Mustafa Barzani (14 March 1903 – 1 March 1979), also known as Mullah Mustafa, was a Kurdish nationalist leader and one of the most prominent political figures in modern Kurdish politics.
In 1946, he was chosen as the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to lead the Kurdish revolt against the Kingdom of Iraq. Barzani was the primary political and military leader of the Kurdish separatist movement until his death in March 1979. He led campaigns of armed insurgency against both the Iraqi and Iranian governments.Korn, David (1994-06). "The Last Years of Mustafa Barzani." Middle East Quarterly. Retrieved 15 November 2006.
Early life Mustafa Barzani was born in 1903 in Barzan, a village in southern Kurdistan. When Barzan was just a few months old, his home village was attacked by the Hamidiye Horsemen, an Ottoman army made up mostly of Kurdish tribal warriors and commanders, and he and his family were deported to Diyarbakır, where he spent a long time in prison. Following an insurrection launched by his tribe, he and his family were imprisoned, when Barzani was only three years old. His father, grandfather, and a brother were later executed by the Ottoman authorities for other insurrections.
At an early age he was sent by his older brother Sheikh Ahmed Barzani to join with about twenty men the revolt of Kurdish chiefs of Az Zibar against the British in Iraq. About a hundred fighters managed to ambush the British diplomat J.H.H. Bill and his company and the group was divided into two. Bill was killed with three others, while two local Kurdish tribesmen were spared. After the revolt resulted in a raid on Akre, the contingent of Barzani returned to their homeland. The British did not let such an attack on their authority go unpunished and destroyed the houses of the Zibari chiefs as well as the houses of the Barzanis. In 1919, as a boy, he participated in Mahmud Barzanji revolts against the British. As an envoy of his brother, he had contact with Sheikh Said.
In 1931 he followed his older brother, the Barzani chieftain (sheikh) Ahmed Barzani, who led an insurrection against Baghdad's attempts to break up tribal power in the Kurdish regions of Iraq.The Kurdish Minority Problem, p.11, Dec. 1948, ORE 71-48, CIA . The insurrection began when Sheikh Ahmed had entered into a feud with a neighboring tribal chieftain in Baradost after the latter attacked Sheikh Ahmed for heresy, prompting Iraq to intervene as they had intended to check the Barzani tribe before then. Iraq received help from its British allies, who engaged in aerial warfare against territories in rebellion. The aerial bombardments led to widespread damage and setbacks, leading Sheikh Ahmed to surrender to Turkish forces on the then-contested border with Turkey in June 1932, while Mustafa Barzani and a brother Muhammad Sadiq continued fighting for another year. On the advice of Sheikh Ahmed, Mustafa Barzani surrendered to Iraq. But in 1939 he was involved in the formation of the political party Hewa (Hope), the first Kurdish political party in Iraq.
Mustafa Barzani was kept under surveillance until 1943, when he again broke free from his exile in Sulaymaniyah as Iraq underwent the effects of World War II. Baghdad again utilized tribal rivalries to defeat Barzani, sending him, Sheikh Ahmad, and about three thousand followers fleeing across the border to Iran, entering Oshnavieh in October 1945, where Kurdish nationalists under the guidance of the Soviet Union were establishing a new Kurdish state. Despite differences between Qazi Muhammad and Mustafa Barzani, the arrival of Barzani's forces gave a boost to the ability of the nationalists to assert control over the region.
Early political career His political career began in 1939, when he came into contact with the Kurdish nationalist Hiwa Party, which, in turn, was interested in collaborating with Barzani to gain influence over the traditional tribal milieu. In 1943, Barzani, now the official leader of his tribe, rebelled against the Iraqi central government.
Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad In December 1945 the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad was declared by Qazi Muhammad, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in Mahabad (northwestern Iran) which was under Soviet military control. Barzani was appointed as the Minister of Defense and commander of the Kurdish army in the Republic of Kurdistan. As Iranian forces began to engage the forces of the Republic of Mahabad, Barzani quickly proved his reputation as a capable commander with his forces inflicting defeats on the Iranian divisions, and was one of the few who did not surrender or defect to the advancing Iranian forces.
In May 1946 the Soviet troops were withdrawn from Iran and all support for the Republic of Kurdistan was cut, in accordance with the Yalta Agreement. In December of that year Mahabad was finally overrun by Iranian troops, which was followed with harsh punishments for those involved; the president of the Republic Qazi Muhammad was hanged in public in the "Çwar Çira" square in Mahabad city along with his brother and a cousin, and a number of libraries containing Kurdish texts were burned.Hussein Tahiri: The Structure of Kurdish Society and the Struggle for a Kurdish State, Costa Mesa 2007, Mazda Books. pp.93 ff
Exile in the Soviet Union Barzani and his followers arrived in the Armenian SSR and were put in a camp near Nakhchevan. After appealing to the Soviet Union to help them, Barzani and his followers were transferred to the Azerbaijani SSR, kept in camps near and around Baku. Barzani met with Azerbaijan Communist Party officials, who under orders from Moscow were told to help the Kurds.
