Situation and reasons

As a result of the Algiers Agreement of March 6, 1975, between Iran and Iraq, the armed revolution of South Kurdistan (September Revolution), after a large meeting in Haji Omaran on March 18, 1975, by the order of President Mustafa Barzani, was halted. With the end of the revolution, the majority of the KDP leadership, a large number of Peshmerga and citizens of South Kurdistan, after the agreement with the Iranian government, crossed into Iran as refugees; in this way, almost all organs and institutions of the KDP, primarily the party leadership in South Kurdistan, were practically dissolved.

After several months of their refuge in Iran, the leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), in order to, under the leadership of Masoud Barzani reorganize its ranks, on April 15, 1975, at a spring outside the city of Naqadeh called (Haft Cheshmeh), secretly met with Jawhar Namiq, Karim Shingali, Arif Tayfur, and Hama Reza. In that meeting, the decision to reorganize the KDP was made. Later, in a secret meeting in Karaj at the beginning of November 1975, it was decided that a new leadership should be formed from the old members of the Central Committee and young cadres of the party to replace the old party leadership. For this purpose, a statement was prepared and published on December 10, 1975, under the name of the Provisional Leadership. The number of members elected for this Provisional Leadership consisted of eleven members, who were Masoud Barzani, Idris Barzani, Sami Abdulrahman, Jawhar Namiq, Karim Shingali, Arif Tayfur, Hama Reza of Sargalo, Azad Barwari, Nuri Shaways, Ali Abdullah, and Kamal Kirkuki.

The implementation of the names of the members of the provisional leadership of the KDP required a congress, because according to the bylaws and programs that the KDP had approved in the eighth congress of the year 1970 in Nawpirdan, the members of the central committee had to be elected in the congress. If the conditions for holding the congress are not suitable, the party can hold a conference anywhere, provided it is supervised by a member of the former central committee. Because the situation of the KDP and the region did not allow for a congress, the party leadership decided to hold a large conference in Europe.

In the summer of 1976, through the efforts of the Sixth Branch of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the border of Europe was opened for Kurdish refugees. Later, both the countries of Austria and the Netherlands showed their readiness to accept a number of Kurds as refugees. By the KDP Relations Bureau in Tehran, a number of refugees, including members of the new KDP leadership, were sent to Europe. After their arrival, the refugees were organized by the Sixth Branch of Europe and most of them were distributed among the party organizations. In this way, the situation of the party in Europe was revived, and on May 26, 1976, Sami Abdulrahman announced in a press conference in London the restart of the armed revolution in South Kurdistan (Gulan Revolution). At the same time, the KDP leadership decided to hold the party conference in Europe.

Conference preparations

The Sixth Branch of Europe of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) began preparations for the conference. Because the center of the branch was in West Berlin, that city was designated as the place for holding the conference. After the preparations, the district committees of Europe were asked to send their representatives to Berlin, and at least 2 representatives were designated from each regional committee. The district committees elected a member from among themselves by voting and went directly to the conference with the head of the district committee and came to Berlin with a report. For the conference meetings, the hall of the University of Berlin was rented. The preparatory committee of the conference consisted of Sami Abdulrahman, Nuri Shaways, Hama Reza, and Arif Tayfur.

On August 11, 1976, the conference began its meetings under the leadership of Sami Abdulrahman and the preparatory committee. The number of members of the district committees of Europe of the Sixth Branch was forty members, along with the members of the Provisional Leadership, cadres who had just arrived in Europe, and guests, among whom was Ismet Cherif Vanly, the number of participants reached forty-eight to fifty people, among them Tariq Akrayi, head of the Sixth Branch, Aziz Sheikh Riza, Siyamend Benna, Ramzi Shaban, Dr. Pirot Ahmed, Hamid Akrayi, Pola Makhdid Qassab Koyi, Mohammed Salih Juma, Fawzi As'ad, Mohammed Miso, Jamal Alamdar, Dr. Omar Oremari, Farhad Sofi (Farhad Jubrail), Tofiq Fayli, Majid Fayli, Izzadin Barwari, Abdulqadir Barwari, Abdulsalam Barwari, Faiq Nerwayi, Mohammed Amin Delawi, Aza Mahmud Khafaf, Wirya Saati, Abdulrahman Pedawi, Ghazi Zebari, Mohammed Hassan Ewnet, Dr. Sabah Meriwani.

Holding the conference

The conference continued from August 11 to 16. At the beginning of the meetings, Sami Abdulrahman read a draft of an eighty-page pamphlet titled (The Path of the Kurdish Liberation Movement), which had been prepared by the conference's preparatory committee, specifically Sami Abdulrahman and Nuri Shaways, which was a critical pamphlet on the September Revolution and the leadership of the revolution and had been written under the influence of the hardline leftist Marxist-Leninist ideology, the pamphlet was discussed by the members of the conference and then voted upon. The second point of the conference's work was to designate the names of the eleven members of the provisional leadership who had previously been elected as leadership members and to add 4 other members to it, it was necessary for the 4 new members of the provisional leadership to return to South Kurdistan after their names were announced, after the voting, each of Warya Saati, Dilshad Miran, Aza Xefaf and Abdulrehman Pedawi were elected as new members of the leadership and were added to the list of members of the provisional leadership, thus the number of members of the provisional leadership became fifteen and they were legally established.

In addition to the tasks and duties of the Berlin conference, several political decisions were made in that conference, among them the election of President Mustafa Barzani as President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the preparations for the ninth congress of the KDP were among the most important decisions.

After the completion of the tasks and duties of the provisional leadership and the election of new members and their establishment, the conference continued by the sixth branch, after the nomination of candidates, it was decided that two administrators of the branch committees should be elected for the sixth branch of Europe, as a result of the voting, Tariq Akreyi was once again elected as the head of the branch and Siyamend Bana and Abdulsalam Barwari were elected as branch administrators. Later, Dr. Jerjis Hassan and Hamid Aqrawi were added to the executive committee of the branch.

The conference lasted for six days and ended on August 16, 1976, which was the same day as the founding of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and a small ceremony was held and then in the evening the decisions of the conference were read to the members and participants of the conference, due to the sensitivity of the political situation at that time, no statement was issued on the occasion of the end of the conference, a pamphlet titled (The Path of the Kurdish Liberation Movement) was issued, later that pamphlet was issued as the political report of the provisional leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of August 11 to 15, 1976, and was approved.

Sources:

1. Faruq Muhammad Muhammad Amin, Iran's Policy towards the Kurdish Liberation Movement in South Kurdistan (1975-1989), (Sulaymaniyah, Rêya Nû Press, 2014).

2. History of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Congress and Conference (Program and Internal Regulations), Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Committee, Volume 1, (Erbil - Roxana Press - 2021).

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8. Hamid Gawhari, Know Idris Mustafa Barzani and the Barzanis Better, Oral History, (Stockholm - 2014).

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11. Provisional Leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), The Path of the Kurdistan Liberation Movement, Evaluation of September Revolution and the New Program of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Political Report of the Provisional Leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) which was accepted at the KDP Conference of August 11-15, 1976.