5/27/2011
Article - Untitled Article
Publication: Guardian 1821-2000; Date: Mar 3, 1979; Section: None; Page:6
Kurdish leader Barzani dies
From AP
in Washington
Mustafa Barzanl, the exiled
ICurdish leader who claimed he
was betrayed by the Shah of
Iran and the United States, has
rt , aged 75, just as his
people are renewing their
quest for autonomy.
Barzani died of lung cancer
on Thursday night at George .
town University Hospital in
Washington. He lived his final
years an exile in the US, but
his home was In the maun•
Iambus Middle East region of
the Kurds , which includes
parts ot—Turkey, Iraq, the
Soviet Union and Iran.
Iron icafly, his dea t h ca i ne at
a time when one of those he
blamed for his exile, the Shah.
is also in exile. And it came
when Kurdish nationalists
seemed dv ct to successfully
wirnung autonomy than at any
time in recent years.
The revolution in Iran and
the weakening ot cerl wfl gov-
ernment cornrol have been
accompanied by demonstrations
and lighting In the Eurdish
areas of Iran aimed at wI l IL il l ig
the autorruTny that Barzani
fou?ht for unsuccessfufly. Ba!
zani said he never gave up
hope. “Of course I have hope.
No one can live without ihope,”
be told an interviewer in 1978.
He was born into a family of
Moslem zealots and tribal ware
riots. Whim he was three, he
and his mother went to gaol
because of the family's role in
the effort to win an autonts .
mous homeland for his ICur-
dish people. When Barzii*'s
otder brother was hanged for his
part in a rebellion, the Leader-
ship fell to him.
Barzant continued the
struggle for better part of the
© Guardian News and Media Limited
next 60 years, fighting from re-
mote mountain hideawayS ,
going into exile, and then re-
turning to fight again.
The final phase of his guer
rilla career began in 3961
against Iraq. The fight dragged
on for I I years until the Shah 1
who was having troubles with
neighbouring Iraq, decided it
would be useful to back The
Kurds in their struggle .
Acording to Barzani, the Shah
arranged for his American
allies to receive a I curdish
delegation secretly in Washing-
ton In 1972. There, the CIA
promised to supply arms to the
I curds .
With these weapons, the
stru gie grew. But in 1975, the
Iraqi Government decided to
settle its differences with Iran.
This mollified the Shah, w1 . ,
decided he no longer had need
of the ECurds . Suddenly, Ear-
zanl said, the flow of arms
stopped, and his army was de '
fenceless.
Most of the Zurds were
forced from their liuaisdand to
southern iraq, and some 1 in-
cluding Barzanl. escaped to
Iran. From there, a few
liuiith'ed came to the United
States, including Barzani, who
needed treatment at the Mayo
clinic in Minnesota.
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• Mustafa Barzani; Never gave up hope
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