An officer and politician, Mirhaj Ahmed Tahir, Known as Mirhaj Akreyi, was a member of the Darkar Society in 1939 and joined the ranks of the Hiwa Party of Kurdistan on May 7, 1939. In 1944, he was among the participants of the Second Barzan Revolution (1943-1945). In 1946, he was a member of the founding committee and the central executive committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (founding congress). In 1948, he was appointed as a member of the leadership of South-East Kurdistan (Baku Conference). In 1953, at the Third Congress, he was elected as a member of the central committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Iraq.

Biography

   Mirhaj Ahmed Tahir was born in 1911 in the city of Akre, affiliated with Mosul Province. In 1923, he completed primary school. In 1923, he went to the city of Baghdad for middle school studies. In 1929, he completed high school in the city of Baghdad. In 1929, he wanted to enter the Military College in Baghdad but was not accepted because he was a Kurd. In 1931, he graduated from the Teachers' Training College in Baghdad. In 1931, he was appointed as a primary school teacher in the city of Baghdad. In 1935, he was accepted as a student at the Military College in Baghdad. On September 15, 1936, he graduated from the fifteenth class of the Military College in Baghdad with the rank of Second Lieutenant. On July 4, 1937, he graduated from the Military College with the rank of Second Lieutenant of Artillery and a military bachelor's degree. In 1939, he became a First Lieutenant. In 1943, his rank in the ranks of the Iraq army was promoted and he became a Captain (Ra'is).‌ Within the framework of his military duty, he took artillery and aviation courses. He was proficient in Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish, English, Russian, and Persian languages..

Struggle Record

In 1939, he was a member of the Darkar Society and on May 7, 1939, he joined the ranks of the Hiwa Party of Kurdistan. On August 16, 1942, in the company of Mustafa Mustafa Mustafa Known as Mustafa Khoshnaw (1912-1947) he was present at the founding meeting of the Society for the Resurrection of Kurdistan (JK) in‌ Sise Garden in the city of Mahabad, Eastern Kurdistan. In August 1943, in the company of Mustafa Mustafa Mustafa (1912-1947) Known as Mustafa Khoshnaw, he visited Eastern Kurdistan as a member of the Hiwa Party of Kurdistan delegation to meet with Soviet Union officials and Kurdish personalities. In June 1944, he visited the city of Urmia for the purpose of contacting Soviet Union authorities and Kurdish revolutionaries in Eastern Kurdistan. In December 1944, in the company of Mustafa Khoshnaw in the city of Urmia, they met with Captain Vilchevsky, Stalin's special representative for Iranian and Kurdish affairs, for the purpose of coordination and support for the Kurdish cause, and in the city of Tabriz, they met with General Lubov, Chief of the Soviet General Staff, and General Atakshiov for the same purpose. On January 25, 1944, he was the liaison officer between the Iraq authorities and the revolutionaries of the Second Barzan Revolution (1943-1945) on the Akre front, affiliated with Mosul Province, and he tried to get all Kurdish leaders to support Mustafa Barzani in the demand for Kurdish rights.

In 1944, in the company of Mustafa Khoshnaw and  Aziz Shamzini as representatives of the Hiwa Party of Kurdistan, they met with Mustafa Barzani and discussed their coordination and cooperation‌‌, in 1944, on the Charge of Cooperation with the Second Barzan Revolution, he was imprisoned by the Iraq army in Amara prison. On April 28, 1945, through Muhammad Amin Agha Akreyi, he escaped in the city of Baghdad and on April 29, 1945, he fled from the city of Mosul towards the town of Akre and later crossed over to the Barzan region, the center of the Second Barzan Revolution. On May 1, 1945, he reached the liberated areas of the Second Barzan Revolution and joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution. In 1945, he was among the founders of the Freedom Committee during the Second Barzan Revolution. On August 19, 1945, due to his participation in the Second Barzan Revolution (1943-1945), an order for the confiscation of all his movable and immovable property was issued by the Iraq Martial Court. On October 11, 1945, after the defeat of the Second Barzan Revolution, he became a refugee in Eastern Kurdistan. On March 21, 1946, in the city of Mahabad, accompanied by General Mustafa Barzani they met with President Qazi Muhammad, the President of the Republic, regarding the formation of the Barzan force. In 1946, he was the commander of the Third Battalion of the Barzan force on the Saqqez front on the border of the Republic of Kurdistan (Eastern Kurdistan). In 1946, accompanied by President Mustafa Barzani, he met with the American diplomat Archie Roosevelt in the city of Mahabad.

