, but MMA is such a tough sport that you could die in it. It's very serious, not ordinary fighting; it involves punching and kicking, and it's one of the most dangerous sports. What kind of passion was that which you had?
I always loved fighting. I wanted to go do it as a sport for myself because I loved fighting. I knew I was good at it. That's why I didn't study at school; it didn't go into my head. I was very bad at school; I'd fall asleep on the desk, it was so unpleasant for me.
For fighting, you had no trouble.
But for fighting, I wasn't like that. I liked it because I knew I'd find myself in it.
After you arrived in Finland, you had a very interesting story there, you form a group called Kurdish Mafia. What is this group, the Kurdish Mafia?
That wasn't a group in itself. I had started singing at that time, so I called my own brethren, my friends. When you release a song, you can't sing it alone, you need people around you, you need to have nice car, like Xatar [Giwar Hajabi, Kurdish rapper in Germany] like those other Kurds who sing, Kurdish rappers. You need people with you, like an actor. You have to be like an actor. So I called my own friends and we released the song Kurdish Mafia.
Rap?
Yes.
You're a good rapper, at least that's how it appears in the videos. Did you learn rap in Kurdistan or in Finland?
No, in Finland.
What made you turn to rap?....
At that time, I didn't even listen to rap, I wasn't intending to [do it]. When I went there, I listened to a lot of rap because most of my brothers listened to rap. One friend was a singer himself, his name was Turisti. He is a very famous singer in Finland now; a lot of people have listened to his songs this year and in previous year. Through that way, he called me. He wasn't very famous at the time. He said, ‘We want you to come and make a song for you.’ I said I don't know how to sing. He said, ‘No problem, come, and we'll teach you.’ I was very young at the time…
So it was through someone? But how did that person know you to tell you to come do rap?
At that time, I was making prank videos and content…
On social media?
People would watch and recognize me. Through that, he sent me a message. He knew me, but I didn't know him.
What I read in Finnish media says your Instagram account very quickly reached 91,000 followers. For Finland, that's a lot because it's a small community of about 5 million people, I think. Your YouTube video had two to three million views. How did you enter Finnish society so quickly?
I knew how to present myself in a way that would draw people's attention. You have to be an actor- I am a different actor from the others. I did things that others in Finland weren’t doing. There were records that other Finnish artists didn't dare to attempt, and because of that, people watched me more.
You were 18 when you went to Helsinki?
Yes.
How did you learn Finnish so quickly?
I studied Finnish at school there, but most of it I learned through friends.
Do you speak Finnish well?
Yes, I speak good Finnish…
The Finnish police say Milan Jaff is charged with assault, sexual assault, attempted murder, use of weapons, including a Kalashnikov and a pistol, threatening, home invasion, deprivation of liberty, as well as drug matters and several other types of crimes. What do you say about all these charges that the Finnish police say Milan Jaff committed?
I wanted to start with the time when Rudaw published something about me. I was a little upset because most of what was said wasn't true.
Rudaw [obtained its information from] Finnish sources. What I read is what the Finnish police, those aren't my words. That's why I've come to interview you. Why does the police say these things about you?
Okay, let's start with the sexual assault [charge], which is simply baseless, the assault. There was a girl who was in one of my music videos. She was older than me. She was very fond of me. I was not in a relationship with her in the sense of a relationship. Because I wasn't with her, that was the reason she filed a complaint against me, and it is completely baseless.
She filed a complaint because you rejected her?
That's something, I don't know what they call it in Kurdish, meaning the details are hidden, the papers and I can't talk about it much. But…
Meaning she made an accusation against you?
Yes, she made an accusation against me. There are many singers, many footballers, [Cillian] Mbappe, [Achraf] Hakimi, [Takeshi]69, many big singers and famous actors who have had charges fabricated against them like that, to become famous and to give them money. Now, after me, that girl has appeared on TV three or four times and has been in other places; she made herself famous through me. That is baseless. I didn't need to do that. If I liked any girl, I could start a relationship with her, because when you're famous, you can do anything; it's much easier when you're a known person. It has no basis.
