Memo Shwan Agha Omar was born in 1921 in the village of Shanadar, Mergasor district, Erbil province. He was married, and in 1988, after the Anfal process, he became a refugee in the country of Iran and resided in the Zewe camp. He returned to Southern Kurdistan in 1991 and passed away in 2002.
Struggle RecordIn 1943, after the return of Mustafa Barzani from Sulaymaniyah to the Barzan region and the outbreak of the Second Barzan Revolution (1943- 1945), he joined the ranks of the revolutionary army and participated in the battles to capture the police stations in the Barzan region. In 1945, after the defeat of the revolution, he became a refugee in Eastern Kurdistan (Iran) alongside the Barzani fighters and families. After the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad at the beginning of 1946, he became a Peshmerga of the Republic in the Barzan force. After the fall of the Republic of Kurdistan in December 1946, he returned to Southern Kurdistan alongside the Barzan revolutionary army led by General Mustafa Barzani after several battles and struggles against the Imperial Iranian Army, through the Nazdardagh area at the border triangle of Iran-Iraq-Turkey, and settled in the ranks of the army in the Mizuri tribe area.
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 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, he and all his companions were placed in the city of "Nakhchivan" in the Republic of Azerbaijan for forty days in an open-air complex 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 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 the officers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, were given eight hours of military training daily. At the same time, they were taught Kurdish language lessons daily for four hours by some of their companions who were literate.
After the bad treatment of the Barzani companions by Jafar Baghirov, 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, where they continued their military training.
In March 1949, he and his companions 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 back the government's share).
After much effort and sending several letters by General Barzani to Stalin, a letter finally reached Stalin in which Barzani described the hardships of his companions, and he immediately ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the situation of the Barzani companions. Eventually, the committee's decision was for them all to be gathered in the city of Vrevsky, so Memo Shwan Agha Omar went to the city of Vrevsky in the Soviet Union in November 1951.
In 1958, the Republic of Iraq was established under the presidency of Abdul Karim Qasim, and on April 16, 1959, Memo Shwan Agha Omar returned to Kurdistan with his companions by the ship Gruzia through the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq.
In 1961, he joined the Peshmerga Forces of the Aylul Revolution and became a Peshmerga and participated in the battles. In 1988, he joined the Peshmerga Forces of the Gulan Revolution and became a Peshmerga.
Sources:
1- Hamid Gawhari, The Barzani Medal is the Highest Award of Honor, 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).
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