Biography

He was born in 1900 in the village of Safti, affiliated with the Barzan sub-district in the Mergasor district of Erbil province. Before going to the Soviet Union, he was married; his wife's name was Asia Omar Ahmed, and they had three sons and a daughter named Ismail Suleiman, Salim Suleiman, Muhammad-Amin Suleiman, and Ka'bat Suleiman. Suleiman Ali passed away in 1986 in the Qushtapa complex. On July 31, 1983, during the Anfal operation of the Barzanis, three of his sons named Ismail Suleiman (1940 - 1983), Salim Suleiman (1941 - 1983), and Muhammad-Amin Suleiman (1949 - 1983) were disappeared by the Iraqi government.

Struggle Record

On May 23, 1947, after the large meeting in the village of Dre and the decision to go to the Soviet Union, 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 for forty days in an open-air complex surrounded by barbed wire in the city of Nakhchivan in the Republic of Azerbaijan. They were 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, they were given eight hours of military training daily. At the same time, for four hours a day, they were taught lessons in learning the Kurdish language by some of their companions who were literate.

After the poor 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, along with his companions, they were distributed in groups and squads by train across the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked on the collective farms (the 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 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 covered by a general amnesty. 

In 1958, the Republic of Iraq was established under the presidency of Abdul Karim Qasim. On April 16, 1959, along with his companions, he returned to Kurdistan via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq by the ship Grozia. He participated in the Aylul Revolution and took part in the battles. 

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. Rikar Mizuri, The Tragedy of the Barzanis, First Edition, (Erbil - Haji Hashim Printing House - 2013).

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

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

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

  7. Hataw Magazine, Issue 154, Sixth Year, Erbil, Kurdistan Printing House, Friday, April 15, 1959.

  8. From the memoir of the martyr commander Haso Mirxan Zhazhoki, 62 Days with Barzani, The Journey of the Barzanis to the Soviet Union, First Edition (Erbil - Culture Printing House - 1997).

  9. Laith Abdul-Muhsin Jawad Al-Zubaidi, The July 14, 1958 Revolution 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 Quli Pesyan, From Bloody Mahabad to the Banks of the Aras, trans. Shawkat Sheikh Yazdin, First Edition, (Pirmam - Golden Jubilee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - 1996).