If we talk about the fights, I've seen some videos. In one video, you knock a guy down with a punch, caught on a surveillance camera. In another video, I think you're in prison, someone throws a bowl of hot oil, frying oil, into your face. I don't know how your face didn't burn and wasn't destroyed. Then you start fighting there. Your fights, at least from the videos, are there, explain those to me.
That is why the Finns, for the most part, may talk, but they still like me, because they know I say things as they are in my songs, I say I'm that kind of person, and I don't lie. Prison there is different from prison here. People come to pick a fight with you if you don’t hold your ground there; people won't leave you alone, and everyone will get used to [attacking you]. You must not let anyone cross the red line. Those I fought, one of them was the one who threw hot water on my face. I had previously hit a friend of their group. I didn't know he was their friend; he had set a trap for me, but it didn't work. The other one, you wake up in the morning, you have no energy, and a man picks a fight with you. You haven't even washed your face, and he starts a fight with you. That's how it was. The issue became two cases.
He comes and grabs your collar [harasses you].
He comes and grabs your collar [harasses you]. What can you do?
What is the conversation? Before you land a punch, there is a heated exchange between you.
Yes, I was reading a newspaper. I pulled a piece of bread out… it is the dining place.
Is that also a prison?
It is also a prison. It is a dining place, and you were not supposed to be reading a newspaper there. I pulled a piece of bread and put it on the newspaper so I could tie the food bag so it wouldn't spoil. Then he touched my bread. I said why are you touching it? And that's how the case started. Then, like that, the case became two cases.
Is it worth a punch?
That's prison; if you don't speak, the others will learn.
But outside of prison, too, there are many stories of fights about you?
The others were also because of friends and Kurds.
How many fights have you been in? Do you remember?
Not really.
Tens? Hundreds?
No, no, it’s not that many. We don’t need to talk about it; the paper is in your hands.
You've been charged with theft. What do you say about that?
It was- he owed money.
How?
That fella had taken money from our friends… They ask for help, they're Kurds, you have to help them.
And the person they turned to was you?
He came so I can resolve it for them.
How was the mediation? What does a mediation done by Milan Jaff look like?...
… They'd bring them to me, I'd sit them down and say, ‘Brothers, don't fight, be good men. We're refugees, let's not let these racists [look down on us].’ Then, the issue became such that it could’t be resolved and turned into something else.
You hit him?
Well, that's how it went…
It is mentioned that you deprived people of their liberty.
I don't deprive people of their liberty.
For example, enslaving people, detaining people from their homes, and imprisoning people, what are these?
No, none of that is real. I'm not the kind of person to go out on the street and imprison people on my own. If anything did happen, it wasn't with an unknown person; that matter had something else behind it, an issue, like money being taken or those things.
…Were most of your friends Kurds?
Yes, most of them were Kurds.
Did you have Finnish friends?
Yes, we have Finnish.
Romanian, Russian?
Romanian, Russian, we know all of those.
All of these, if they had problems, they'd come to you, or at least most of them?
Most of them, yes. They know each other, and Finland isn't very big, so we'd help them.
Meaning those who had money problems or who were threatened, they came to you for help?
Yes.
Do you want to say that all these charges against you came as a result of helping your friends?
My own mistakes were part of it, but most of it was because of helping friends. I gave a lot of help to Kurdish friends; I didn't want any Kurd to be wronged in that country. And because of that, we got into a lot of fights.
One of the charges against you is about weapons. Are weapons available in Finland? Is it that easy to obtain them?
They exist.
Did you have weapons?
No, I didn't have weapons. They didn't see weapons on me; they only say so.
Were you caught with a weapon?
No, I was not caught with a weapon.
You are charged with attempted murder. Attempted murder of whom?
I don't know who they're talking about. I told the court that I have not killed anyone and have not attempted to kill anyone. There was only disputes with another group; how do I say it in Kurdish? My Kurdish has become a bit [weaker]...
Have you threatened them?
No, not as threats, but I said, in gentle words, I spoke with them gently.
