Mustafa Barzani: The Eternal Peshmerga (1903–1979)
- Sherko Sabir
- Mar 16
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 11
There is a moment in Kurdish history that stands above all others as the definitive expression of Kurdish military capability: the September Revolution of 1961, when a Kurdish uprising in the mountains of northern Iraq held the Iraqi Army to a stalemate for fourteen years. The man at the centre of that uprising — the man who had led the Barzani tribe in three previous revolts, who had been exiled to the Soviet Union, who had returned across the mountains of Iran at the head of a hundred and fifty armed men, who would go on to lead his people through the longest and most significant period of organised armed resistance in modern Kurdish history — was Mustafa Barzani. He was the eternal peshmerga: the man who never stopped fighting.
Table of Contents
Part 1: The Barzani Tribe and the Mountains of Barzan
Mustafa Barzani was born in 1903 in the village of Barzan, in the Rawanduz district of what is today the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Barzani tribe combined the authority of a Naqshbandi Sufi religious family — the Barzanis had provided the sheikhs of the order in the region for generations — with the military traditions of the highland Kurdish tribes. Mustafa's father, Sheikh Muhammad, and his eldest brother, Sheikh Ahmad, both led rebellions against British and then Iraqi authority, and Mustafa himself participated in tribal fighting from childhood. By the time he became the leader of the Barzani tribe in the late 1930s, he had already absorbed decades of experience in the politics of Kurdish resistance.
Part 2: The Early Rebellions — First Lessons in Kurdish Resistance
Barzani fought in a rebellion against the Iraqi government in 1931–1932, then led his own revolt in 1943–1945, in which the Iraqi Army was unable to dislodge him from the Barzan mountains despite sustained military operations. The lesson he drew from his early revolts was both encouraging and cautionary: the Kurds could fight effectively in their own mountains, but they could not sustain long-term resistance without external support. This calculation would shape his entire subsequent career.
Part 3: The Mahabad Republic and Soviet Exile
In 1945, Barzani crossed into Iran and joined the Republic of Mahabad — the short-lived Kurdish state proclaimed by Qazi Muhammad in northwestern Iran under Soviet protection. He commanded the republic's military forces, which were the most effective military component of the nascent state. When the republic fell in late 1946 and Qazi Muhammad was executed, Barzani refused to surrender. Instead, he led his fighters on an extraordinary march: north through Iranian territory, across the Soviet border, into exile in the Soviet Union. He spent eleven years there.
Part 4: The Return — A Legend Walks Back Across the Mountains
In 1958, the Iraqi monarchy was overthrown in a military coup led by General Abd al-Karim Qasim, who invited Barzani to return to Iraq. He arrived in Baghdad in October 1958 to a hero's welcome from the Kurdish population. He was now fifty-five years old, had spent eleven years in Soviet exile, and had become in his absence an almost mythological figure — the peshmerga who had never surrendered, the Kurd who had defied armies and crossed continents. His return transformed Kurdish politics almost immediately.
Part 5: The September Revolution — Fourteen Years of Kurdish Resistance
The September Revolution began on 11 September 1961. The Barzani forces — the peshmerga — took control of the Kurdish highlands and held them against repeated Iraqi Army offensives for fourteen years. The resilience of the Kurdish resistance across the September Revolution was Barzani's supreme achievement as a military commander. His fighters could not be defeated by the Iraqi Army in the mountains, but they could not extend their control beyond the highlands. The conflict became a war of attrition in which neither side could achieve decisive victory.
Part 6: The March Manifesto — A False Dawn
In 1970, the Ba'ath government and Barzani reached an agreement: the March Manifesto, which promised Kurdish autonomy within four years. It was the most significant political achievement of Barzani's career and the most bitter disappointment. The Ba'ath government never intended to honour the agreement fully, and the four-year period was used to consolidate Ba'ath control over Kurdish areas while appearing to negotiate in good faith. By 1974, when the government's autonomy offer fell far short of the manifesto's terms, the war resumed.
Part 7: The Algiers Agreement — Betrayal and Collapse
In March 1975, the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein signed the Algiers Agreement, which settled the Iran-Iraq border dispute. In exchange for Iranian concessions on the waterway, Iraq agreed to stop supporting Kurdish opposition; Iran agreed to stop supporting Barzani's forces. The agreement gave Iraq everything it needed to crush the Kurdish uprising and gave the Shah a border settlement he valued more than Kurdish freedom. Barzani's forces, cut off from Iranian supply lines and territory, collapsed within days. It was the most catastrophic defeat of Barzani's career.
Part 8: Exile, Illness, and Death in Washington
Barzani left for exile in the United States, where he received medical treatment for lung cancer. He died on 1 March 1979 in a Washington hospital, without seeing the Kurdistan Region, without seeing his family's return to power in the mountains from which he had been expelled. He was seventy-five years old. He had spent his entire adult life fighting, negotiating, being exiled, and returning.
Part 9: Legacy — The Symbol That Would Not Die
Barzani's legacy is complex, contested, and enormous. As a military commander, he demonstrated that the Kurdish peshmerga could hold their mountains against the full power of a state army for extended periods. As a political leader, he showed that Kurdish national aspirations could be organised into a sustained movement capable of negotiating with states and securing international attention. His failures — the dependence on external powers, the personalised authority that prevented the development of democratic institutions, the catastrophe of 1975 — are also part of his legacy.
