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Mustafa Barzani in a televised legend
24.6.2009 |
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June
24, 2009
ERBIL-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', —
Starting Sunday June 28, Alsumaria TV will present
one of its major in-house production entitled:
“Ostourat Al Jabal” (The Legend of the Mountain) a
feature-length documentary that tackles the Kurdish
issue and leader Mala Mustafa Barzani.
“Ostourat Al Jabal” is seen by its director and
presenter anchor Anwar Al Hamadani as a weighty Arab
production on the Kurdish issue presented both in
Arabic and Kurdish.
“The documentary was prepared along six months of
hard application. It includes exclusive reportages,
exceptional meetings and various drama scenes as
prominent historical figures were personified in
acting namely Salahuddin Al Ayyubi and Sheikh
Mahmoud Al Hafid”,www.hawlati.net
Anwar Al Hamadani
explained.
Underlining the importance of events that this
documentary sheds lights on, Al Hamadani added that
“Ostourat Al Jabal” addresses many unspoken question
marks among Arabs about the historic relations with
Kurds in the past and present. The documentary aims
as well to near both parties’ points of views”, Al
Hamadani stressed.
“Ostourat Al Jabal is an
Alsumaria production, part of a series of in-house
production documentaries. Still to come another new
interesting documentary”, Al Hamadani noted.
Ostourat Al Jabal is split into six feature-length
episodes followed by a live forum in which anchor
Anwar Al Hamadani discusses feedback on the
documentary through mails and phone calls.
“Ostourat Al Jabal” was initiated by Alsumaria
Manager in Kurdistan Dr. Ali Akram and supervised by
Alsumaria News Manager Amjad Askandar.
Barzani was born in 1903 in Barzan, a village in
northern Iraqi Kurdistan, (then part of the Ottoman
Empire), he was first imprisoned in Mosul, with his
mother, when he was only three years old. |
Prominent Kurdish leader Mala Mustafa Barzani,
father of the current president of Iraqi Kurdistan
region Massoud Barzani.
Starting Sunday June 28, Alsumaria TV will present
one of its major in-house production entitled:
“Ostourat Al Jabal” |
Early career
In 1931 and 1932, together with his older brother,
Sheikh Ahmed Barzani who was a convert to
Christianity, he led the Kurdish struggle for
independence. In 1935, with the suppression of the
Kurdish revolution,www.ekurd.net
he was exiled to Sulaimaniyah,
together with his brother Sheikh Ahmed Barzani.
Barzani escaped from Sulaimaniyah in 1942, and
started a new revolt against Baghdad, but it was
once again unsuccessful. Barzani with 1,000 of his
followers went to Eastern Kurdistan to help Qazi
Muhammed to defend the newly founded Kurdish
Republic of Mahabad.
The Republic of Mahabad
In December 1945 the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad was
declared by the Kurds in Eastern Kurdistan, which
was under Soviet military control. Mustafa Barzani
was appointed as the Minister of Defense and
commander of the Kurdish army in the Republic of
Mahabad.
In May 1946 the Soviet troops were withdrawn from
Iran, in accordance with the Yalta Agreement, and in
December Mahabad was overrun by Iranian troops. The
President of the Republic of Mahabad was hanged in
public in the "Çar Çira" square in Mahabad city, and
many others were massacred. Mala Mustafa refused to
surrender to the invading Iranian army and along
with his fighters moved back to Iraq. But once again
he was forced to flee when the Iraqi, Turkish and
Iranian forces joined their efforts against him.
Barzani with 500 of his pesh merga fought his way
through Turkey and Iran to Azerbaijan in the Soviet
Union, where they were disarmed and incarcerated in
a prison camp before being allowed to settle in
various parts of the Soviet Union.
Exile in the Soviet Union
In 1951 the peshmerga were allowed to settle in
Baku. Many enrolled in schools and universities.
Barzani himself went to Moscow, where he studied
political science, and renewed his contacts with
Kurdish diaspora and exiles.
