Biography

Kazim Mustafa Omar, known as Kazim Shanadari, was born in 1930 in the village of Shanadari in the Shirwan Mazin district of Mergasor district in Erbil province. In 1945, after the defeat of the Second Barzan Revolution, he became a refugee in Eastern Kurdistan. He completed his institute studies in the Soviet Union. In 1985, he became a refugee in the country of Iran, and in 1991, after the Uprising, he returned to Southern Kurdistan.

Struggle History

In 1943, he joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution. He was in the defensive trenches on Bradost Mountain against the Iraqi Army. On October 11, 1945, after the defeat of the Second Barzan Revolution, he headed to Eastern Kurdistan. On March 31, 1946, he became a Peshmerga in the Barzani force affiliated with the army of the Republic of Kurdistan in the city of Mahabad. He participated in the battles of the Naqada and Oshnavieh fronts in the Republic of Kurdistan and was wounded in the battle of Qalatan. 

After the defeat of the Republic of Kurdistan, he was among the Peshmerga who returned to the soil of Northern Kurdistan on April 19, 1947, via the Khwakurk route and the Bazargir plain, from the village of Khwakurk to the village of Argosh and the Herki Bineji region.

After their return, General Mustafa Barzani held a meeting with his companions on May 15, 1947, in the village of Argosh and gave them the choice to stay or go to the Soviet Union. There, all his companions decided to continue and go to the Soviet Union.

 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 complex surrounded by barbed wire. They were 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 the officers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, they were given eight hours of military training daily. At the same time, for four hours a day, some of their companions who were literate taught them lessons in learning the Kurdish language.

After the bad treatment of the Barzani companions by Jafar Baghirov, it was decided to move the military camp on August 29, 1948, from the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Charchuk complex 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 among the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked in the kolkhoz fields (lands that people rented from the government and later gave the government's share back). 

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 decided to form a committee to investigate the situation of the Barzani companions. Finally, the committee's decision was that they should all be gathered in the city of Vriviski, so Kazim Shanadari went to the city of Vriviski in the Soviet Union in November 1951.

 In 1958, the Republic of Iraq was established under the presidency of Abdul Karim Qasim. On April 16, 1959, Kazim Shanadari returned to Kurdistan with his companions on the ship Grozia via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq.

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 working with article (11) based on the amended Law No. 19 of 1959, he and his companions were covered by the general amnesty.

In 1961, after the outbreak of the Aylul Revolution, Kazim Shanadari took up the Peshmerga weapon and participated in the revolution, receiving the rank of Head of Branch in the Balak force.

In 1986, he joined the Peshmerga forces of the Gulan Revolution and became a Peshmerga. He participated in several activities and in 1988 participated in the Battle of Khwakurk.

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, First Edition, (Sulaymaniyah- Paywand Printing House- 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- Culture Printing House- 1997).

9- Laith Abdul-Muhsin Jawad Al-Zubaidi, The July 14, 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 Quli Pesyan, From Bloody Mahabad to the Shores of 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.