You said with kind words, “I'll kill you"?
No, none of those things were in it.
When you make the group, you name it AK-47, that's the name of the Kalashnikov. Why that name? It's written AK-47 in all your videos, too. Why did you choose AK-47?...
That's not a group… it was just a number of friends. AK-47, in Mardin, a Kurdish city [in southeastern Turkey], because the Kurds there most of them use it… The Kurds here in Kurdistan [Region] use it. The Peshmerga fought with that weapon. It's a Kurdish symbol, it's a Kurdish weapon, and the Peshmerga fought and still fight with that weapon. So I made it a symbol because it's a Kurdish symbol. I think every household might have one like it…
But from all those Kurdish symbols, for example, we have walnuts, we have Kurdish honey, why did you choose the Kalashnikov?
Well, how do you put walnuts into rap? Rap and walnuts don't go together. But a Kalashnikov and rap do go together.
…In your own rap videos on YouTube, you present yourself as a gangster type, and that the situation is under your control, and Helsinki is under your control. The police say the same. In the video, it appears that way, a lot of people around you talk about prison and fighting and those things. How much of that was your actual real life?
In real life, I like to help a lot of people, and that's how I've been. But on social media and in music, that's a different life. Like an actor who presents himself in a film, you have to do the same in music, and there's no difference. I am like an actor, that's how I am on social media and in my YouTube music. That's just performance; in real life, I'm a different person.
What are you like?
Soft and gentle.
What did an ordinary day in Finland look like for you?
Sometimes I worked.
What work did you use to do?
Yes, I worked. Shop work with a friend, a car wash and those, along with restaurant work. I did some of those too. Also, renovation work, I don't know what it's called in Kurdish.
Delivery?
No, renovation is when you go to a house…
Renovation?
Yes, renovation, I did those too.
Were you working continuously?
I was also going to school at that time, and I was doing sports. I was always doing sports.
What is your story with prison?... How many times did you go to prison?
Twice. The first time was two months.
What year was the first time?
2020.
You arrived at the end of 2017, two years after arriving, and you ended up in prison. On what charge? Fighting?
Fighting and disturbing someone's home, and theft, but later they dropped the theft charge. For the fighting and the other matter, they sentenced me.
What sentence did you receive at that time?
At that time, it was one year and five months, I don't remember exactly. Two months of the sentence I spent in prison…For ten or twelve months of my sentence, I was imprisoned outside.
…Outisde, under police supervision? Could you leave the house?
Yes I could. I had to visit the police weekly… and talk to them.
And the second time?
…The second time I was arrested…
On the charges I mentioned before?
Yes, it was on those matters.
How many years were you sentenced? How long did the trial take?
It took a long time, two years of court proceedings, or around a year
What year was the second time?
It started in 2021 until 2023.
For two consecutive years, you were in prison?
…It's a bit different; the court there is not like here. There, if a sentence is given and you're not satisfied, you can take it to a higher court.
….How many years were you sentenced to in the lower court?
I was sentenced to 10 years.
You appealed the decision?
There were two courts, one gave 10 years, and the other, four or five months later, also demanded 10 more years, meaning 20 years.
What was it in the end?
In the end, with everything combined, it was close to 9 years. The first 10 years that were demanded were removed because they had no proof that I had done that thing, so it was dropped. The other 10 years they gave me, I didn't accept and took it to a higher court. There, they reduced the 10 years to 6 years and 2 months. With all the other sentences combined, it came close to 9 years.
But up to now, you still had residence status there? You had no passport?
Yes.
You were in prison until you came back to Kurdistan. How did you spend those six years? Starting from 2021, were you in prison the whole time?... What was the atmosphere inside the prison like?
In prison there, they had made it difficult for me because they said you are a street gang leader. They had placed me in the section of those who had a lot of problems, the dangerous ones. Fights break out often there. A man doesn’t want to lower his head. It wasn’t bad, but there you'd be let outside for very few hours per day, sometimes three hours a day.
How many fights did you face? Two are on video, how many other fights did you have?