The father of the Kurdish issue in Iraq .. Mustafa Barzani, a political and military rally

For nearly 3 decades, the Kurdistan region of Iraq has enjoyed a kind of independence within the Iraqi state.

Many political and security gains have been achieved. According to the Kurds, the credit for their leader, Mullah Mustafa Barzani, who is called "the father of the Kurdish cause", has the greatest credit for changing the Iraqi Kurdish equation.

His birth and his upbringing

Mustafa bin Muhammad bin Abd al-Salam al-Barzani was born on March 14, 1903, in Barzan, which is located 25 kilometers northeast of the city of Aqrah in the Dohuk Governorate in northern Iraq, near the upper reaches of the Great Zab River.

The professor of modern history, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Allaf, says that the Barzanian family has gained a religious status in northern Iraq over time, as it belongs to the scholar Sheikh Tajuddin, founder of the Barzanian Sheikhdom, as the family’s influence began in 1825.

Al-Allaf adds to Al-Jazeera Net that not many years have passed since Barzani was born until he learned of the story of the Ottoman Empire’s execution of his elder brother, Sheikh Abd al-Salam, in Mosul, following his rebellion against the Ottomans.

Al-Allaf: The Barzanian family acquired a religious status as it belongs to the world, Sheikh Tajuddin, founder of the Barzanian Sheikhdom (Al-Jazeera Net)

Al-Allaf says that the Iraqi authorities had arrested Barzani and his mother at a young age in a prison in the city of Mosul (northern Iraq), and after his release and his mother’s release, he was a student at the hands of one of the sheikhs, as he studied the Holy Qur’an, the Prophet’s hadith, belief, Sharia and jurisprudence, after which he completed his religious studies in the city of Sulaymaniyah.

Al-Allaf describes Barzani as being courageous and intelligent, and the best hunting and hunting since his inception, and that he immersed himself early in the Kurdish issue and devoted his life to it through his upbringing with his brother and presiding over talks with the Iraqi state during the British occupation of Iraq.

A huge picture of the late Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani in a village in Dohuk (French)

His political and military career

Fadel Al-Barak mentions in his book “Mustafa Barzani, Myth and Truth,” that Barzani turned to political and military work, and was an admirer of the leadership of Sheikh Mahmoud al-Barzanji's grandson in the city of Sulaymaniyah against the British occupation after the end of the First World War and the British occupation of Sulaymaniyah and Mosul in 1918 and 1919.

Al-Barak adds in his book that Barzani was in contact with the Sheikh Said Biran movement in Turkey in 1920, and in 1931 Barzani undertook his first political action when his brother Muhammad sent him as his representative to negotiate with the Iraqi and British forces, and after the dialogue failed, Barzani led a force of fighters to defend the Axis Merkeh Sur Shirwan against an Iraqi military force, including the officer Bakr Sidqi, who led the first coup in Iraq in 1936.

Al-Barrak recalls that as a result of that attack, the British administration made a decision at the time to attack the headquarters of Ahmed Barzani and his brother Mustafa, then the military operation ended after five months with their loss, so he was forced to flee to Turkey on June 22, 1932.

As for Al-Allaf, he adds that in 1934, Barzani and his brother returned to Iraq after the state pardoned them, but they were exiled to southern Iraq and continued in exile for nearly 10 years, after which the government transferred them to the city of Sulaymaniyah in northeastern Iraq.

He continues that in 1939 Barzani became involved in working with a secret organization in Sulaymaniyah known as "Hiwa" which means "hope." However, the Iraqi state's war against ISIS forced it to flee Sulaymaniyah in July 1943, according to the historian Al-Allaf who indicated his return to his area. The originals were prominent in the same year.

As a result of Barzani's courage, Al-Allaf continues that he was connected to all the Kurdish leaders in the region, including those in Iran, so the Kurdish politician Qadi Muhammad chose him as defense minister in the Republic of Mahabad in Iran in 1946, which did not stay long due to the Shah of Iran’s elimination of it within one year.

Zangana considered that Barzani was keen to invest any opportunity for peace with the Iraqi government (Al-Jazeera Net)

Its most important stations

One of Barzani’s most prominent political stations - according to Al-Allaf - was his establishment on August 16, 1946, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, where he was elected as its president until his death, and his son Masoud Barzani took over after the leadership of the party.

Many political stations are those that Mustafa Barzani went through in his life, as the Kurdish political analyst Muhammad Zangana says that Barzani did not leave any opportunity for peace with the Iraqi government without investing it, referring to his discussions with the Iraqi Prime Minister during the royal era, Nuri Al-Saeed in the forties of the last century, which led to An agreement was foiled by the British, who were occupying Iraq at the time.

Zangana continues - in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net - to say that peace efforts with the Iraqi governments continued with the government of Abdul Karim Qasim and Abd al-Salam Aref and his brother Abdul-Rahman Aref, leading to the March 11, 1970 agreement that granted the Kurds autonomy.

He goes in this direction, the well-known Kurdish political trend, Mahmoud Othman, who accompanied Barzani between 1963 and 1975 and was his party official, as Othman describes him as the architect of peace with the Iraqi government in the March 11, 1970 agreement for Kurdish autonomy, in which Othman was the head of the Kurdish delegation.

Regarding his most important political milestones, Othman refers - in an exclusive testimony to Al-Jazeera Net - that the most important of which was his role as Chief of Staff of the Army in the Republic of Mahabad in Iran, then he went to the Soviet Union on foot with a 50-day march in 1947, where he remained there until 1958. When he returned to Iraq after the revolution of July 14, 1958, after the coup against the monarchy.

Othman - who was Barzani's private doctor and translator in his press interviews with foreign media - confirms that he was looking for peace with the Iraqi government because he realized the extent of the need for the Kurds and the Iraqi people to stop the bloody fighting, but the Iraqi government's policy at the time thwarted the agreement with Barzani, which led to the return of Fighting in 1974, according to politician Othman.

Returning to Zangana, he believes that the history of the Kurdish people did not witness a leader as enthusiastic for his cause as Mustafa Barzani, as he enjoyed good relations with many Arab politicians, such as the former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Lebanese leader Kamal Jumblatt and the King of Jordan, Hussein bin Talal, as well as his correspondence with the King of Saudi Arabia. Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

Othman considers that Barzani is the architect of peace with the Iraqi government in the March 11, 1970 agreement (Al-Jazeera Net)

His illness and his death

Returning to the Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman, he confirms that Mustafa Barzani left Iraq for Iran after the Algiers agreement between the two countries in 1975, on the basis of which Iran gave up support for the Iraqi Kurds at the time, and then due to his illness with lung cancer, he traveled to the United States and stayed there for 4 years until his death. On March 1, 1979, at George Washington Hospital.

Many negative and positive positions were presented about Mustafa Barzani’s life, political and military career, and his role in the Kurds ’access to self-rule. However, all opinions agree that Barzani is considered the father and founder of the Kurdish issue in the modern era.