On the 35th anniversary of his passing: Idris Mustafa Barzani..an immortal landmark in the Kurdish collective memory

Shafaq News / Today marks the 35th anniversary of the death of Idris Mustafa Barzani, who spent his entire life fighting alongside his father, Mullah Mustafa Barzani, for the Kurdish cause. So, it is only convenient to commemorate the immortal leader Idris Barzani's life today, as it embodies the Kurds' collective memory and struggle.

Idris Barzani did not experience a luxurious life, neither in his early nor late years. On the contrary, his life was a continuous struggle until his premature death on January 31, 1987.

Since his early awareness of the Kurdish cause, he engaged in the armed struggle to defend his people. He was well aware of the burden and the responsibility upon him and his people, which peaked in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, until his insidious departure 35 years ago.

It was three decades of suffering, struggle, sacrifice, and hard work for the Kurds. Idris Barzani was at the forefront of it all, just as he was at the political action, both inside Iraq and Kurdistan, and outside.

Many of those who lived with him told Shafaq News agency that he dedicated his relations and political experience to serve his cause, and always leaned towards understandings and dialogue. Therefore, he was known to be a peacemaker figure among the Kurdish parties.

This was not a coincidence despite all the sudden transformations and shocks that had afflicted him and his people and family's life, since his father, the historical leader Mustafa Barzani, went to Mahabad in eastern Kurdistan when Idris was still a two-year-old child. Back then, the family was forced to return to Karbala and did not reunite until after the fall of the monarchy in Baghdad in 1958 and his father's return from the Soviet Union.

In 1961, Idris Barzani was one of the first to take up arms and fought many battles in defense of the Kurds, just as he was one of the first to negotiate with Baghdad in 1970 to reach the famous March 11 agreement, of which he was the "architect", when Saddam Hussein was then the big player in the ruling regime.

Hopes soon vanished with the "Algiers Agreement" conclusion between the Shah of Iran and the then Government of Baghdad. An additional political and militant burden was placed on Idriss Barzani, and his brother Masoud Barzani, his militant companion, who fought right beside him in the Golan Revolution.

One of those who knew Idris Barzani closely told Shafaq News agency that he correctly assessed the weight of regional and international political plans, and believed that countering and opposing their schemes was beyond the means of the Kurdish people and the leadership of the Kurdistan revolution in that historical era.

From this perspective, Idris Barzani was the "first godfather" of the internal Kurdish-Kurdish understandings, which were an obvious response to those foreign international plans and challenges.

One of the most noticeable results of his great strategics was the prelude to establishing the Kurdistan Front, which was announced in May 1988, a few months after his death.

According to his own contemporaries, Idris Barzani has always insisted on restoring the past militant legacy of the Barzan Revolutions and the extent of the moral and social richness of the struggle, which was proceeding along two adjacent paths: gnostic ideology and national liberation.

It is well known that the Kurdistan Front was later the catalyst of the revolutionary movement that led towards the 1991 uprising, which in turn paved the way for Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein's bloody regime. Unfortunately, this era was marked by mass massacres not only against the Kurds, although their share was probably the largest, but also against Shiites and other Iraqi communities, as well as some of Iraq's neighbors.

Idris Barzani was committed to the cause of the Kurds who were forcibly displaced by the former regime at various stages, and worked diligently to secure their return to their hometowns.

He blended with the people and sensed their suffering, so his involvement in party work, by assuming leadership responsibilities in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (K.D.P.), was to serve this cause.

The Kurdish history recorded that he was a very gentle and kind-hearted person. Those close to him narrated that Idris Barzani, the father of the incumbent president of the Kurdistan region, Nechirvan Barzani, used to hold public gatherings. To establish a rapport with the local Kurdish communities, he refrained from articulating sophisticated conferential terminology and used the villagers' jargon, and often brought up a story or popular saying that they are familiar with.

Idris Barzani passed away on January 31, 1987, in the town of Slivana, in the eastern Kurdish city of Urmia, and was buried beside his father Mustafa Barzani, in the town of Ashnoyeh.

After the 1991 uprising, Idris and Mustafa Barzani's bodies were repatriated to Kurdistan on October 6, 1993, and buried in Barzan. Their tomb became a monumental shrine visited by thousands of citizens annually.