Part 10: The Barzani Dynasty — From Rebel to President
The political tradition that Mustafa Barzani established has been continued by his family. His son Masoud Barzani led the KDP through the crises of the 1990s — including the civil war with the PUK — and served as President of the Kurdistan Region from 2005. The Anfal campaign of 1986–1989, in which Saddam Hussein attempted to exterminate the Kurdish population, destroyed hundreds of Barzani villages and killed thousands of his tribe — the most extreme expression of the price that the Barzanis and the Kurdish people paid for their resistance.
Early Struggles & The Will to Resist (1903–1945)
1903 — Born into the Resistance: Born in the rugged Barzan village of the Rawanduz district in northern Iraq. He was born into the prominent Barzani tribe, a family already deeply entrenched in the struggle against Ottoman, and later British, rule.
1931–1932 — The First Revolts: Alongside his older brother, Sheikh Ahmed Barzani, he took up arms in the first major Barzani revolt against the Iraqi government and its British mandate backers. This period honed his skills in guerrilla warfare within the treacherous mountain terrain.
1943–1945 — Stepping into Leadership: Barzani led his own major revolt against Baghdad. Utilizing the unforgiving landscape of the Barzan mountains to his advantage, his forces successfully fought off the Iraqi Army, proving impossible to dislodge and establishing him as a formidable military commander.
The Republic of Mahabad & The Long March (1946–1958)
1946 — Defender of Mahabad: Barzani crossed into neighboring Iran to serve as the chief military commander for the Republic of Mahabad, a short-lived, Soviet-backed Kurdish state. When the republic inevitably collapsed and Iranian forces closed in, Barzani refused to surrender. Instead, he led his 500 loyal Peshmerga fighters on a legendary, grueling "Long March" over the mountains and across the Aras River into the Soviet Union.
1946–1958 — The Soviet Exile: For over a decade, Barzani lived in exile in the USSR. During this time, he studied politics and military strategy, networked with Soviet leaders, and maintained crucial contact with Kurdish political circles back home, watching as the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was formed in his name.
Return to Iraq & The September Revolution (1958–1974)
October 1958 — A Triumphant Return: Following the July 14 Revolution (the Qasim coup) which overthrew the Iraqi monarchy, Barzani was invited back to Iraq. He returned to a hero’s welcome and was officially recognized as the president of the KDP, initially enjoying strong ties with the new republican government.
11 September 1961 — The September Revolution Begins: Relations with Baghdad quickly soured as the government refused to grant meaningful Kurdish rights. Barzani launched the September Revolution (the Aylul Revolt), leading a massive, decade-long armed struggle that exhausted the Iraqi military.
March 1970 — The March Manifesto: The insurgency forced the Ba'athist government (then heavily influenced by a young Saddam Hussein) to the negotiating table. Barzani secured a historic peace agreement that promised Kurdish autonomy, linguistic rights, and a share in political power.
Betrayal, Collapse, & Final Years (1974–1979)
1974 — The Deal Collapses: The Ba'athists dragged their feet on implementing the 1970 agreement—particularly regarding the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. After Baghdad presented a watered-down autonomy law, Barzani rejected it, and brutal, full-scale warfare resumed.
March 1975 — The Algiers Agreement: In a devastating geopolitical blow, Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran signed the Algiers Agreement, settling their border disputes. In exchange, Iran—with the backing of the United States—abruptly cut off all military and logistical support to Barzani. Without open supply lines, the Kurdish uprising collapsed almost overnight.
1975–1979 — Exile and Illness: Defeated and betrayed by international allies, Barzani fled across the border to Iran. He eventually relocated to the United States to seek medical treatment for lung cancer, spending his final years far from the mountains he fought for.
1 March 1979 — The End of an Era: Mustafa Barzani died in Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., at the age of seventy-five. His body was eventually returned to Kurdistan, and he remains an iconic, unifying figure in Kurdish history.
Chronology of Mustafa Barzani
1903 — Born in Barzan.
1946 — Commands Mahabad Republic forces; Soviet exile.
1958 — Returns to Iraq; leads KDP.
1961–1975 — September Revolution.
1975 — Algiers Agreement; collapse; exile.
1 March 1979 — Dies in Washington.
References
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Mustafa Barzani?
Mustafa Barzani (1903–1979) was the leader of the Barzani tribe and the Kurdistan Democratic Party who led the fourteen-year September Revolution (1961–1975) — the longest sustained Kurdish armed resistance in modern history. He is revered as the founding military hero of the Kurdish national movement in Iraq.
What was the September Revolution?
Beginning on 11 September 1961, the September Revolution was the Kurdish uprising led by Barzani that held the Iraqi Army to a stalemate for fourteen years. The peshmerga fighters controlled the Kurdish highlands and survived repeated Iraqi Army offensives until the 1975 Algiers Agreement cut off their Iranian supply lines, causing the movement's collapse.
What was Mustafa Barzani's legacy?
Barzani demonstrated that the Kurdish peshmerga could hold their mountains against a state army for extended periods, and that Kurdish national aspirations could be organised into a sustained movement capable of securing international attention. His son Masoud Barzani continued his political tradition, leading the KDP and serving as President of the Kurdistan Region.