In 1946, he organized a private meeting for the lawyer Rashid Ismail Aziz (1920-2001), known as Rashid Bajalan, with Qazi Muhammad, the President of the Republic of Kurdistan, and he himself attended this meeting. In 1946, he was among the founding members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. In 1946, he participated in the Mamsha battle against the Iranian Army. In 1946, in the city of Baghdad, he was elected by the representatives of the First Congress (Founding Congress) as a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. In 1946, with the rank of Colonel, he received the command of the Third Battalion of the Barzani forces in the army of the Republic of Kurdistan. In 1946, he was responsible for receiving supplies, weapons, and ammunition from the Republic of Azerbaijan for the Barzani forces in Taqi Awa on the border between the two republics. At the end of 1946, during the fall of the Republic of Kurdistan, by the order of General Mustafa Barzani, he took Sayinqala with the intention of facilitating the retreat of the Barzani forces and the supporting forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan from the Saqqez front towards the city of Mahabad. On December 21, 1946, he was a member of the negotiating delegation of Southern Kurdistan, led by General Mustafa Barzani (1903-1979), to the city of Tehran, the capital of Iran, with Iranian, American, and British authorities for the purpose of the return of the Southerners of Kurdistan to their homeland. In 1946, after the fall of the Republic of Kurdistan, he visited Peshwa Qazi Muhammad and tried to persuade him not to surrender himself.

In 1946, after the fall of the Republic of Kurdistan, in the town of Naghadeh, he was a member of the Kurdish delegation for negotiations with Colonel Ghafari, the representative of the Iranian Army. On April 8, 1947, he reached Gadar with the Peshmerga forces and decided to resist with General Mustafa Barzani and not surrender himself to the Iraqi authorities. On May 28, 1947, under the supervision of President Mustafa Barzani he participated in the large meeting of Jarmi in the village of Jarmi in Eastern Kurdistan for the purpose of organizing the Peshmerga forces and planning for the departure towards the Soviet Union. In 1948, he was appointed as a member of the leadership of Southern-Eastern Kurdistan (Baku Conference). In 1953, without his presence, he was elected by the representatives of the Third Congress as a member of the Central Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Iraq. In the fifties of the last century, he studied for three years at the Political Institute of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan and obtained a bachelor's degree in political sciences. On September 17, 1958, he arrived by plane at Prague Airport. On September 19, 1958, accompanied by President Mustafa Barzani, he arrived at Cairo Airport and was welcomed at the Qubba Palace by Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970). At the end of September 1958, accompanied by President Mustafa Barzani he laid a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Egyptian Soldier in the city of Cairo.

In 1958, when he returned to Baghdad with General Mustafa Barzani, the death sentence against him was lifted by the Sovereignty Council of Iraq. On October 7, 1958, the Arabic-language newspaper (Al-Hurriya), published in the city of Baghdad, reported his return from the Soviet Union. Also in 1958, he strengthened his relationship with most of the Kurdish officers of the Iraqi Army and introduced them to President Mustafa Barzani. In 1959, he was tasked by President Mustafa Barzani, along with Asaad Khoshawi, to speak with the wives of the Barzani comrades to discuss living conditions in Southern Kurdistan so that they could return voluntarily. On April 18, 1958, he arrived in the city of Erbil by two trains with the Barzani comrades and was welcomed by Sheikh Ahmed Barzani (1896-1969) and the masses of the city, and on this occasion, he read a speech to the masses. On March 23, 1959, by a republican decree and with the signature of the Sovereignty Council of Iraq, he was accepted into the ranks of the Iraqi Army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

On Saturday, April 18, 1959, at the port of Basra in southern Iraq, he was welcoming the train carrying the comrades of Mustafa Barzani who were returning from the Soviet Union and delivered a speech. On February 8, 1963, after the coup of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party against the authority of Brigadier General Abdul Karim Qasim (1914-1963), he was retired from the Iraqi Army. In 1977, he was tasked by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (1914-1982) to accept a ministerial post, but he did not agree to this. In 1979, secretly in the city of Baghdad and at his own home, he held a funeral for President Mustafa Barzani (1903-1979). On November 13, 1988, he passed away in the city of Baghdad and was buried in the Pirbani cemetery in the town of Akre, affiliated with the Duhok Governorate.

Source:

1. Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Board.