Biography

Mames Rashid Heso was born in 1929 in the village of Bine Bia in the Shirwan Mazn sub-district, Mergasor district, Erbil governorate. In 1945, after the collapse of the Second Barzan Revolution he became a refugee in Eastern Kurdistan. He was a graduate of the Agricultural Institute in the Soviet Union. In 1975, after the collapse of the Aylul Revolution he became a refugee in the country of Iran.

Struggle History

In 1943, he joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution and was in the defensive positions on Bradost Mountain against the Iraqi Army. On October 11, 1945, following 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 to the soil of Northern Kurdistan on April 19, 1947, via the Khwakurk route and the Bazargir plain, from the village of Khwakurk to the village of Argosh and the Herki 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 of staying or going to the Soviet Union. There, 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 Kotol (Qotur) Valley and the Battle of the Maku Bridge. After much hardship and fatigue, on June 18, 1947, he crossed the Aras River, which lies on the border between Iran and the Soviet Union, into the Soviet Union.

After arriving in the Soviet Union, on June 19, 1947, he and all his companions 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 decision of the Soviet government, they were distributed among the regions of Aghdam, Lachin, Ayolakh, and Kalbajar in the Republic of Azerbaijan. On December 10, 1947, they were moved 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, were given eight hours of military training daily. At the same time, for four hours a day, they were taught Kurdish language lessons by some of their companions who were literate.

After the mistreatment 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, he and his companions were distributed in groups and squads by train among the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked in the collective farms (Kolkhozes) (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. He immediately decided to form a committee to investigate the situation of Barzani's companions, and the committee's decision was that they should all be gathered in the city of Vrevsky. Therefore, Mames Rashid Heso 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 Abd al-Karim Qasim. Mames Rashid Heso returned to Kurdistan on April 16, 1959, with his companions by the ship 'Georgia' via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq.

After the July 14, 1958 revolution in Iraq and the return of General Mustafa Barzani, on February 25, 1959, and in accordance with both the third and seventh articles and paragraph (A) of the tenth article, and by applying the eleventh article based on the amended Law No. 19 of 1959, he and his companions were covered by the general amnesty.

In 1961, he joined the Peshmerga Forces of the Aylul Revolution and became a Peshmerga and participated in the battles. In 1963, he was wounded in the battle of Sari Akre. In 1979, he joined the Peshmerga Forces of the Gulan Revolution and became a Peshmerga.

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- Sha'ban Ali Sha'ban, Some Political and Historical Information, Third Edition, (Erbil- Rojhalat Printing House- 2013).

4- Omar Farouqi, Sardar Dana: The 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 diary of the martyr commander Heso Mirxan Zhazhoki, 62 Days with Barzani: The Going of the Barzanis 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 Pesyan, From Bloody Mahabad to the Banks 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.