Kurdpress

From Tribal Leadership to Party Organization: A Historical Evolution

According to the historical documents in this atlas, Mulla Mustafa Barzani initially fought against the Iraqi government solely as a tribal leader, without the backing of a formal party organization. However, following a trip to Iranian Kurdistan and inspired by the experience of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, he founded the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq in 1946—a party that later came to be known simply as "Parti." This move is regarded as the first official step by this movement toward accepting the political boundaries between Iran and Iraq.

The historic agreement of March 11, 1970, with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein reached an impasse due to the Iraqi government's failure to fulfill its commitments and the unresolved status of Kirkuk. Subsequently, the Democratic Party secured financial and military support from the Pahlavi regime—channeled through Iran—to exert pressure on Baghdad. However, the signing of the 1975 Algiers Agreement between Tehran and Baghdad dealt a severe blow to the party's political standing and popular support, paving the way for multiple internal schisms.

This atlas details the party's military structure during the Iran-Iraq War. The Democratic Party's forces were organized into four main branches: the first in Dohuk and Mosul, the second in Erbil, the third in Kirkuk and Khanaqin, and the fourth in Sulaymaniyah and the Sharazur Plain. The force structure followed a military hierarchy (ranging from *Hêz* and *Talip* to *Gret*, *Pol*, and *Dasteh*), with a "Special Division" tasked with protecting the party's leadership and its Political Bureau.

Regarding intelligence operations, documents in the book indicate that in the early 1970s, several senior party leaders—including Idris Barzani and Masoud Barzani—traveled to Israel to undergo specialized training aimed at establishing and managing the party's intelligence apparatus, known as *Parastin*. During the war, the organization's primary mission was defined as gathering intelligence on the Iraqi regime's military capabilities, Syrian activities, and the combat tactics of Palestinian groups, as well as monitoring nuclear and missile facilities in the region.

Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the outbreak of unrest in the country's Kurdish-populated areas, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq (KDP) decided to support the Iranian central government. Consequently, in 1979, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Council authorized the party's forces to station themselves in the cities of Naghadeh, Piranshahr, and Marivan. Furthermore, the West Azerbaijan provincial administration paid monthly salaries to the party's Peshmerga fighters through Masoud Barzani, and—under the supervision of Iranian military forces—a joint committee known as "Camp 11" (Barzani's Muslim Kurds) was established to coordinate military operations.

According to statistics from this book, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Iraq—supported by the Ramadan Headquarters and Iranian forces—carried out a total of 327 independent operations across various regions of Iraq between 1984 and 1988. These operations primarily consisted of ambushes, attacks on military bases, and the mining of Iraqi army supply routes. The year 1987, with 164 operations, is recorded as the party's most active year in military terms.

Furthermore, the party conducted eight large-scale irregular operations—codenamed "Fath" and "Zafar"—in the areas of Zakho, Duhok, Diana, Mergasor, Halabja, Khurmal, and Sharazur; simultaneously, it participated in 74 other joint operations alongside Iranian forces, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Dawa Party, and the Socialist Party.

The Party’s most significant and impactful military involvement took place during Operation "Valfajr-2" in the summer of 1983 along the Piranshahr–Haj Omran border axis; there, approximately one thousand of the Party’s Peshmerga fighters participated in the operation alongside Iranian military forces and succeeded in capturing the Haj Omran military base.

According to the book, this overt military cooperation between the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq and Iran provoked the intense wrath of Saddam Hussein. In a retaliatory move, the Ba'ath regime subsequently ordered the arrest and execution of all Barzani men and boys over the age of thirteen residing in the Qushtapa forced-resettlement complexes. Prior to their execution, these individuals were paraded through the streets of Baghdad.