Biography

Surkan Mela Bas was born in 1920 in the Mergasor district of Erbil province. He studied in the Soviet Union and received an institute diploma in the department of agricultural mechanics. It was in the Soviet Union that he married Maria, and they had a son and a daughter named Rasul and Rasmia. After returning from the Soviet Union, Surkan was employed as an official at the sugar factory in Mosul in the Year 1961. In 1975, after the collapse of the Aylul Revolution he returned to his homeland and later went to the city of Erbil and continued in his job, which was well-drilling. He moved his house to the village of Mawilyan. In 1980, because he did not become a Ba'athist, his service was terminated by the government of Iraq. He had proficiency in both the Kurdish and Russian languages. He passed away in 1989 in the village of Mawilyan and was buried there.

Struggle Record

In 1943, he joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution. On August 8, 1945, he participated in the capture of the Mergasor police station. On August 19, 1945, by order of the Iraqi military tribunal, all his movable and immovable property was seized. On October 11, 1945, after the collapse of the Second Barzan Revolution, he headed to Eastern Kurdistan. On March 31, 1946, he became a Peshmerga in the Barzani force affiliated with the army of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad. He participated in the battles of the Saqqez front in the Republic of Kurdistan, and on April 29 of the same year, he participated in the Battle of Qarawa in the Saqqez region.

 After the collapse of the Republic of Kurdistan, on March 19, 1947, he participated in the Battle of Naqadeh and Oshnavieh. He was among the Peshmerga who returned to the Shirwan and Mazuri region through the Khwakurk and Barazgir plain route on April 19, 1947, through 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 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 towards 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 into the Soviet Union at the Aras River, which is located on the border between Iran and the Soviet Union.

After arriving in the Soviet Union, on June 19, 1947, he and all his companions 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 like prisoners of war in terms of food, clothing, and movement. Later, by 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 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 lessons in learning the Kurdish language by some of their companions who were literate.

After the bad treatment of the Barzani companions by Jafar Baghirov, it was decided to move the military camp on August 29, 1948, from the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Charchuk compound 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 among the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked on the Kolkhoz farms (lands that people rented from the government and later gave the government's share back). 

After much effort and the sending of several letters by General Barzani to Stalin, a letter finally reached Stalin in which Barzani described the hardships of his companions, and he immediately decided to form a committee to investigate the Situation of the Barzani 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, and 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 Abd al-Karim Qasim. On April 16, 1959, he and his companions returned to Kurdistan by the ship Grozia via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq.  

Surkan Mela Bas participated in the Aylul Revolution in 1961 and was a Sergeant. He participated in the battles of Halbat, Bastia Zhazhoki, Zozk, and Goratu. He was wounded twice during his time as a Peshmerga. 

Sources:

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