About Mustafa Barzani Mustafa Barzani (Kurdish: Mistefa Barzani) (March 14, 1903 – March 1, 1979) is a legendary Kurdish leader, and the most prominent political figure in the modern Kurdish politics. In 1946 he was chosen as the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to lead the Kurdish revolution against Iraqi regimes. Barzani was the primary political and military leader of the Kurdish revolution until his death in March 1979. He led campaigns of armed struggle against both the Iraqi and Iranian governments.Early life Barzani was born in 1903 in Barzan, a village in northern Iraqi Kurdistan, (then part of the Ottoman Empire), he was first imprisoned in Mosul, with his mother, when he was only three years old. Early career In 1931 and 1932, together with his older brother, Sheikh Ahmed Barzani, led the Kurdish struggle for independence. In 1935, with the suppression of the Kurdish revolution, the two were exiled to Sulaymaniyah. Barzani escaped from Sulaymaniyah in 1942, and started a new revolt against Baghdad, but was once again unsuccessful. Barzani and 1,000 of his followers went to Eastern Kurdistan to help Qazi Muhammed to defend the newly founded Kurdish Republic of Mahabad. The Republic of Mahabad In December 1945 the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad was declared by the Kurds in Eastern Kurdistan, which was under Soviet military control. Mustafa Barzani was appointed as the Minister of Defense and commander of the Kurdish army in the Republic of Mahabad. In May 1946 the Soviet troops were withdrawn from Iran, in accordance with the Yalta Agreement, and in December Mahabad was overrun by Iranian troops. The President of the Republic of Mahabad was hanged in public in the "Çar Çira" square in Mahabad city, and many others were massacred. Mala Mustafa refused to surrender to the invading Iranian army and along with his fighters moved back to Iraq. But once again he was forced to flee when the Iraqi, Turkish and Iranian forces joined their efforts against him. Barzani with 500 of his pesh merga fought his way through Turkey and Iran to Azerbaijan in the Soviet Union, where they were disarmed and incarcerated in a prison camp before being allowed to settle in various parts of the Soviet Union. Exile in the Soviet Union In 1951 the peshmerga were allowed to settle in Baku. Many enrolled in schools and universities. Barzani himself went to Moscow, where he studied political science, and renewed his contacts with Kurdish diaspora and exiles. While in his time in Moscow he meet Josif Stalin, Leader of the soviet union, and was granted a small part of Russian military leadership in case of war.