Lawko Mamand Masih, a Peshmerga and companion of Barzani to the Soviet Union, was born in 1932 in the village of Sarokani in the Piran sub-district, Mergasor district, Erbil Governorate. In 1975, after the collapse of the Aylul Revolution, he became a refugee in the country of Iran, returned to Southern Kurdistan in 1999, and passed away on January 8, 2026, due to illness.
Struggle RecordIn 1943, he joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution (1943-1945), was in the defensive trenches on Bradost Mountain against the Iraqi Army, headed to Eastern Kurdistan after the collapse of the Second Barzan Revolution on October 11, 1945, became a Peshmerga in the Barzani force affiliated with the army of the Republic of Kurdistan in the city of Mahabad on March 31, 1946, 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 to the soil of Northern Kurdistan on April 19, 1947, via the Khwakurk route and the Barazgar plain, from the village of Khwakurk to the village of Argosh and the Herki Baneji area.
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 go to the Soviet Union, where all his companions decided to continue and go to the Soviet Union.
On May 22, 1947, he accompanied General Mustafa Barzani towards the Soviet Union and participated in the battle of the Gali Kotol (Qotur) and the battle of the Maku bridge, and 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, towards the Soviet Union.
After arriving in the Soviet Union, on June 19, 1947, along with all his companions in the city of Nakhchivan in the Republic of Azerbaijan, they were placed for forty days in an open-air compound surrounded by barbed wire and were guarded by a group of soldiers, and were treated as 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 the officers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, were given eight hours of military training daily. At the same time, for four hours a day, they were taught lessons in the Kurdish language by some of their companions who were literate.
After the bad treatment of Barzani's 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 to the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked in the Kolkhoz fields (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 Barzani's companions, and finally the committee's decision was that they should all be gathered in the city of Vriviski, so he went to the city of Vriviski in the Soviet Union in November 1951.
After the July 14, 1958 revolution in Iraq and the return of General Mustafa Barzani, on February 25, 1959, according to both the third and seventh articles and paragraph (A) of the tenth article and the implementation of the eleventh article, based on the amended Law No. 19 of 1959, he and his companions were covered by a general amnesty.
In 1958, the Republic of Iraq was established under the presidency of Abdul Karim Qasim, and he 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 became a Peshmerga and received the rank of Sergeant. In 1980, he joined the Peshmerga Forces of the Gulan Revolution and became a Peshmerga.
Sources:1- Hamid Gawhari, The Barzani Medal is the highest award of honor, 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).
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9- Laith Abdul-Muhsin Jawad Al-Zubaidi, The July 14, 1958 Revolution in Iraq, (Baghdad- Dar Al-Rashid for Publishing- 1979).
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