Biography

Seyid Salim Tayib Mustafa was born in 1925 in the Koya district of Erbil province. He was married before going to the Republic of Kurdistan, but his wife passed away. After going to the Soviet Union, he married Narguzel Bilal Yusuf and they had two daughters named Safia Seyid and Kafia Seyid; his wife was of the Kurdish people of the Caucasus. Seyid Salim studied in the Soviet Union and received an institute degree in the field of agriculture; he knew both Kurdish and Russian languages. He passed away in 1975 in the city of Naghadeh and was buried there.

Struggle Record

In 1944, he joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution and participated in the battles. On August 19, 1945, by order of the Iraqi military court, 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. A year later, on March 31, 1946, he became a Peshmerga in the Barzani force affiliated with the army of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad. After the defeat of the Republic of Kurdistan, on March 3, 1947, he participated in the Battle of Nelos, on March 13-14 in the Battle of Gujar, on March 19 in the Battle of Naghadeh and Oshnavieh, and on March 25, 1947, he participated in the Battle of Havers and Haleji.

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

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 Qotur Valley 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, he and all his companions were placed in an open-air compound surrounded by barbed wire in the city of Nakhchivan in the Republic of Azerbaijan for forty days. They were guarded by a group of soldiers and were treated like 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, 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, for four hours a day, they were taught the Kurdish language by some of their companions who were literate.

After Jafar Baghirov's poor treatment of Barzani's companions, 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, he and his companions were distributed in groups and squads by train to the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked on the collective farms (land 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 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, 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 granted a general amnesty. 

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

 In 1961, he participated in the Aylul Revolution and participated in the battles. In 1975, after the defeat of the Aylul Revolution , he went to Iran as a refugee and passed away there the same year. 

 

Sources:

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

  2. Haider Farooq Al-Samarrai, Zia Jafar and his political and economic role in Iraq, (London - Dar Al-Hikma - 2016).

  3. Shaban Ali Shaban, Some Political and Historical Information, Third Edition, (Erbil - Rojhalat Press - 2013).

  4. Omar Farouqi, Sardar Dana: Life and Struggles of the late Mullah Mustafa Barzani, Second Edition, (Erbil - Ministry of Education Press - 2002).

  5. Abdulrahman Mullah Habib Abu Bakr, Barzan Tribe between 1931 - 1991, First Edition, (Erbil - Ministry of Culture Press - 2001).

  6. Abdullah Ghafoor, Geographical Dictionary of Erbil, (Erbil - Kurdish Academy Publications - Haji Hashim Press - 2015).

  7. Karwan Muhammad Majid, The Barzanis from Mahabad to the Soviet Union, First Edition, (Sulaymaniyah - Paywand Press - 2011).

  8. Hataw Magazine, Issue 154, Sixth Year, Erbil, Kurdistan Press, Friday, April 15, 1959.

  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 Press - 1998).

  11. Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Board