Biography

Muhammad Isa Mergasori was born in 1924 in the Mergasor district of Erbil Governorate.

Struggle Record

In 1943, following the return of Mullah Mustafa Barzani from Sulaymaniyah to the Barzan region and the outbreak of the Second Barzan Revolution, he joined the ranks of the revolutionary army and participated in the battles to capture the police stations in the Barzan region. In 1945, after the collapse of the Second Barzan Revolution (1943-1945), he fled as a refugee to Eastern Kurdistan (Iran) alongside the fighters and Barzani families. Following the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad at the beginning of 1946, he became a Peshmerga of the Republic in the Barzan force. After the fall of the Republic of Kurdistan in December 1946, he accompanied the revolutionary Barzan army under the command of General Mustafa Barzani, and after several battles and acts of bravery against the Imperial Iranian Army, he returned to Southern Kurdistan through the Nazdardagh region at the tri-border junction of Iran-Iraq-Turkey, and settled in the ranks of the army in the Mizuri tribal region.

On May 6, 1947, following the historic decision of General Mustafa Barzani at the Argosh meeting not to surrender to the Iraqi government and to march toward the Soviet Union, he decided to go along with the revolutionary Barzan army of more than five hundred fighters under the leadership of General Mustafa Barzani, and he became one of Barzani's companions to the Soviet Union. During 28 days of continuous marching through difficult terrain and nature, and facing military confrontations with the armies of the three countries of Iraq, Turkey, and Iran, and after their success in the famous battle of the Shute Plain and their crossing of the Qizildagh bridge in Maku, he finally crossed the Aras River and the border of the Soviet Union on June 18 alongside the Barzani fighters.

After crossing the border, he was transferred by the Soviets along with all the Barzani fighters as prisoners of war to the city of Nakhchivan in the Republic of Azerbaijan. After Moscow decided to accept the Barzanis as refugees, and following the agreement between General Mustafa Barzani and Jafar Baghirov, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, he was transferred with all the Barzani fighters to a military camp on the Caspian Sea near Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. There, they were subjected to intensive military training by Azerbaijani officers, and they were also taught to read and write the Kurdish language by Kurdish officers.

After the deterioration of relations between General Mustafa Barzani and Jafar Baghirov, and the emergence of Baghirov's ill intentions and suspicion toward the Barzanis, he was transferred with all the Barzani fighters on August 29, 1948, from the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Charchuk community in the Republic of Uzbekistan, where they were subjected to military training for a second time on a temporary basis.

In March 1949, following the conspiracies of Baghirov and Beria, Stalin's assistant, the Barzani fighters were separated from each other and sent by train in groups to be scattered among the villages, collective farms (kolkhozes), and cooperatives of the Republic of Uzbekistan, where they were subjected to forced labor and hard daily work to earn a living, similar to German prisoners.

After much effort and the sending of several letters by General Mustafa Barzani to the Kremlin Palace and the authorities of the Soviet Union, a letter from Barzani finally reached Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union. After the arrival of Barzani's letter, Stalin ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the situation of the Barzanis, and eventually, in 1951, all the Barzanis were gathered together once again and settled in the city of Vrevsky on the Black Sea in what is now southern Russia.

After 11 years of staying in the Soviet Union, the monarchy in Iraq was overthrown in 1958, and the country's administrative system was established as a republic headed by Abd al-Karim Qasim, who took power in Iraq. With the arrival of the republicans to power, the way for the return of the Barzanis from the Soviet Union was opened, and on April 16, 1959, he returned to Southern Kurdistan with all the Barzani fighters aboard the ship Gruziya via the port of Basra.

In 1961, after the deterioration of relations between Barzani and Abd al-Karim Qasim and the government's failure to fulfill the promises it had made to the Kurds, the Kurdish national revolution broke out, and Muhammad Isa Mergasori rejoined the ranks of the Peshmerga Forces. After the collapse of the Aylul Revolution (1961-1975), he became a refugee in Iran. After the resumption of the revolution in Gulan 1976, he rejoined the ranks of the revolution once again. In 1993, he returned to Kurdistan from exile. In recognition of his efforts and hard work for the success of the Kurdish liberation movement, he was awarded the Barzani Medal by President Masoud Barzani the Immortal Barzani Medal was granted to him.. He passed away on November 2, 2001.

Sources:

1- Dengi Peshmerga Magazine, Issue 47, November 2001, A word for forty candles lit in memory of the farewell of Muhammad Isa Mergasori, p. 72.

2- Archive of the Encyclopedia Board of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

3- Shawkat Sheikh Yazdin, The Golden Jubilee of the Peshmerga, (Pirmam - Khabat Press - 1996), p. 33.