Biography

Ismail Taha Ali, Born in 1932 in the village of Bazi, belonging to the Barzan sub-district in the Mergasor district of Erbil province, he studied in the Soviet Union and in 1959 was able to obtain a university degree in the agriculture department. He married Larissa Mikhail Grigorievna in the Soviet Union and they had two daughters and a son named Kurdistan, Pakistan, and Ali. After their return from the Soviet Union and the outbreak of the Aylul Revolution, from June 12, 1963, to December 20, 1963, his wife Larissa Mikhail and their three children were detained by the Ba'ath regime in Erbil on the charge that her husband was a Peshmerga of Mulla Mustafa Barzani, and she was put in prison, then resided in the Iskan neighborhood and later in the Saydawa neighborhood, and was under surveillance, and later returned to the Soviet Union.

Struggle History

In 1943, he joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution, and for this reason, on August 19, 1945, by order of the military martial court, all his movable and immovable property was seized.

On October 11, 1945, after the defeat of the Second Barzan Revolution, he crossed with Mulla Mustafa Barzani and his companions into Eastern Kurdistan. After the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad, on March 31, 1946, he defended the Republic within the framework of the Barzan force.

After the fall of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad and the return of Barzani from Eastern Kurdistan to Southern Kurdistan, he participated in the Battle of Naghadeh and the Battle of Oshnavieh in Eastern Kurdistan. He was also among the Peshmerga who returned to the Shirwan and Mazuri region on April 19, 1947, via (Khwakurk and the Barazgir plain) through the territory of Northern Kurdistan.

After their return, General Mustafa Barzani held a meeting with his companions in the village of Argosh on May 6, 1947, 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 Gali Qotur and the Battle of the 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 compound surrounded by barbed wire, and were guarded by a group of soldiers, and were treated as 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, and Ayulakh in the Republic of Azerbaijan. On December 10, 1947, they were transferred to a camp in Baku in the Republic of Azerbaijan, and on the 23rd of the same month, they were given military uniforms and, under the supervision of the officers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, they were given eight hours of military training daily.

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 compound surrounded by barbed wire, and were guarded by a group of soldiers, and were treated as 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, under the supervision of the officers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, they were given eight hours of military training daily. At the same time, for four hours a day, some of their companions who were literate taught them lessons in learning the Kurdish language.

After the bad treatment of Jafar Baghirov towards his companions, it was decided to move the military camp on August 29, 1948, from the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Charchuk complex near Tashkent, the capital of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and they continued their military training there.

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

After much effort and the sending of several letters by General Barzani to Stalin, finally a letter 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, and finally 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, 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 Republic of Iraq was established under the presidency of Abdul Karim Qasim. On April 16, 1959, he and his companions returned to Kurdistan by the ship Gruzia via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq and settled in Erbil.

In 1961, he participated in the Aylul Revolution. On July 31, 1983, during the Barzani Anfal operation, he was disappeared by the Iraqi government in the Qushtapa complex in Erbil province along with his son named Abdul Jabbar Ismail (1968-1983).

Sources:

  1. Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Board.

  2. Hamid Gardi, Summary of History, First Edition, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House - Ministry of Education Press - 2004).
  3. Haider Farouk al-Samarrai, Dia Jafar and His Political and Economic Role in Iraq, (London – Dar al-Hikma - 2016).
  4. In the memoirs of the martyr commander Haso Mirxan Zhazhoki, 62 Days with Barzani, The Barzanis' Journey to the Soviet Union, first edition (Erbil - Roshinbiri Printing House - 1997).
  5. Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement 1931-1958, (Duhok - Khabat Printing House - 1998).
  6. Encyclopedia Committee, Transcript of the interview with Muhammad Asaad Taha, dated 5 March 2019 - Pirmam.
  7. Text of the General Amnesty Committee decision to restore the reputation of the martyrs of the Barzan revolution, Rizgari Magazine, Issue 2, 3, Al-Rabita Press, Baghdad, 1 April 1959.