In November 1947, Barzani met for the first time Mir Jafar Baghirov, the First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party, to discuss what the Kurds could do in the Soviet Union. Barzani's followers were organized into a military regiment and received training in military tactics and politics, as well as education to learn to read and write Kurdish.On 19 January 1948, a conference was held gathering Kurds from Iraq and Iran in Baku, where Barzani outlined a plan for the Kurdish movement. This prompted Iran to again demand that the Soviet Union extradite Barzani and his followers to Iran to stand trial, which the Soviet Union rejected. Barzani however fast ran into problems with Baghirov due to differences and stances towards the Kurdish movement. As Baghirov was connected to Lavrentiy Beria, this gave Baghirov a lot of power in regional affairs, leading to Barzani requesting his followers be transferred out of Azerbaijan fearing Baghirov would act against them.
Barzani and the others were transferred to the Uzbek SSR in August 1948, but Baghirov's disputes with Barzani were not forgotten. Despite assurances from both the Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan Usman Yusupov, Baghirov's rivalry with Barzani spilled over into Uzbekistan and resulted in Barzani himself and much of his followers to be separate and spread across the country to do hard labor. For the following three years, Barzani was separated from his followers, prompting them to engage in sit-ins and strikes demanding they be reunited and their cause recognized.
Barzani sent numerous letters to Moscow, addressing them to Joseph Stalin himself, requesting that he and his followers be treated better and reunited. Only one of these letters reached the Kremlin and shortly afterwards in March 1951, Soviet officials began investigations to address the concerns of Barzani and his followers. The committee found that Barzani and his followers were unfairly treated, and in August 1951 the Soviet government reunited Barzani and the other Kurds, giving Mustafa Barzani a residence in Tashkent while the rest were given homes in a small community outside of Tashkent. All of them were provided with jobs, education, training, and social services that was given to other Soviet citizens.
Barzani would later meet with Soviet figures like Georgy Malenkov and Nikita Khrushchev in May 1953 after the death of Stalin to ensure that the Soviets would continue helping him and his followers. Shortly afterwards, Soviet officials moved Barzani to a residence in Moscow and enrolled him in the Party Higher School.
Rumors also spread that Barzani was given a rank in the Red Army, which appears to have been false. Recounting the story years later to Yevgeny Primakov, Barzani recalled that he had bought a uniform at a Voentorg (military supplies) store while in Tashkent in 1951, and took a picture of himself wearing it. This picture somehow fell into the hands of British intelligence, which was the source of rumors of Barzani having been inducted as a member of the Soviet Red Army.
During his time in exile, the Kurdish Democratic Party was founded in Iraq, holding its first Congress on 16 August 1946, in Baghdad, electing Mustafa Barzani as its president. The party would later rename itself to the Kurdistan Democratic Party in January 1953 during its Third Congress.
Iraq and revolutions
Mustafa Barzani, following his return to Iraq in 1958, would engage in numerous insurgencies against Baghdad, often seeking and gaining support from the KGB, CIA, Mossad, MI6 and SAVAK, as well as support from Syria and Jordan depending on which country was opposed to the government in Baghdad at the time, taking advantage of the complexities of the Cold War in the Middle-East.
Return from exile and Qasim
Following the Republican coup against the Hashemite monarchy, the Kurds were granted more rights. In the provisional Iraqi constitution on 27 July 1958 was included that Kurds and Arabs were partners of the same nation. Following, several Kurds were appointed into high military ranks and Barzani was invited to return to Iraq. In October 1958, Barzani and his followers returned from the Soviet Union, and Barzani quickly established warm ties with Qasim. Qasim hoped to use Barzani as a potential ally in the power struggles in Iraq, as Qasim faced considerable resistance from more nationalist minded Arab officers and intellectuals in the country. Mustafa Barzani faced similar challenges within the KDP, with divisions rising over land reform, political position, and alliances with other parties in Iraq such as the Iraqi Communist Party. Barzani quickly asserted control over the KDP, ousting the General-Secretary Ibrahim Ahmad and replacing him with the pro-Communist Hamza Abdullah in January 1959 and cementing ties with the ICP.
Along with the Communists, Barzani and the KDP sided with Qasim during an uprising of Ba'athists and other Arab Nationalists in Mosul in March 1959, entering into the city to fight off the insurrection. Following a deadly riot instigated by leftists in Kirkuk in July 1959, Qasim denounced the ICP and Barzani followed suit, seeing the ICP as a rival in northern Iraq. Barzani severed ties with the party and restored Ibrahim Ahmad to his original position and elevated Jalal Talabani to the politburo during the KDP's fourth Congress in October 1959, ending the KDP's cooperation with the ICP. While welcoming towards the break with the ICP, Ahmad however still held suspicions of Barzani and his policy for the party and remained critical of his leadership.