Biography

Omar Agha Dolamari was born in 1927 in the village of Lelok, affiliated with the Mergasor district. In his childhood, he worked as a shepherd and herdsman. After he went with General Mustafa Barzani to the Soviet Union, he received a diploma in the agricultural department of Tashkent University there. After his return from the Soviet Union in 1959, he was employed in the Erbil Agriculture Directorate.

Struggle History

After the outbreak of the Second Barzan Revolution in 1943 and its continuation until 1945, Omar Agha Dolamari joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution and participated in the Battle of Meydan Morik. Due to his participation in the revolution, on August 19, 1945, by order of the military tribunal, all his movable and immovable property was seized.

On October 11, 1945, after the collapse of the Second Barzan Revolution, along with Mustafa Barzani and his companions, he crossed into Eastern Kurdistan. After the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad, on March 31, 1946, he defended the Republic within the framework of the Barzan force.

After the fall of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad and Barzani's return from Eastern Kurdistan to Southern Kurdistan, he participated in the battles of the Shno and Haleji plains in Eastern Kurdistan. He was also among the Peshmerga who returned to the Shirwan and Mizuri region through the Khwakurk and Barazgir plains into the territory of Northern Kurdistan on April 19, 1947.

After their return, General Mustafa Barzani held a meeting with his companions in the village of Argosh on May 15, 1947, and gave them the choice of staying or going 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 toward 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 lies on the border between Iran and the Soviet Union, toward the Soviet Union.

After arriving in the Soviet Union, on June 18, 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 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, 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 mistreatment of his companions by Jafar Bagirov, 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 among the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked in the collective farms (the lands that people rented from the government and later gave back the government's share).

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 Vriviski, so he went to the city of Vriviski 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 the implementation of 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, along with his companions, he returned to Kurdistan via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq on the ship Gruzia. 

Before the Aylul Revolution broke out, he left his official duty and returned to President Mustafa Barzani. In 1961, he participated in the battles of Gali Zawita, Sari Akre, and Pirsi, and was one of the commanders who went with President Mustafa Barzani to the areas of Sangesar, Ranya, and Dilman. In 1963, when the Iraqi government attacked and wanted to occupy the Barzan region, he returned to the region with General Barzani, and the General sent a Peshmerga force under the command of Omar Agha to the Shush and Sharman region. Eventually, that force and the forces of other sectors attacked the enemy and forced the enemy to retreat on June 26, 1963, but after the area was shelled by enemy artillery, Omar Agha was wounded. After the temporary cessation of fighting, he went back to Dilman with President Mustafa Barzani. In 1974, he participated in the Battle of Penjwen and after his return, he joined the artillery unit of the Balak force.

After the collapse of the revolution and Barzani's departure to the country of Iran, Omar Agha, who was a bodyguard to General Mustafa Barzani went with him to Iran. After the outbreak of the Gulan Revolution, he participated in the revolution and in 1979 went to Razan with President Masoud Barzani and continued his struggle until the March 1991 Uprising, where he also played a prominent role. On August 16, 1993, at the Eleventh Congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party due to his struggle and resistance in the Second Barzan Revolution, the Republic of Kurdistan, the Aylul and Gulan revolutions, by President Masoud Barzani he was awarded the Barzani Medal. On July 10, 1995, he was martyred in the village of Ziyaret.

Sources:

1- Hamid Gawhari, Barzani Medal the Highest Honor Award, Volume One, (Erbil - Haji Hashim Printing House - 2015 AD).

2- Hamid Gardi, Summary of History, First Edition, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House - Ministry of Education Printing House - 2004).

3- Haidar Farooq Al-Samarrai, Dhiya Jafar and his political and economic role in Iraq, (London - Dar Al-Hikma - 2016)..

4- From the memoirs of the martyr commander Haso Mirxan Zhazhoki, 62 days with Barzani, the departure of the Barzanis to the Soviet Union, First Edition (Erbil - Rewshanbiri Printing House - 1997 AD).

5- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement 1931-1958, (Duhok - Khabat Printing House - 1998).

6- Text of the General Amnesty Committee decision to rehabilitate the martyrs of the Barzan revolution, Rizgari Magazine, Issue 2, 3, Al-Rabita Press, Baghdad, 1 April 1959.

7- Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Board.