On June 10, 1963, the regime resumed its attack on Kurdistan, sending all its armed forces to the battlefields. The regime also received assistance in these attacks from regional powers in the region, as the Turkish and Iranian air forces, members of the CENTO treaty, were allowed to cross the Iraqi border and bomb Peshmerga bases. The Syrian army entered Iraqi territory by land and provided assistance to the Iraqi Army from the Bahdinan region, while international powers such as the Soviet Union and Britain also began assisting the Iraqi Army.
The Kurdistan Army opened several fronts to defend itself and confronted the attacks. During that period, leader Mustafa Barzani sent several letters to the Party's Political Bureau, in which he requested that Party Secretary Ibrahim Ahmad and the Political Bureau launch some attacks on the army within their areas. However, the Political Bureau, especially Ibrahim Ahmad, did not respond to this request; they even prevented the commanders who were launching attacks on government forces without their permission. Therefore, these actions caused a rift between leader Mustafa Barzani and Ibrahim Ahmad.
On November 18, 1963, the army overthrew the Ba'ath government in a coup. Following the coup, Abdul Salam Arif assumed power and immediately called on the revolution's leadership to hold negotiations. In December 1963, after leader Barzani consulted with the Political Bureau, negotiations began. Colonel Abdul Razzaq Mahmoud, Governor of Sulaymaniyah, arrived in Rania as a representative of the government and met with leader Mustafa Barzani, Jalal Talabani, and Nuri Shawis, members of the Political Bureau. The negotiations resulted in an agreement between the two sides, and the government issued the agreement statement on February 10, 1964, which stated that (the state recognizes the national rights of the Kurds).
On February 17, 1964, Ibrahim Ahmad, Aziz Shamzini, and Omar Mustafa Dababa arrived in (Sankasar) and met with leader Barzani, which resulted in all parties agreeing to the February 10 agreement. After staying for a week in Sankasar, Ibrahim Ahmad and his companions returned to the city of Mawat, where they began their opposition again. This led a large number of commanders and Peshmerga to leave Mawat and head to leader Barzani in Sankasar to inform him of the Political Bureau's plan. Following the arrival of the Peshmerga commanders, leader Barzani held a meeting with them, and after consultation, he decided to dismiss all the commanders who followed the Political Bureau and replace them with other trusted commanders. The commanders who were dismissed are: Jalal Talabani, Omar Mustafa Dababa, Ali Askari, and Kamal Mufti. In response, Ibrahim Ahmad and the Political Bureau held the Mawat Conference on April 9, 1964, and decided to suspend the membership of leader Mustafa Barzani from the party presidency.
Following the suspension of leader Mustafa Barzani's membership, the Peshmerga forces were divided into two fronts. In order to maintain the unity of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the High Committee for Supervision and Inspection proposed holding the Sixth Congress of the party. For this purpose, the committee visited Mawat - the headquarters of the Political Bureau - and Sankasar - the headquarters of the President. As a result, leader Mustafa Barzani agreed to hold the congress, but the Political Bureau was not in favor of holding the congress.
Holding the CongressThe congress was held from July 1 to 7, 1964, in the city of Qaladize, with the attendance of 639 delegates. From the beginning of the congress on July 1, by order of leader Mustafa Barzani, a delegation consisting of twelve delegates from the congress visited Mawat to invite the Mawat meeting group to attend the congress and present their problems there. The delegation consisted of: Ismail Mulla Aziz, Ali Hazar, Majid Atrushi, Ahmad Atrushi, Fatih Muhammad Amin, Jalal Mahmoud, etc., but they refused to participate in the congress. Although the holding of the congress was delayed for several days, it resumed its work and issued several decisions, the most important of which were: forming the Revolutionary Command Council, rejecting the decisions of the Mawat Conference, and expelling fourteen members, namely: Ibrahim Ahmad, Nuri Shawis, Omar Mustafa Dababa, Sayyid Aziz Sayyid Abdullah Shamzini, Jalal Talabani, Ali Hamdi, Abdul Rahman Zabih, Ali Askari, Ahmad Abdullah, Hilmi Ali Sharif, Muhammad Hajj Tahir, Mulla Abdullah Ismail (Mulla Mator), Nuri Ahmad Taha, and Ali Abdullah.
Leader Mustafa Barzani was unanimously re-elected as President of the Party, and a new Central Committee was elected, including (14) members who were elected directly by the congress. Three people were also nominated by the President for the leadership members, namely: Mustafa Qardaghi, Muhammad Amin Muhammad Ali, and Omar Sharif, and the congress delegates had given the President the choice to elect these members.
The new Central Committee consisted of:
1- Mustafa Barzani as President
2- Habib Muhammad Karim as Secretary
4- Salih Yusifi
5- Aziz Aqrawi
6- Dr. Fuad Jalal
7- Yadullah Fili
8- Ali Qasim Sinjari
9- Numan Isa Sharif
10- Ismail Arif
11- Hashim Hassan Aqrawi
12- Ismail Mulla Aziz
14- Mustafa Qardaghi
15- Muhammad Amin Muhammad Ali
16- Omar Sharif
17- Ramadan Aqrawi
Then the Central Committee, chaired by Mustafa Barzani, elected the members of the Political Bureau and the Secretary, which included: Habib Muhammad Karim as Secretary, Dr. Mahmoud Osman, Mustafa Qardaghi, Ismail Arif Ghafur, and Hashim Aqrawi. The High Committee for Supervision and Inspection was also elected directly by the congress delegates, namely: Shawkat Hajj Ali, Faris Kurmarki, Muhammad Mulla Qadir, Sabri Botani, Mulla Salih Haji, and Mulla Haidar Muhammad Hussein.
The congress also elected a new leadership and approved the internal program.
Sources* Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, 1958-1961, Volume Two, (2012).
* Salah al-Kharsan, Political Currents in Iraqi Kurdistan, A Reading in the Files of Kurdish Movements and Parties in Iraq 1946-2001, (Beirut – Al-Balagh Press – 2001).
* Habib Muhammad Karim, History of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Iraq (In Key Milestones) 1946 - 1993, (Duhok – Khabat Press – 1998).
* Nizar Khilani, Asaad Khilani Browses His Memoirs (Erbil – Badirkhan Institution for Printing and Publishing - Hivi Press – 2014).
* Abdul Sattar Tahir Sharif, A Struggle with Life, Memoirs 1935-1971, Volume One, (Kirkuk – Arabkha Press, 2005).
* Hussein Muhammad Aziz, Five Hours with (Ibrahim Ahmad), (Sulaymaniyah, Sima Press, Third Edition, 2002).
* Shakib Aqrawi, Years of Ordeal in Kurdistan: The Most Important Political and Military Events in Kurdistan and Iraq from 1958 to 1980, Second Edition, (Erbil, Manara Press – 2007).
* Ali Sinjari, The Kurdish Issue and the Arab Ba'ath Party in Iraq, Part Three, (Duhok, Khani Press, 2012).