Officer and politician Mustafa Mustafa Mustafa, known as Mustafa Khoshnaw, member of the Hiwa Party, one of the Kurdish officers in the ranks of the Iraq army in 1936, member of the Freedom Committee and member of the founding body of Kurdistan Democratic Party, was executed by hanging by the government of Iraq in Baghdad in 1947.

Biography

Mustafa Khoshnaw He was born in 1912 in the Betwata area. He completed his primary education in the city of Koya and his secondary education in the city of Erbil. In 1931, he was accepted into the Teachers' College in the city of Baghdad. After completing his studies, he became a teacher in the city of Halabja. In 1934, he joined the Military College in Baghdad, and on June 3, 1936, he graduated from the Military College with the rank of Second Lieutenant. In 1939, he married Zakiya Faraj, and they had three daughters and a son.

After the fall of the Republic of Kurdistan, he returned to Iraq in 1947 and was imprisoned in the Central Prison of Baghdad. At the time when his pregnant wife visited him in prison, Mustafa Khoshnaw asked her that if their child was a boy, she should name him Azad. A month and a half after his execution, Azad was born on August 2, 1947.

Struggle Record

Mustafa Khoshnaw was one of the Kurdish officers whom the government of Iraq appointed on January 25, 1944, as a liaison officer between the government and the Second Barzan Revolution (1943-1945). At the same time, he was secretly entrusted by the Hiwa Party with the task of communication and coordination between the party and the revolution. Later, he joined the ranks of the revolution. After the failure of the negotiations and the change in the Nuri al-Said cabinet and the taking of office by Hamdi al-Pachachi in his place, the government issued an order for the officers to return to the ranks of the army. In this context, with the approval of the revolution's leadership, he returned from Barzan to the ranks of the Iraq army. After two months, he took leave and returned to Kurdistan. The government became suspicious of this leave, fearing that he might go to the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad. He was aware that the government had its eyes on him, so he decided to stay in Barzan.

At this time, the government, through Mirhaj Ahmed, asked Mustafa Khoshnaw to return to the army. After his return, he was dismissed from the ranks of the Iraq army after two months, and an arrest warrant was issued for him by the Ministry of Defense of Iraq. The Hiwa Party informed him of this warrant, and thus he was able to leave Baghdad and save himself, and later he rejoined the ranks of the revolution in Barzan.

On January 15, 1945, at the suggestion of Mustafa Barzani the Freedom Committee was established, and Mustafa Khoshnaw was one of the members of the founding body. After the cessation of peace negotiations with the government and following the possibility of the resumption of enemy attacks, on February 10, 1945, at a meeting of the Freedom Committee and by the decision of Mustafa Barzani, Commander-in-Chief of the revolutionary armed forces, he was appointed as the commander of the Mergasor-Rawanduz defense front. To prevent military clashes and on the orders of Mustafa Barzani, on March 4, 1945, Mustafa Khoshnaw wrote a warning letter to the Major General of the Iraq army, Rafiq Arif, with the following content: ''After offering my respects, through our own men, we were informed that you intend to take the initiative tomorrow, March 5, 1945, under the guise of maneuvers, to attack us. We inform you!. We say in advance: whatever happens in this regard, the blame is not on us, and we are not guilty. Signed, Mustafa Khoshnaw" 

In this way, it was possible to prevent war until June 10, 1945, until the time when Wali Beg was martyred in the courtyard of the Mergasor police station and war broke out again. On October 11, 1945, after the end of the Second Barzan Revolution, he went with Mustafa Barzani to the Republic of Kurdistan. In the Republic, Captain Mustafa Khoshnaw was made the commander of the Second Battalion of the Barzan Force, which consisted of three battalions. Later, by order of the leadership, his rank was promoted to Major.

In 1946, he participated in most of the defense battles of the Republic of Kurdistan. After the fall of the Republic and his return to the border of Iran and Iraq, on April 10, 1947, he was one of the officers who surrendered to the government. He was first taken to Erbil and then transferred to the central prison in Baghdad, where he was imprisoned with his other comrades. It was decided that they would not be executed, but in a sham trial, the sentence of hanging until death was secretly carried out on him. Before his hanging and that of three of his comrades, they wrote a will to the people in which they reaffirmed their stance for the freedom of the homeland. The next day, despite the restriction on the presence of the public, he was buried in the Gerd-i Saywan cemetery in the city of Sulaymaniyah.

Source:
  1. Archive of the Encyclopedia of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
  2. History of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Congress and Conference (Program and Internal Regulations), Encyclopedia Board of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Volume One, (Erbil - Roxana Printing House - 2021).
  3. Habib Muhammad Karim, History of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Iraq (In Key Stations) 1946-1993, (Duhok - Khabat Printing House - 1998).
  4. Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume One 1931-1958, (Erbil - 2012).
  5. Ma'ruf Qaradaghi, Barzan and Its Secrets, (Baghdad - Ma'arif Printing House - 1959).