Biography

Haji Isa Goran was born in 1914 in the village of Meroz in the Shirwan Mazin district of Mergasor district, Erbil governorate. In 1945, after the collapse of the Second Barzan Revolution he was displaced to Eastern Kurdistan. He was a graduate of the Agricultural Institute in the Soviet Union. After his return from the Soviet Union, he was appointed for two years as an employee in the Environment Department of Sarsink in Duhok governorate. In 1963, he was martyred on Mount Matin and was buried in the village of Kharaba in the Barwari region.

Struggle History

In 1943, he joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution and was in the defensive trenches on Mount Bradost against the Iraqi Army. On October 11, 1945, after the collapse of the Second Barzan Revolution, he headed to Eastern Kurdistan. On March 31, 1946, he became a Peshmerga in the Barzani force affiliated with the army of the Republic of Kurdistan in the city of Mahabad. He participated in the battles of the Naqada and Oshnavieh fronts in the Republic of Kurdistan and was wounded in the battle of Qalatan. 

After the collapse of the Republic of Kurdistan, he was among the Peshmerga who returned on April 19, 1947, through the Khwakurk and Barazgir plain to the territory of Northern Kurdistan, from the village of Khwakurk to the village of Argosh and the Herki Bneji region.

After their return, General Mustafa Barzani held a meeting with his companions on May 15, 1947, in the village of Argosh and gave them the choice to stay or head towards the Soviet Union. There, all his companions decided to continue and head towards the Soviet Union.

 On May 22, 1947, he accompanied General Mustafa Barzani towards the Soviet Union and participated in the Battle of Gali Kotol (Qotur) and the Battle of the Maku Bridge. After much hardship and fatigue, on June 18, 1947, he crossed the Aras River, which is located on the border between Iran and the Soviet Union, into the Soviet Union.

After arriving in the Soviet Union, on June 19, 1947, along with all his companions, they were placed in the city of Nakhchivan in the Republic of Azerbaijan for forty days in an open-air compound surrounded by barbed wire. 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 transferred 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 officers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, they were trained for eight hours of military exercises daily. At the same time, they were taught Kurdish language lessons daily for four hours 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 compound 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 among the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked in the collective farms (Kolkhoz) (the lands that people rented from the government and later gave the government's share back). 

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 decided to form a committee to investigate the situation of the Barzani companions. Finally, the committee's decision was that they should all be gathered in the city of Vrevsky, so Haji Isa went to the city of Vrevsky in the Soviet Union in November 1951.

In 1958, the Republic of Iraq was established under the presidency of Abdul Karim Qasim. Haji Isa returned to Kurdistan on April 16, 1959, with his companions by the ship Grozia via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq.

In 1961, he joined the Peshmerga Forces of the Aylul Revolution and participated in its battles. He was one of the Peshmerga who went with the immortal Barzani to the Barwari region. He participated in several battles, including the battles of Mount Pires, Akre, Meroz, Rekan, Gali Zawita, Gali Spi in Zakho, the battle of Qala Shekha in the Barwari region, Dashta Dobane, Beta Nur in the Barwari border, Sarzer, Ain Zala, Meli Arab, Batikha, Alkushke, Barda Kere, Semele, and Hujawa. 

Sources:

1- Hamid Gawhari, The Barzani Medal is the Highest Honor Award, Volume One, (Erbil - Haji Hashim Printing House - 2015).

2- Hamid Gardi, Summary of History, First Edition, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House - Ministry of Education Printing House - 2004).

3- Shaban Ali Shaban, Some Political and Historical Information, Third Edition, (Erbil - Rojhalat Printing House - 2013).

4- Omar Farouqi, Sardar Dana: Life and Struggles of the Late Mullah Mustafa Barzani, Second Edition, (Erbil - Ministry of Education Printing House - 2002).

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

6- Abdullah Ghafoor, Geographical Dictionary of Erbil, (Erbil - Kurdish Academy Publications - Haji Hashim Printing House - 2015).

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

8- From the Memoirs of the Martyr Commander Haso Mirxan Zhazhoki, 62 Days with Barzani: The Barzanis' Journey to the Soviet Union, First Edition, (Erbil - Rewshanbiri 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 Qoli Pessian, From Bloody Mahabad to the Shores of the Aras, Trans. Shawkat Sheikh Yazdin, First Edition, (Pirmam - Golden Jubilee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - 1996).

12- Archive of the Encyclopedia Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.