Biography

Abdullah Ziyab Ali was born in 1929 in the village of Zewe, affiliated with the Barzan sub-district in the Mergasor district of Erbil province. On June 21, 1932, he and his family were displaced to the Republic of Turkey. He studied in the Soviet Union and received a bachelor's degree. After returning from the Soviet Union, he was appointed as an employee in Kirkuk in 1959. He passed away on January 2, 2006, and was buried in the cemetery of the village of Barzan.

Struggle History

Abdullah Ziyab Ali, after the collapse of the second Barzan revolution on October 11, 1945, 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. On May 3, 1946, he participated in the Battle of Milqareni. After the collapse of the Republic of Kurdistan, on March 25, 1947, he participated in the battles of Hevers and Heleji.

 He was among the Peshmerga who returned to the Shirwani and Mizuri region through the Khwakurk route and the Barazgir plain 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 to stay or go 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 Geli Qotur and the Battle of Maku Bridge. After much hardship and fatigue, on June 18, 1947, he crossed the Aras River, which is located on the border between Iran and the Soviet Union, towards the Soviet Union.

After arriving in the Soviet Union, on June 19, 1947, along with all his companions, they were placed in the city of Nakhchivan in the Republic of Azerbaijan for forty days in an open-air compound surrounded by barbed wire, guarded by a group of soldiers, and were treated like prisoners of war in terms of food, clothing, and movement. Later, by the 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 transferred 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 were trained for eight hours daily under the supervision of officers of the Republic of Azerbaijan. At the same time, for four hours daily, they were taught the Kurdish language by some of their companions who were literate.

After the poor treatment of his companions by Jafar Bagirov, it was decided to move the military camp from the Republic of Azerbaijan on August 29, 1948, to the Charchuk compound near Tashkent, the capital of the Republic of Uzbekistan, where they continued their military training. 

In March 1949, along with his companions, they were distributed in groups and squads by train across the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked on collective farms (lands that people rented from the government and later gave the government's share back). 

After much effort and sending several letters by General Mustafa 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 Barzani's 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 article (11) based on the amended Law No. 19 of 1959, he and his companions were granted a general amnesty. 

In 1958, the republican government in Iraq was established under the leadership of Abd al-Karim Qasim. Abdullah Ziyab Ali returned to Kurdistan on April 16, 1959, with his companions by the ship Grozia via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq.  

 In the Year 1961, he participated in the Aylul Revolution. He participated in the battles of Geli Zawita, Nehli Valley, Duhok, Amadiya, Zakho, Akre, Meriba, and Shekhani. In the Aylul Revolution, he was the Deputy Commander of Force One.

 In the Year 1962, he participated in the battles of Balakayati, Khoshnawati, and the surroundings of Koya, Pirs, Mili Sarije, Barzan, Rezhan Bridge, and Sari Bedarini. In the Year 1964, by the order of Mullah Mustafa Barzani, he was entrusted with the task of Qaimaqam of Ranya, and he was wounded in that region and was sent to the Country of Iran for treatment.

Abdullah Ziyab Ali became a border guard on March 11, 1970. In 1975, after the collapse of the Aylul Revolution, he was displaced by the government of Iraq to southern Iraq. In 1982, he participated in the Gulan Revolution and was a commander. He participated in the battles of Keleshin and Haji Omaran. In 1983, he headed to the Islamic Republic of Iran as a refugee. In 1988, he participated in the epic of Khwakurk. By the order of President Barzani, he became responsible for the transport of weapons, ammunition, and supplies. In 1991, he returned to Kurdistan and settled in the village of Derbutk, affiliated with the Mergasor district of Erbil province. By the order of President Barzani, he became the head of the Nazare committee in the Barzan region, and later settled in Pirmam. 

Sources:

  1. The Immortal Fighter Mullah Abdullah Ziyab Zeweyi, Dengi Peshmerga Magazine, organ of the General Office of Peshmerga Organization, No. 94, Erbil, Aras Printing House, January 2006.

  2. Kurdistan Regional Government, Ministry of Planning, Administrative Units of the Governorates of the Kurdistan Region and the Number of Families and Population, Erbil, 2009.

  3. Sardar Jaf, Veteran Peshmerga Mullah Abdullah Ziyab Ali: I am proud that I have been a Peshmerga of Barzani from childhood until now, Dengi Peshmerga Magazine, organ of the General Office of Peshmerga Organization, No. 28, Erbil, Aras Printing House, April 30, 2000.

  4. Sha'ban Ali Sha'ban, Some Political and Historical Information, 3rd edition, (Erbil - Rojhalat Printing House - 2013).

  5. Karwan Muhammad Majid, The Barzanis from Mahabad to the Soviet, 1st edition, (Sulaymaniyah - Paywand Printing House - 2011).

  6. Hataw Magazine, Issue 154, 6th year, Erbil, Kurdistan Printing House, Friday, April 15, 1959.

  7. From the memoir of the martyr Commander Haso Mirxan Zhazhoki, 62 Days with Barzani: The Barzanis' Journey to the Soviet Union, 1st edition (Erbil - Roshinbiri Printing House - 1997).

  8. Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement 1931 - 1958, (Duhok - Khabat Printing House - 1998).

  9. Najaf Quli Pesyan, From Bloody Mahabad to the Banks of the Aras, trans. Shawkat Sheikh Yazdin, 1st edition, (Pirmam - Golden Jubilee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - 1996).

  10. Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Board.