Return to Iraq
In 1958, following the republican coup, Barzani was
invited to return to Iraq by prime minister Abdul
Karim Qassim. Barzani went further than Qasim had
intended, and suggested full autonomy for the
Kurdish regions in the north. This resulted in new
clashes between the rulers of Baghdad and the Kurds.
In 1961 prime minister Qasim began military
campaigns against the Kurds. Barzani's Peshmergas
were highly effective in fighting the invading Iraqi
army during the revolution and inflicted a large
casualties among Iraqi army.
In March 1970 Baghdad and the Kurdish leaders
reached a peace agreement, and cease fire was
declared to pave the way for negotiations to find a
solution to the Kurdish question. As a goodwill the
Iraqi government recognized Kurdish people and
considered Kurdish language a second official
language of the republic with Arabic. In the early
1970s, Barzani's son Ubaydallah defected from the
Barzani tribe, and began working with the regime of
Baghdad as a minister of state in 1975. Vice
President Saddam Hussein, of the Baath Party,
offered the Kurds an autonomy but without including
Kirkuk, Mosul and other Kurdish cities, and mandated
full control of Iraqi army over Kurdistan.
In March 1974 after the autonomy negotiation failed
to reach a fair agreement, Mustafa Barzani led his
followers into renewed fighting with the Iraqi
government, this time with the support of Shah
Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran and the United
States. In early 1975, at an OPEC conference in
Algiers, an agreement was signed between the Shah
and Saddam Hussein,www.ekurd.net
which ceded important Iraq
rights in the contested waterway Shatt al-Arab to
Iran. In return all aid to the Kurdish revolution
was immediately cut off by Iran and in case of
continued fighting Iran was to help Iraq to crush
the Kurdish revolt. This allowed Hussein to
consolidate his power in Iraq and Mustafa Barzani
was forced to flee his homeland one final time. It's
worthy of mentioning that while leaving Southern
Kurdistan territories, he asked his driver to stop
on the last point of the fictional borders between
Eastern and Southern Kurdistan. He got out of his
car and went on the hilltop, pointing towards
Southern Kurdistan he said "Even now I do not give
up Kirkuk".
Death and legacy
He went into exile in the United States, and died
March 3, 1979, in Georgetown Hospital in Washington,
DC. He was buried just west of Mahabad, in Iranian
Kurdistan.
In October, 1993, Barzani's remains were brought
across the border from Iran to Iraqi Kurdistan, to
be reburied in the land he fought for.
His son, Massoud Barzani, is the current leader of
the KDP and was elected as the President of the
Iraqi Kurdistan region by the Parliament of Iraqi
Kurdistan in June 2005.
The Naqshbandi and the Barzani Family
In fact if we talk about Mustafa Barzani we should
mention the historical background about Naqshbandi's
Tariqat. Mustafa Barzani opposite to his ancestors
and his elder brother, Sheikh Ahmad. Shiek Ahmad was
a dominant fighter among the Barzani family. Even
Mustafa Barzani was under his command. While Mustafa
barzani thought about politic Sheik Ahmand deprived
him from been Naqshbandi's followers. To understand
the religious conflict among the Barzani family, we
need to look back to the coming Naqishbandi’s
Tariqat to this family. Barzan province has its
specialization and it differs from other parts of
the Kurdistan Region. Barzan is located in Hawler
Governorate (now KRG capital). It is near to Iran
and Turkey borders. This area sees as an independent
region. It has no governmental offices. People here
are belonging to their ancestors as a source of
social life. Here in Barzan religious conflict is
harder than political one because people here
believe no political issues but religious one, even
Massoud Barzani’s KDP has no office here. There are
various view about transferring Naqishbandi’s
Tariqat to this area, but it has been proved that
Sheik Abdulsalam first, Mustafa Barzanis ancestors,
was the first Barzani’s religious leader who declare
this Tariqat among Barzanis.
* Originally published in Attakhi Newspaper on
June 23, 2009.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
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