After the outbreak of the Aylul Revolution led by President Mustafa Barzani and due to the regime's pressures, the Khabat Printing House was moved to the liberated areas and resumed its work. On this basis, in 1963, the printing letters (type) were brought secretly from Baghdad, and along with them, they brought a mold, and they would arrange the letters one after another and print them in a very simple way.. Later, the revolution's leadership decided to develop the revolution's printing house. In the winter of 1964, it found a small, old printing press which was transported from Erbil to the liberated areas of the revolution by Ahmed Dashti and Mustafa Rabar and was established in the village of "Sune" in the Qaladize area, and its supervision was entrusted to  Habib Mohammed Karim . Then, by the decision of President Mustafa Barzani, a Linotype machine and an automatic printing machine were provided for it, and it continued until the collapse of the revolution.

  Although after the collapse of the Aylul Revolution a large part of the media equipment was lost, of which Khabat Printing House was one, but with the start of the Gulan Revolution, the Party leadership reopened the offices and party departments, and the media department and Khabat Printing House were re-established under its umbrella.. Initially, some printing and publishing tools such as a manual printing press and a Roneo machine were provided.

Later, during the Gulan Revolution phase, it used several new machines such as electronic typewriters, photocopiers (duplicators), photo stencils, electric clip machines, paper cutting with large paper cutters, advanced Roneo, and electronic photo stencils, which was a very precise, delicate, and ready-to-work machine..

 Role and Task of the Printing House

Printing and writing in Khabat Printing House was carried out in three ways::

First: Old tools [1].

Second: Linotype [2].

Third: Typewriter and Roneo [3].

In the Aylul Revolution, the media typist staff were: 

Rahim, Ahya Khidr, Safar Zaki, Sirwan, Aziz Hassan Suleiman, Faiq Akrayi, Majid Hamawandi and Nejat Samad Saeed, Aziz Hassan Suleiman, Saeed Aziz, Yasin, Soran, Jalal Khidr Ismail.

Media and Printing during the era of the Provisional Leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party:

Kurdistan Democratic Party On May 26, 1976, under the name of the Provisional Leadership, it announced the resumption of armed struggle, and the revolution was named Gulan. The leaders of that phase of the Party's struggle, secretly and far from the eyes of the security forces, reached the territory of Northern Kurdistan (Turkey) from Eastern Kurdistan (the Country of Iran) and were able to make contact with those Peshmerga forces and armed groups that had not surrendered after the collapse of the Aylul Revolution (1961-1975) and had managed to protect themselves on the borders. To convey the news of the resumption of the revolution and the activities of the Peshmerga to the people of Kurdistan, they thought of establishing a special unit for this work under the name (Party and Revolution Press and Publications Unit), and thus the first step, which later led to the establishment of the Khabat Printing House, was taken. The cadres who worked in it were Ahmed Dashti, Martyr Jabar Haji, Yusuf Abdulqadir, and another young man named Khalid.

At the end of the Year 1979 and after the Ninth Congress of the Party and the inauguration of the newly elected Political Bureau, the Political Bureau departments were also established, Falakadin Kakayi took on the responsibility of the Media Department of the Party's Political Bureau, and at that time the name of this unit was changed to the Revolution Printing House and consisted of the units of the editorial board, printing, archive, and offset.

At the beginning of 1980, the cadres of the Political Bureau who previously had the task of writing the documents and publications of the Political Bureau and its members were divided as follows: Shawkat Sheikh Yazdin and Ijra Saeed were organization, Majid Muhammad Mizuri and Kamal were the Military Department, Taufiq Salim, Ali Goran, Kamal Dolemari were the Media Unit.  

The cadres who worked in the Gulan Revolution at the Khabat Printing House were:

Ali Mustafa Ismail Goran, Known as (Bekas), was the head of the printing house until 1980, Taufiq Salim, under the revolutionary name (Bawar), who served as the head from March 21, 1981-1993.

 Christophe Yelda Tarkhan, under the secret name (Ribar Yelda), deputy.

Jan Jabali Shabo, designer and calligrapher in the Khnera area, joined the Khabat Printing House in 1982.

Muhammad Ilyas Khidr Yunis Zebari, Known as (Hejar), printing and photo stencil, Roneo, and typing.

 Adam Qadir Hassan (Bikhew), Arabic typing.

 Abdulstar Marouf Kuraymayi, Known as (Kurdo), binding and logistics work.

 Faisal Amin, Known as (Kurdo), did binding, photo, and Roneo work.

 Rizgar Muhammad Mustafa, Known as (Rizgar Dolemari), who joined in 1983 in Lolan and did photo stencil, Roneo, typing, and artistic work.

 Shakir Omar Akrayi, poster and binding.

Sarbast Sadiq Akrayi, binding and clip-maker.

 Ahmed Qarani Akrayi, proofreading, linguistics, and Latin typing.

 Abdullah Mushir, under the revolutionary name (Hemin), Peshmerga of the printing house, was a Martyr in the shelling by the Iraq Military.

