Biography

Ars Muhammad Khan was born in 1920 in the village of Hostan, affiliated with the Barzan sub-district in the Mergasor district of Erbil Governorate. In 1975, after the collapse of the Aylul Revolution (1961-1975), he became a refugee in the country of Iran. He passed away in the country of Iran in 1995 and was buried there.

Struggle Record

On May 22, 1947, he accompanied General Mustafa Barzani towards the Soviet Union and participated in the Battle of Qotol (Qotur) and the Battle of the Maku Bridge, and 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 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 transferred 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 lessons in the Kurdish language by some of their companions who were literate.

After the poor treatment of Barzani's companions by Jafar Baghirov, it was decided to move the military camp on August 29, 1948, from the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Chirchuk 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 teams by train across 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 back to the government). 

After much effort and the sending of 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 Barzani's companions, and the committee's final decision was that they should all be gathered in the city of Vrevsky, so he went to the city of Vrevsky in the Soviet Union in November 1951.

In 1958, the Republic of Iraq was established under the presidency of Abdul Karim Qasim, and on April 16, 1959, he returned to Kurdistan with his companions by the ship Gruzia via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq.

In 1961, he joined the Peshmerga forces of the Aylul Revolution . Later he became a border guard and held the rank of Head of Branch. In 1975, after the collapse of the Aylul Revolution (1961-1975), he became a refugee in the country of Iran.

Sources:

1- Hamid Gawhari, The Barzani Medal: The Highest Honor Award, Volume One, (Erbil - Haji Hashim Press - 2015).

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

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

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

5- Abdulrahman Mela Habib Abubakr, The Barzan Tribe Between 1931 - 1991, First Edition, (Erbil - Ministry of Culture Press - 2001).

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

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

8- From the memoirs of the martyr commander Haso Mirxan Zhazhoki, 62 Days with Barzani: The Going of the Barzanis to the Soviet Union, First Edition, (Erbil - Roshinbiri Press - 1997).

9- Laith Abdul-Muhsin Jawad Al-Zubaidi, The 14 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 Press - 1998). 

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

12- Archive of the Encyclopedia Board of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.