The Horizons of Kurdish Historiography and the Context of the Historical Encyclopedia At the borders of the lofty mountains of Kurdistan, where the rocky fortresses entwine with the tears of stone statues and the neighing of horses, the pen was no less significant than the rifle; since the beginning of the nineteenth century, Kurdish leaders and knights realized that the sword might be sheathed, but the word remains to immortalize tragedy and heroism. With the succession of decades and the intensification of revolutions, the testimonies of princes and reformers transformed from mere cries for help and a search for identity into archives of blood and secret documents. However, the dominant characteristic of the vast majority of that literature was narrow nationalist or partisan affiliation, in addition to wide contradictions resulting from inter-factional conflicts, starting from the writings of prominent figures such as Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou in his analysis of the Kurdish movement, down to memoirs that sought to personalize national issues and impart a subjective character to them.
In contrast to this pile of contradictory literature, the greatest deluge of memory arrives to find its documentary and dramatic peak in the encyclopedia “Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement” by the leader and politician Masoud Mustafa Barzani; where the testimony is recorded here from the highest pyramid of decision-making and the arena of battle to form one of the most precious historical and archival references chronicling the Kurdish cause in Iraq and the region. The encyclopedia derives its uniqueness from the personality of the author, who combines political leadership with direct field experience as the son of the spiritual father, Mullah Mustafa Barzani. This encyclopedia was not written under calm academic circumstances; rather, it came under the weight of extremely harsh political and security conditions to protect national memory from falsification, relying fundamentally on a massive personal and institutional archive containing hundreds of correspondences, documents, and secret letters exchanged with kings, presidents of the world, and leaders of the region.
The Bibliography of Struggle: A Reading of the Productions and Writings of Kurdish Leaders Masoud Barzani’s encyclopedia was not an entity detached from its historical context, but rather came as an extension and culmination of a rich intellectual and political heritage with which Kurdish leaders enriched the library of national struggle, even if the angles of vision and ideological frameworks differed among their authors:
Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou and the Scroll of “Kurdistan and Iran”: The book by the Secretary-General of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iran represents one of the most important intellectual and geopolitical publications, in which he analyzed the Kurdish cause from a perspective that combines Marxist analysis with nationalist theory, reviewing the Kurds’ struggle with the central authority in Tehran and the experience of the Republic of Mahabad before his assassination.
Ibrahim Ahmed and the Novlist-Political Foundation: The prominent thinker and leader Ibrahim Ahmed was able to combine politics and literature, particularly in his writings and novels that framed early national consciousness and depicted the suffering of Kurdish society and its struggle as a mirror of the political reality.
Jalal Talabani (Mam Jalal) and the Archive of Memoirs and Interviews: Although President Jalal Talabani did not devote himself to formulating memoirs bound in a single book, his busy political archive, speeches, and documented interviews are considered a living reference document that dismantles the backstage of the Kurdish movement, the establishment of the Patriotic Union, and the management of the Iraqi opposition.
The Heritage of Mullah Mustafa Barzani and Historical Letters: Although the spiritual father of the Kurdish movement did not write an academic book, his strict official letters to kings and presidents from the Kremlin to the White House and Baghdad, and his field memoirs, constituted the primary raw material upon which the historical alloy of his son Masoud Barzani’s writings was based.
Reviewing this documentary strip clearly shows how the writings of Kurdish leaders reflected—despite their disparities and partisan contradictions—a collective insistence on transforming military and political action into historical material documenting the journey of searching for self and destiny.
Stations of the Encyclopedia: Detail of the Parts from Roots to the New Iraq
Part One: Roots and Beginnings of the Struggle from Barzan to Mahabad 1931 – 1961 This part reviews the first foundational phase and the pivotal stations that accompanied it, which shaped the national and political consciousness of the Kurds, starting from the first revolutions of the Barzan region led by Sheikh Ahmed Barzani, up to the lofty historical experience represented by the establishment of the nascent Republic of Mahabad in Iran in 1946, in which Mullah Mustafa Barzani played the role of military leader. The text documents with high precision the details of the collapse of this republic and the subsequent immortal epic return journey of Mullah Mustafa Barzani and his companions across the borders of three countries in 1947 under harsh climatic and military conditions. Parallel to this, this part sheds light on the founding of the Kurdistan Democratic Party on August 16, 1946, tracking the historical return of the immortal Barzani to Iraq after the revolution of July 14, 1958, and the initial welcome extended to him by leader Abdul Karim Qassim, before the political atmosphere clouded and the alliance unraveled as a result of reneging on constitutional commitments and granting national rights, which opened the door to the beginnings of military confrontation.
