Biography

Hassan Ali Shirwani was born in 1926 in the village of Spindar, affiliated with the Goretu sub-district in the Mergasor district of Erbil Governorate. He married Sharifa Hassan Tufa in the Soviet Union and had four children; his family was of the Tatar people of the Crimean Peninsula. He retired in 1993. Hassan Ali knew Kurdish, Turkish, and Russian. He passed away on April 29, 2013.

Struggle Record

In 1943, he joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution. On October 2, 1943, he participated in the capture of the Shanadar police station, and on October 12 of the same year, he participated in the capture of the Khirazok police station. On August 8, 1945, he participated in the capture of the Mergasor police station. For this reason, on August 19, 1945, by order of the Iraqi military tribunal, all his movable and immovable property was seized.

 After the defeat of the Second Barzan Revolution, on October 11, 1945, he headed to Eastern Kurdistan. On March 31, 1946, he was a Peshmerga in the Barzan Force affiliated with the army of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad. On May 3, 1946, he participated in the Battle of Milqarni and was a Sergeant. After the defeat of the Republic of Kurdistan, on March 19, 1947, he participated in the battles of Oshnavieh and Naqadeh. He was among the Peshmerga who returned to the Shirwan and Mizuri region on April 19, 1947, through (Khwakurk and the Bazargir plain) via the territory of Northern Kurdistan.

After their return, General Mustafa Barzani held a meeting with his companions on May 6, 1947, in the village of Argosh and gave them the choice to stay or go towards the Soviet Union. There, all his companions decided to continue and head towards the Soviet Union. On May 23, 1947, he accompanied General Mustafa Barzani towards the Soviet Union and participated in the Battle of Gali Qotur and the Battle of the 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. They were guarded by a group of soldiers and were treated like prisoners of war in terms of food, clothing, and movement. Later, by decision of the Soviet government, they were distributed across 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, they were taught the Kurdish language daily for four hours by some of their companions who were literate.

After the poor treatment of his companions by Jafar Baghirov, it was decided to move the military camp on August 29, 1948, from the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Charchuk community 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 across the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked in the Kolkhoz fields (lands that people rented from the government and later returned 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 Barzani's companions. Eventually, the committee's 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.

After the July 14, 1958 revolution in Iraq and the return of General Mustafa Barzani, on February 25, 1959, and according to both the third and seventh articles and paragraph (A) of the tenth article and the implementation of article (11) based on the amended Law No. 19 of 1959, he and his companions were covered by a general amnesty.

In 1958, the Republic of Iraq was established under the presidency of Abd al-Karim Qasim. He returned to Kurdistan on April 16, 1959, with his companions on the ship 'Gruzia' via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq. 

 In 1961, he participated in the Aylul Revolution and was a Sergeant. He participated in the battles of the Soran region and was wounded in the Battle of Bradost Mountain. In 1975, after the defeat of the Aylul Revolution, he went to the Kingdom of Iran as a refugee and settled in Naqadeh. He returned to Kurdistan in 1977. Later, he was sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government, did not stay there long, and returned to the village of Spindar. On June 1, 1990, he was again transferred by the Iraqi government to the Shakhollan community, and later he went to the Islamic Republic of Iran as a refugee and settled in Naqadeh, until he returned to his village in 1992.

 In 2010, at the Thirteenth Congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party because of his struggle and resistance in the Second Barzan Revolution, the Republic of Mahabad, the journey towards the Soviet Union, and the Aylul Revolution, by President Masoud Barzani he was awarded the Barzani the Immortal Medal.

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