The Shawana Meeting of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (Shawana Meeting – early July 1979) after the passing of President Mustafa Barzani for the purpose of reorganizing party affairs and preparing for the 9th Congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party was held in the village of Shawana in Eastern Kurdistan.

Reasons and holding the meeting

On February 11, 1979, after the uprising of the peoples of Iran, the monarchy in that country collapsed and was replaced by the Islamic Republic. The leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party was able to establish a good relationship with the new Iranian authority, given that a large number of refugees from Southern Kurdistan had been in that country since 1974. Among the other most influential and sad events of early 1979 was the passing of President Mustafa Barzani . President Barzani passed away on March 1, 1979, after four years of exile, in the United States of America, and on April 4 of the same year, his remains were returned to Iran and buried in the town of Oshnavieh in Eastern Kurdistan.

The situation that the regional changes in general and the passing of President Mustafa Barzani had brought upon the party's organizations required a broad and urgent meeting to be held. For this very purpose, the provisional leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, in early July 1979, in the village of Shawana, north of the town of Oshnavieh in Eastern Kurdistan, organized a broad meeting. In the meeting, several important decisions were made, the most important of which was the election of Masoud Barzani as the interim president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, until the holding of the 9th Congress and the election of Sami Abdulrahman as the Secretary-General of the Party, as well as attempting to normalize relations with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran and maintaining relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Iraqi regime, on the condition that the Party is not prepared to interfere in the internal affairs of Eastern Kurdistan. In the meeting, Masoud Barzani requested that the holding of the 9th Congress be expedited until the summer or autumn of 1979, but Sami Abdulrahman and another group believed that the congress should be postponed to the spring of 1980, until the new party program is fully established among the refugees and party organizations in Iran. It was decided in the end that the congress would be held at the date specified, which Masoud Barzani had proposed.

The outcome of the meeting's work was the designation of a preparatory committee for holding the 9th Congress of the Party, which consisted of:

  1. Ali Abdullah
  2. Idris Barzani
  3. Muhammad Mullah Qadir
  4. Rashid Sindi
  5. Arif Tayfur
  6. Karim Shingali 
  7.  Wrya Sa'ati
Sources:
  1.  Muhsin Dizayi, Stations of My Life, Part Three and Final, (Erbil - Mukuryani Printing House - 2015).
  2.  Kayhan Newspaper, Issue 10751, Tehran, 16 Tir 1358 SH - July 7, 1979.
  3.  Bamdad Newspaper, Issue 53, Tehran, 17 Tir 1358 SH - July 8, 1979.
  4.  Sami Abdulrahman, Al-Hizb al-Sha'b al-Dimuqrati al-Kurdistani: Al-Badil al-Thawri fi al-Haraka al-Tahruriyya al-Kurdiyya, Al-Taqrir al-Siyasi lil-Mu'tamar al-Ta'sisi li-Hizb al-Sha'b al-Dimuqrati al-Kurdistani, July 26-30, 1981, (No place - No year).
  5.  Muhammad Mullah Qadir, Struggle History, A Brief History of the Party and the Immortal Barzani, Third Edition, (Erbil - Aras Printing House - 2012).