Biography

Abdulla Mal Hassan was born in 1910 in the Barzan sub-district, Mergasor district, Erbil governorate. He passed away in 1980 in the Qushtapa camp.

Struggle History

On May 22, 1947, he accompanied General Mustafa Barzani towards the Soviet Union and participated in the Battle of Gali Kotol (Qotur) and the Battle of Maku Bridge. After much hardship and fatigue, on June 18, 1947, he crossed the Aras River, which is located on the border between Iran and the Soviet Union, into the Soviet Union.

After arriving in the Soviet Union, on June 19, 1947, along with all his companions, they were placed in the city of Nakhchivan in the Republic of Azerbaijan for forty days in an open-air compound surrounded by barbed wire, guarded by a group of soldiers, and were treated as prisoners of war in terms of food, clothing, and movement. Later, by the decision of the Soviet government, they were distributed among the regions of Aghdam, Lachin, Ayulakh, and Kalbajar in the Republic of Azerbaijan. On December 10, 1947, they were moved to a military camp on the Caspian Sea in Baku, the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and on the 23rd of the same month, they were given military uniforms and, under the supervision of officers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, were given eight hours of military training daily. At the same time, for four hours a day, they were taught Kurdish language lessons by some of their companions who were literate.

After the bad treatment of the Barzani companions by Jafar Baghirov, it was decided that the military camp would be moved on August 29, 1948, from the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Charchuk compound near Tashkent, the capital of the Republic of Uzbekistan, where they continued their military training. 

In March 1949, along with his companions, they were distributed in groups and squads by train to the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked on the Kolkhoz farms (lands that people rented from the government and later gave a share to the government). 

After much effort and sending several letters by General Barzani to Stalin, a letter finally reached Stalin in which Barzani described the hardships of his companions, and he immediately ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the situation of the Barzani companions. The committee's decision was that they should all be gathered in the city of Vrevsky, so Abdulla Mal Hassan went to the city of Vrevsky in the Soviet Union in November 1951.

In 1958, the Republic of Iraq was established under the leadership of Abd al-Karim Qasim. On April 16, 1959, Abdulla Mal Hassan, along with his companions, returned to Kurdistan via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq on the ship Georgia.

Sources:

1- Hamid Gawhari, Barzani Medal the Highest Honor Award, Volume One, (Erbil- Haji Hashim Printing House- 2015).

2- Hamid Gardi, Summary of History, First Edition, (Erbil- Aras Printing and Publishing House- Ministry of Education Printing House- 2004).

3- Shaban Ali Shaban, Some Political and Historical Information, Third Edition, (Erbil- Rojhalat Printing House- 2013).

4- Omar Farouqi, Sardar Dana: Life and Struggles of the Late Mullah Mustafa Barzani, Second Edition, (Erbil- Ministry of Education Printing House- 2002).

5- Abdulrahman Mullah Habib Abubakr, Barzan Tribe between 1931-1991, First Edition, (Erbil- Ministry of Culture Printing House- 2001).

6- Abdullah Ghafoor, Geographical Dictionary of Erbil, (Erbil- Kurdish Academy Publications- Haji Hashim Printing House- 2015).

7- Karwan Muhammad Majid, The Barzanis from Mahabad to the Soviet Union, First Edition, (Sulaymaniyah- Paywand Printing House- 2011).

8- From the memoirs of the martyr commander Haso Mirkhani Zhazhoki, 62 Days with Barzani: The Barzanis' Journey to the Soviet Union, First Edition, (Erbil- Roshinbiri Printing House- 1997).

9- Laith Abdul-Muhsin Jawad Al-Zubaidi, The 14th of July 1958 Revolution in Iraq, (Baghdad- Dar Al-Rashid for Publishing- 1979).

10- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement 1931-1958, (Duhok- Khabat Printing House- 1998). 

11- Najaf Qoli Pessian, From Bloody Mahabad to the Shores of the Aras, trans. Shawkat Sheikh Yazdin, First Edition, (Pirmam- Golden Jubilee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party- 1996).

12- Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Board.