Biography

Malkho Mirali Salim was born in 1918 in the village of Kurke, Shirwan Mazin sub-district, Mergasor district, Erbil province. In 1983, he was Anfalized by the Ba'ath regime in the forced displacement camp of Diana. 

Struggle Record

On May 22, 1947, he accompanied General Mustafa Barzani towards the Soviet Union and participated in the Battle of Kotol (Qotur) and the Battle of the Maku Bridge, and 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, into 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 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, Ayolakh, and Kalbajar in the Republic of Azerbaijan. On December 10, 1947, they were moved 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 officers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, were given eight hours of military training daily. At the same time, for four hours a day, they were taught Kurdish language lessons by some of their companions who were literate.

After Jafar Bagirov's mistreatment of Barzani's companions, it was decided to move the military camp on August 29, 1948, from the Republic of Azerbaijan 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 among the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked on the Kolkhoz 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 Barzani to Stalin, a letter finally reaches Stalin in which Barzani describes the hardships of his companions, and he immediately decides to form a committee to investigate the situation of Barzani's companions, and finally the committee's decision is that they should all be gathered in the city of Vriviski, so Malkho Mirali went to the city of Vriviski in the Soviet Union in November 1951.

In 1958, the Republic of Iraq was established under the presidency of Abd al-Karim Qasim, and on April 16, 1959, Malkho Mirali returned to Kurdistan with his companions by the ship Grozia via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq.

In 1961, he joined the Peshmerga Forces of the Aylul Revolution, became a Peshmerga, and received the rank of Sarpal. 

Sources:

1- Hamid Gawhari, Barzani Medal is the highest honor award, Volume One, (Erbil - Haji Hashim Printing House - 2015).

2- Hamid Gardi, Summary of History, First Edition, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House - Ministry of Education Printing House - 2004).

3- Shaban Ali Shaban, Some Political and Historical Information, Third Edition, (Erbil - Rojhalat Printing House - 2013).

4- Omar Farouqi, Sardar Dana: Life and Struggles of the Late Mullah Mustafa Barzani, Second Edition, (Erbil - Ministry of Education Printing House - 2002).

5- Abdulrahman Mullah Habib Abu Bakr, Barzan Tribe between 1931-1991, First Edition, (Erbil - Ministry of Culture Printing House - 2001).

6- Abdullah Ghafur, Geographical Dictionary of Erbil, (Erbil - Kurdish Academy Publications - Haji Hashim Printing House - 2015).

7- Karwan Muhammad Majid, The Barzanis from Mahabad to the Soviet Union, First Edition, (Sulaymaniyah - Paywand Printing House - 2011).

8- From the memoirs of the Martyr Commander Haso Mirxan Zhazhoki, 62 Days with Barzani: The Barzanis' Journey to the Soviet Union, First Edition, (Erbil - Culture Printing House - 1997).

9- Laith Abdul-Muhsin Jawad al-Zubaidi, The Revolution of July 14, 1958 in Iraq, (Baghdad - Dar al-Rashid for Publishing - 1979).

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

11- Najaf Qoli Pessian, From Bloody Mahabad to the Shores of the Aras, trans. Shawkat Sheikh Yazdin, First Edition, (Pirmam - Golden Jubilee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - 1996).

12- Archive of the Encyclopedia Board of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.