Part Two: The Launch of the Great September Revolution and the March Agreement 1961 – 1975 This part deals with an explosive era of extreme sensitivity in terms of field and political documentation, as it accurately narrates the outbreak of the Great September Revolution in 1961 led by Mullah Mustafa Barzani and how it managed to transform the mountains of Kurdistan into a fortress of steadfastness and attrition against successive government forces. The text moves on to document the backstage of the historical March 11, 1970 agreement between the leadership of the Kurdish revolution and the Baath Party government, which constituted the first official and written recognition of cultural and administrative rights, the approval of autonomy, and a special legislative council for Kurdistan. However, the peak of documentary power in this part is manifested in revealing the circumstances of the March 1975 setback and the conspiracy of the ominous “Algiers Agreement”; as the author highlights through documents and official letters how regional and international balances and the deal struck between the Shah of Iran and the Baghdad government under American auspices led to the sudden cessation of support for the Kurdish revolution, resulting in a forced halt to fighting followed by human tragedies, displacement, and forced exile affecting hundreds of thousands.
Part Three: The Reconstruction Phase and the Gulan Revolution 1975 – 1990 This part provides a deep reading of the phase of rebirth and uprising from beneath the rubble of the setback, refuting the bets that expected the end of the Kurdish movement after 1975. This part documents the establishment of the “Provisional Leadership” and the launch of the “Gulan Revolution” on May 26, 1976, led by Idris Barzani and Masoud Barzani to resume armed struggle and gather the scattered ranks of the revolutionaries. It also touches with high comprehensiveness upon the years of the Iran-Iraq War and the formation of the “Kurdistan Front,” which brought together the opposing Kurdish parties, keeping pace with the most heinous stations of genocide to which the Kurdish people were subjected, represented by the Anfal crimes and the chemical weapon bombing of the city of Halabja in 1988, while documenting the steadfastness of the Peshmerga and the first million-person migration toward international borders under systematic oppression.
Part Four: The 1991 Uprising, the Establishment of the Regional Entity, and Internal Challenges 1990 – 2002 This part sheds light on the structural and historical transformation in the geography of Iraq and Kurdistan following the Second Gulf War, starting from the outbreak of the glorious March Uprising in 1991 and the liberation of the cities of Kurdistan, followed by the issuance of UN Security Council Resolution 688 and the imposition of the no-fly zone to protect civilians. The text shows how the Kurdish movement transitioned from the phase of revolution to the phase of state-building by holding the first democratic elections in 1992 and establishing the parliament and the Kurdistan Regional Government. The author does not hesitate with courage and frankness to document the most painful station represented by the bitterness of internal infighting and civil war among Kurdish parties in the mid-nineties, reviewing the reasons and complex difficult steps that led to bridging the gap and signing the Washington Peace Agreement in 1998 to rearrange the Kurdish house.
Part Five and Six: The New Iraq, the Constitution, and the Referendum Phase 2003 and Beyond This part completes the memoirs and contributions of the Kurdish movement in the post-fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime era in April 2003, documenting the pivotal role of the Kurdish leadership headed by Masoud Barzani in rebuilding the Iraqi state, drafting the 2005 constitution, and establishing the federal system for the first time in modern Iraqi history. The text also delves deeply into managing thorny and complex files with Baghdad regarding budgets, oil, disputed areas, and major security challenges, passing through the sacrifices of the Peshmerga in the global war against the terrorist organization ISIS, down to the station of the Kurdistan independence referendum in September 2017 and its political and geopolitical repercussions at the regional level.
The Academic and Documentary Value of the Encyclopedia The true value and academic standing of this encyclopedia do not stop at the limits of personal narration, but rather lie in its strict reliance on primary documentary sources represented by the archive of correspondence, official telegrams, and handwritten agreements, which grants it an archaeological and archival strength indispensable to any researcher or historian. Although the book entered into explicit friction and contradiction with official narratives issued by successive governments in Baghdad that sought to characterize Kurdish revolutions as external rebellion movements, Barzani was able to prove that the Kurdish movement was always demanding constitutional rights and national partnership within the framework of the Iraqi state. Despite the presence of disparities and critical intersections with the memoirs of other Kurdish or regional personalities and parties regarding the evaluation of certain stations such as internal infighting or the conditions of the 1975 setback, the encyclopedia remains the most important and comprehensive reference documenting events from the highest pyramid of Kurdish decision-making, giving the author his right as a maker of the event and a historical witness who deposited the secrets of an entire phase into the hands of history.
Note: This text is translated from the original Arabic version… Read the Arabic version:Click here
