Biography

Mala Sharif was born in 1930 in the village of Kaniader, affiliated with the Goretu sub-district in the Mergasor district of Erbil Governorate. Before going to the Soviet Union, he was married; his wife's name was Parixan Shawali Chicho, and they had a son who passed away in Diana camp. Mala Sharif studied in the Soviet Union and received an institute diploma in the agricultural department of the Soviet Union. He was proficient in both Kurdish and Russian languages. He passed away in 1985 in the Zewe complex and was buried in the city of Oshnavieh.

Struggle Record

In 1943, he joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution and participated in the battles. On August 19, 1945, by order of the Iraqi military tribunal, all his movable and immovable property was confiscated. On October 11, 1945, following the collapse of the Second Barzan Revolution, he headed to Eastern Kurdistan. On March 31, 1946, he served as a Peshmerga in the Barzani force affiliated with the army of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad, participated in the battles of the Saqqez front in the Republic of Kurdistan, and was wounded in the battle of Saqqez.

 He was among the Peshmerga who returned to the Shirwan and Mazuri region through the territory of Northern Kurdistan via the Khwakurk road and the Bazargar plain on April 19, 1947.

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 23, 1947, he accompanied General Mustafa Barzani towards the Soviet Union and participated in the Battle of Gali 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 transferred to a military camp on the Caspian Sea in Baku, the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan. 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 Kurdish language lessons daily for four hours by some of their companions who were literate.

After the mistreatment of the Barzani companions by Jafar Bagirov, it was decided to move the military camp from the Republic of Azerbaijan on August 29, 1948, 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 to the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked on the collective farms (the 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. He immediately ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the situation of the Barzani companions, and the committee's final decision was that they should all be gathered in the city of Vrevsky. Therefore, 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, according to both the third and seventh articles and paragraph (A) of the tenth article, and by working with the eleventh article 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 Abdul Karim Qasim. On April 16, 1959, he and his companions returned to Kurdistan via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq on the ship Grozia.

 In 1961, he participated in the Aylul Revolution and took part in the battles. In 1975, after the collapse of the Aylul Revolution, he returned to his homeland and was later relocated by the Iraqi government to the Diana complex. In 1981, he went to Iran as a refugee.

Sources:

  1. Haydar Faruq al-Samarrai, Dia Jafar and his Political and Economic Role in Iraq, (London – Dar al-Hikma - 2016).

  2. Sha'ban Ali Sha'ban, Some Political and Historical Information, Third Edition, (Erbil - Rojhalat Printing House - 2013).

  3. Shawkat Sheikh Yazdin, The Golden Jubilee of the Peshmerga, First Edition, (Pirmam - Khabat Printing House - 1996).

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  7. Hataw Magazine, Issue 154, Sixth Year, Erbil, Kurdistan Printing House, Friday, April 15, 1959.

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

  9. Laith Abdul-Muhsin Jawad al-Zubaidi, The Revolution of July 14, 1958 in Iraq, (Baghdad - Dar al-Rashid for Publishing - 1979).

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  12. Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Board.