General Mustafa Barzani Also known as the General of the mountains, was a Kurdish nationalist leader and Peshmerga commander.
Born on 14th March 1903 to a nationalistic and religious family in the Barzan area of North Erbil, he was one of the most prominent political figures in modern history of Kurds.
After his elder brother Abdulselam Barzani launched the first Kurdish nationalistic revolution against Othman empire in Southern Kurdistan. Othman authorities imprisoned him along with his mother at the tender age of only three years old.
When he turned twenty, his brother sent to Northern Kurdistan in order to join his fellow Kurdish insurgents against the Turkish Republic. In the year 1931, Barzani and his elder brother, Ahmad Barzani led a rebellion against a newly formed Iraqi kingdom, after the Iraqi authorities attempted to break up any power possessed by the Kurds in the region. During the beginning of the rebellion, the Barzani rebels managed to defeat the Iraqi army.
Following the Iraqi defeat, the British Royal Air force intervened in support of Iraq with aerial bombardment and this led to widespread damage to the region and forced the Barzanis to surrender. After his defeat, Mustafa Barzani was kept under surveillance from 1939 until 1943 in Slemani.
Mustefa Barzani in Mahabad Republic and His exile to USSR
In October 1945, Mustafa Barzani with his three thousand peshmergas crossed the Iranian borders and entered Iranian Kurdistan in order to aid Peshawa Qazi Muhammad to establish the Kurdish Republic in Mahabad.
During his time there, He became the minister of defence and General chief of the Kurdish army staff. Barzani’s peshmergas gave a boost to the ability and morale to Kurdish nationalists in Newly-formed Kurdish Republic, as most of Barzani’s peshmergas had excellent experience and trained enough to stand against the Persian army.
As Iranians attempted to dissolve the Kurdish Republic, Barzani defeated over their attempts and caused the Iranians to suffer heavy losses. In December 1946, Soviet Union cut its support for the Kurdish Republic. As a result of this, Kurdistan Republic was overrun by Iran. Mustafa Barzani was one of the few who did not surrender to Iran.
As Iranian forces were approaching the capital city of Mahabad, Qazi Muhammad handed Barzani the Kurdish flag and asked him to continue on with the Kurdish resistance.
Barzani promised Qazi Muhammad that he will indeed fight for Kurdish independence for as long as He lives and departed Mahabad for the Soviet Union, where he lived in exile for ten years.
While attempting to cross the Soviet borders Iranian forces, with support from the Turkish Air Force, launched a harsh attack against the Barzanis. The intention behind this assault was to capture the Barzanis. However, to the surprise of many, the Barzanis managed to repel the Iranian and Turkish armies using their limited arsenal of basic weapons. This unexpected victory enabled the Barzanis to successfully cross into what was formerly Soviet territory.”
While living in the Soviet Union, Barzani received political and military education in Frunze academy until 1958, when He finally returned back to Kurdistan.
Mustafa Barzani returning to Kurdistan
After a successful coup d’état led by Abdulkarim Qasim in Iraq, he returned to Kurdistan. Upon his arrival, millions of Iraqis, including Kurds and Arabs, warmly welcomed him in Basra.
In the year 1961 Barzani led the September revolution against the Republic of Iraq which was to be the most powerful and longest lasting revolution in all the history of Kurdistan. As the result of the September revolution, the Kurdish peshmerga forced Iraq to officially recognise Kurdistan independent autonomy. On 1st March 1979 Mustafa Barzani lost his life to lung cancer in the United States.
Today, Mustafa Barzani is regarded and remembered as the spiritual father of the Kurdish nation amongst Kurds from all over the world.
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