Mustafa Barzani (March 14, 1903–March 1, 1979) was a Kurdish nationalist leader and President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Legendary to many of his people, Barzani was one of the most inspired, tenacious and resilient Kurdish leaders with a commitment to the struggle for Kurdish interests. He led the armed struggle, notably from 1961 to 1963, and from April 1974 to May 1975.

Barzani was born in 1903 in Barzan in northern Iraq (then Ottoman Empire), as the heir in the leading family of the region.

In 1931 and 1932, together with his older brother, Ahmad, he led the Kurdish struggle for independence. In 1935, with the suppression of the Kurdish fight, Mustafa was exiled to Sulaymaniyah, together with his brother. Mustafa escaped from Sulaymaniyah in 1942, and started a new revolt against Baghdad, but it was once again unsuccessful. Mustafa escaped together with 1,000 of his followers and their families into Iran.

In December 1945 the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad was declared by the Kurdistan Democratic Party in northwestern Iran, which was under Soviet military control. Mustafa Barzani became commander of its army. A Kurdistan Democratic Party was founded in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and Barzani was, in his absence, elected as its president. This party is now known as the KDP, while the original Iranian party is known as the KDP-I.

In May 1946 the Soviet troops were withdrawn from Iran, in accordance with the Yalta Agreement, and in December Mahabad was overrun by Iranian troops.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 leaders of the Kurdish Republic were hanged in the main square of Mahabad, and many others were massacred.

Mullah Mustafa moved with his people back to Iraq, but once again had to flee. With 500 of his pesh merga he fought his way through Turkey and Iran to Azerbaijan in the Soviet Union, where they were disarmed and interned in a prison camp.

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 exiles.

In 1958, following the republican coup, Mustafa was invited to return to Iraq by prime minister Abdul Karim Qassim. Mullah Mustafa went further than Qasim had intended, and suggested independence 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 started military actions against the Kurds.

In March 1970 Baghdad and the Kurdish leaders reached an agreement, where Kurdish ethnicity and language were recognized and given a position on par with the Arab. In the early 1970s, Mustafa's son Ubaydallah defected from the Barzani tribe, and started working with the regime of Baghdad. General Secretary Saddam Hussein of the Baath Party offered the Kurds an autonomy agreement, with all final decisions however, left to Baghdad.

In March 1974 Mustafa Brazani led his followers into renewed fighting with the Iraqi government, this time with the support of Shah Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran, as well as Israel and the United States. In early 1975, an agreement was signed in Algiers between the Shah and Saddam Hussein, which ceded important rights in the contested waterway Shatt al-Arab to Iran. In return all aid to the Iraqi Kurds was immediately cut off by Iran.

Mustafa Barzani had to flee his homeland one final time. He went into exile in the United States, and in 1979 died in Georgetown Hospital in Washington, DC.

His son Massoud Barzani is the current leader of the KDP and was elected as the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region by the Iraqi Kurdistan's Parliament in June 2005.

See also

• Bahdini

External Links

• Britannica

1903 births | 1979 deaths | Kurdish politicians

مصطفى البارزاني | Molla Mustafa Barzani | مصطفی بارزانی | Mele Mistefa Barzanî | Mustafa Barzani | Mustafa Barzani