Biography

Dara Tofiq Fathulla was born in Sulaymaniyah. In the nineteenth century, his great-grandfather Haji Awla Agha moved from the city of Mahabad in Eastern Kurdistan to the city of Sulaymaniyah. His brother Khosraw Tofiq Fathulla (1930-2004) was a member of the Central Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. In 1958, as the secretary of the Kurdish Students Association, on the occasion of the Republic of Iraq granting permission for the return of General Mustafa Barzani (1903-1979) and his companions to the homeland, he addressed a letter of welcome to the homeland to President Mustafa Barzani who was still living in exile in the city of Moscow. In 1959, he was the secretary of the Executive Office (Al-Maktab al-Tanfidhi) of the Iraqi Democratic Youth Union affiliated with the Iraqi Communist Party. From August 22 to 26, 1960, he was the representative of the Fifth Congress of the Kurdish Students Association in Europe (K.S.S.E) in West Berlin. In 1960, he was appointed secretary of the World Federation of Democratic Youth. From August 21 to 25, 1961, he represented the Sixth Congress of the Kurdish Students Association in Europe in the city of Munster, West Germany.

Struggle Record

After the February 8, 1963 coup by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party against the regime of Abd al-Karim Qasim (1914-1963), Dara Tofiq Fathulla joined the Peshmerga forces. In 1963, he was responsible for collecting wheat as aid from farmers in Sulaymaniyah Governorate for the Peshmerga forces. In 1967, he worked for the Arabic-language newspaper (Al-Ta'akhi). At the beginning of 1970, on the orders of General Mustafa Barzani, he met with Michel Aflaq (1912-1989), the leader of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, in the city of Beirut (Lebanon), and they reached an agreement regarding the Iraqi government's recognition of autonomy for Kurdistan. On January 7, 1970, he was a member of the Kurdish delegation to the Iraqi government in the city of Baghdad to determine the borders of the Kurdistan autonomous region.

On March 11, 1970, he was a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party delegation in the city of Baghdad for the declaration of the March 11 Agreement with the Iraqi government. In 1970, he was a member of the preparatory committee for the Eighth Congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. In 1970, at the Eighth Congress he was elected by the congress representatives as a member of the Central Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. On Wednesday, June 24, 1970, representing President Mustafa Barzani he participated in the Kurdish Writers Congress in the city of Baghdad. On January 10, 1970, he was a member of the nine-person delegation of the Kurdistan Democratic Party for negotiations regarding autonomy for Southern Kurdistan with Iraqi government officials in the city of Baghdad. On September 11, 1971, he was the editor-in-chief of the Brayati newspaper. On January 1, 1974, he was the editor-in-chief of the Brayati newspaper. In March 1974, by the leadership of the Aylul Revolution he was appointed as the Secretary of the Secretariat of Education and later Culture, Information, and Youth.

On April 28, 1974, after his house and his family's property were seized by the Iraqi authorities, they were expelled to the liberated areas without any necessities. In 1974, he assisted the writers of the Voice of Kurdistan station during the Aylul Revolution In the middle of 1974 until the beginning of 1975, he was the General Secretary of Education of the Aylul Revolution Later, with the passage of the Legislative Council and Executive Council of the Kurdistan Region law, he was appointed with the rank of Minister of Information, Culture, and Youth, and acting Minister of Information (Education). In 1974, he was among the founders of the Listening Department (Al-Insat) and the department. In December 1974, he supported the printing of the first color yearbook of the Aylul Revolution In 1975, he wrote articles for the Voice of Kurdistan magazine, the organ of the General Secretariat of Culture, Information, and Youth of the Aylul Revolution At the beginning of 1975, as the Minister of Information of the Kurdistan Region, he was granted thanks and appreciation by President Mustafa Barzani and the Political Bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. On October 5, 1980, while on his way from home to work, he was arrested by the Iraqi Intelligence Agency and disappeared, and to this day his fate is officially unknown. He was proficient in Kurdish, Arabic, and English.

Source:

1. The Encyclopedia Board of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.