Sha'ban Tahir, under the secret name (Shvan), was a Peshmerga of the printing house.

Sardar Bamarni did photography and retouching work at the Khabat Printing House.

Aras, engineer and technical work, logistics and supplies.

Yusif Abdulqadir was an illustrator and calligrapher.

Ali Mushir Kirkuki, typing, later became a Martyr.

Qismet Haji Mirxan

Behjet Teymez Areb

Ihsan Selim Bajluri

Rizgar Mayi, Rizgar Kameki, and Shakir Omar joined the printing department in Lolan in the Year 1983.

 Khabat Printing House In May 1982, it was moved to the Sheikhan area and later to Kargeozini in South Kurdistan until August 1982, and then it was moved behind Peyman Mountain behind the village of Lolan, and they began building the base and Headquarters of the printing house. After that, the technical department of the radio and writing, Dr. Nasih Ghafur Ramazan and Fazil Zurab came to that area until 1984, and at that time Duzwar Faiq and Husni Jasim (Hozan Brifkani) joined, and in general, these were the cadres who worked in the revolution's printing house.

In the years 1992-1993, a number of female cadres also participated, such as Suad Kakey, Christina Yusif Braymuk, Runak Yusif Braymuk, Sara Masihi, Sami Sliwa, Bernadett Sliwa, Hero, and Peyman..

The works that were produced during the revolutionary life in the political, cultural, literary, Military, health, and cultural awareness fields were in Khabat Printing House consisted of booklets and Military guidelines, organization, health, prevention, books and volumes, diwans and literary works, and publications of mass and professional organizations. Besides that, according to capacity and time, it assisted Kurdish and Iraq organizations and associations.

 Constant relocation of the printing house location

   Due to constant aerial bombardment and to protect the lives of the staff, the printing house was constantly being moved. In the Year 1965, it was moved to the village of "Liwje" in the Nawdasht area, then in the middle of the Year 1966 to the village of "Sureban" in the Qasre area, and finally to the village of "Mami Khallan" near Choman until the collapse of the Aylul Revolution remained there. In the Year 1975, after the Algiers Agreement and the collapse of the Aylul Revolution, so that the printing house would not fall into the hands of the Iraq and Iran regime, the staff blew up the printing house, only the small old machine was taken.. In the Gulan Revolution too, due to the bombardment by the Iraq regime's aircraft, it was constantly being moved in the villages of Mergemire, Girdezin, Keleshin, Berkme, Lolan, Khnere, Malemalay, Mergehawshe, and Dole.. After the uprising of March 5, 1991, the Headquarters of the printing house was returned to the city, and in 1993 it was moved to Dohuk Governorate, and in 2008 its name was changed to Khani Printing House; now that printing house continues in the printing business with the newest modern machines..[*]

 

[*]

 

[1]  The tool was made in a wooden box in the form of compartments, and each compartment contained a letter. A staff member in charge of arranging the letters would read the words and line up the letters one after another until the page was finished.. 

[2] The user would type the letters, and the tool would collect all the letters to create a complete line of text, and then the line would be placed on top of each other to create a complete page for printing.

[3]  A number of cadres would print the materials using typewriters and Roneo machines on a silk stencil system.

 

Sources:

1- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurd Liberation Movement, Volume Four, 1975-1990 Gulan Revolution, Part Two, First Edition, (Roxana Printing House - Erbil - 2021)

2- Dilshad Mustafa Wasani, The Struggle Continues, a summary about Khabat newspaper, 1959-2019, First Edition, (Erbil - 2001).

3- Falakaddin Kakai, Pages from the history of the Party since the Year 1974 until the March 1991 uprising, Matin Magazine, Branch One Kurdistan Democratic Party- United, Issue 51, April 1996 AD

4- Aziz Hassan Suleiman, A stream from the memories of a teacher of the Great Aylul Revolution, Payam Aylul Magazine, Association of Teachers of the Great Aylul Revolution, Issue 37, Erbil

5- Farhad Awni, My days passed like this, Volume One, (Erbil - Rojhalat Printing House - 2016).

6- Tawfiq Selim, Khazer Magazine, Issue 37, July 2010 AD, Cultural and Media Struggle in the Mountains,

7- Tawfiq Selim Akreyi, ((Khabat Printing House and Mountain Culture)), Khazer Magazine, Issue 38, Bardarash, August 2010

8- Archive of the Encyclopedia Board of Kurdistan Democratic Party, File number, CH-59, transcript of an interview with Tawfiq Selim

9- Musadiq Tovi and Ismail Badi, Guide to Dohuk Governorate, First Edition, (Hawar Printing House - Dohuk - 2010).

10- Interview with the responsible of the Aylul Akre organization, Tawfiq Selim on the date of November 2, 2025.

11- Interview with Rebwar Yalda on the date of November 2, 2025.

12- Interview with Muhammad Ilyas under the pseudonym Hejar on the date of November 2, 2025.