Dear brothers:
I greet you...
I am very proud of those Kurdish sons who, in this long period since the beginning of our revolution until today, have endured all the suffering and pain: heat, cold, arrest, killing, wounding. That bravery, endurance, and courage is a source of pride for all of us and for the history of the Kurdish nation, both in the present and in the future. Everything that has been done so far is a source of pride and a reason for a person to be happy and hold their head high. The manhood, zeal, and bravery that this Kurdish nation has shown: the heroism, honor, and dignity that the Kurdish son has displayed in this revolution, as he has held his own and resisted against all the distress, injustice, oppression, and tyranny inflicted upon him, has not happened among any other nation or in any other place except in this Kurdistan. What has happened to the Kurdish nation, people abroad have not heard even four percent of it, but in foreign countries, if a revolution and heroism occur, even if it is four, it is shown as a hundred, because they have had people to help them, they have had means of propaganda, and they have spoken out for them. But what has happened in Kurdistan, without anyone's help and with such few weapons against a large, treacherous, and oppressive force, has been resisted for these years, with patience and endurance that has not happened for anyone else. That is why we must be proud and honored by this nation, because what this nation has endured is beyond human capacity. And as I have said a thousand times, this pride and glory is not only for those who have shouldered their rifles, but every Kurdish farmer, every Kurdish woman, old and young, and Kurdish child, all are participants in this heroism, and in this revolution, everyone has seen much suffering and has been subjected to torment.
Dear brothers:
Every revolution and every movement in the world is done for the service of the nation. It is necessary for those who have the affairs of that nation in their hands to only consider the interests of the nation and put aside all egoism and personal interests, and do whatever work for that, and not follow their own personal whims. Now, here, as I want to remind you of a few things, do not think that I am criticizing a specific person... You should also not think that I am not criticizing anyone... In the points I am making, I am also criticizing myself if I do something that is harmful to the revolution and the nation... We must know our duty very well. If every official of the revolution does not work for the interest of the revolution and is negligent in their duties, we will become our own enemies and serve the enemies of our nation... We must understand what nation means? What does unity mean? What does Kurdishness or nationalism mean? That official who abandons the interest of the revolution for personal goals... or for their own pocket, for financial gain... or tries for some vanity... or does not obey orders and goes outside the system... that person is neither a Kurd nor serving the revolution.
For example: If a local committee is set up here, and a local committee is set up there... the previous local committee might wish for this committee not to be successful, just for the sake of saying that they are good and these are bad... If a force commander wishes for another force commander not to be more successful so that they can say that only that force commander is good... This is neither wisdom nor nationalism. It is neither party-mindedness nor revolutionism. Nationalism, party-mindedness, and revolutionism mean that everyone cooperates together, for a general interest, for our own people. Yes, as two thousand people, we have made sacrifices. And perhaps even more, they have sacrificed their own souls for the sake of this nation and this homeland. For the sake of these rights, and these rights, which I have said a thousand times: that we, from this oppression that has been inflicted upon us, with the passage of time, emerge from this oppression, be masters of our own rights, and be able to say two words about whatever it may be: wisdom, science, administration, education. Whatever relates to our own country. We should have the right to make decisions; we should have the right to refuse, and we should be able to live as humans. There should be no oppression. If oppression comes upon us and we are attacked, we should have a hand that does not let them grab our necks, choke us... Furthermore, my request is that you all cooperate together with a pure heart and do not do anything that makes our own actions a great enemy within ourselves... If we all work hard together with brotherhood and sincere cooperation for the general interest, and everyone considers the interest of Kurdistan and the revolution more than their personal interest, greatness, and personal benefit, no force can deny us our rights, and no one can oppress our nation... My brothers, the wealth of the world is not worth us abandoning our national honor for the sake of a good meal or a soft place, and forgetting our homeland and the interest of our own nation... Think about those very wealthy Kurdish millionaires who have not helped the revolution of their own nation, how wretched and dirty they appear in everyone's eyes... Honor is not gained through wealth; money and wealth, if not spent for the interest of the nation, become a source of disgrace and wretchedness... We have never heard in history that they praise someone by saying they ate very good food or slept on a soft bed! Only the names of those people are mentioned with honor who have suffered for the general interest and for their own homeland and nation and have been of benefit to their own oppressed nation...
Yes, only honor, dignity, unity, brotherhood, and helping one another will be a source of pride for us all... I have told you a thousand times that I serve whoever is the smallest among all. I am not anyone's president, and I do not want anyone's presidency... But I want to be your brother, to serve you, and you be my brother and help me, let us become sons of the nation together, to serve the nation. Let us cast away personal feelings, meaningless egoism, and worldly greed...
from ourselves... Let us be clever and cautious of the enemy, with a paper, with a word, with a lie... Let us not forget our reality and not be tricked...
Progressiveness means that we work hard for science, wisdom, manhood, chastity, purity of hand and skirt, and truth for the sake of serving the nation... The person who does not strive for these things, whoever they may be, I do not consider them progressive, and the person who is greedy for the wealth and honor of others and commits oppression and aggression and makes God and people dissatisfied with them, that is never considered a human being.
Dear brothers:
My request to you, who are sons of the nation, is that you try to make your Party stronger and more organized day by day, and that everyone cooperates with it... If the Party has good organization and orders are carried out very well, it means that the army and the nation will also become stronger and better.
The Party means the organization of the entire nation, and the army and every other segment are parts of that nation. No revolution will succeed without the leadership of an organized Party. If I say Party, it means a Party that is sincere to the nation and has the interests of the nation in mind, not like those who were in Mawat and oppressed the nation while calling themselves a Party... So, if we want our revolution to succeed, we must strengthen this Party we have, and all of us, whether I, the army, or the nation, must sincerely help our Party... None of us should have our eyes on leadership and greatness... Whoever is able to have more capability, and in proportion to that capability, serves the nation. The nation knows its leader...
If I have enough capability to manage ten Peshmerga... but I want them to make me a Head of Branch, or a platoon leader, or a battalion commander just so my name becomes great... that leadership is like a dry tree branch that I climb onto, and it breaks, and I fall from it, and my neck breaks. Manliness and true service is that whatever work they entrust to you, you do it with great sincerity, and your eye is on the fact that you are serving the nation. Purity of heart and agreement with one another is a condition for the success of the revolution. If we have selfishness and hypocrisy among us, then we are serving the enemy, and it is hostility towards ourselves and our own nation...
The person who has a task in hand and is responsible for several people must suffer more than those under him. If one of the group is hungry... he must give his own food to him and accept being hungry himself, because the superior must endure more than the subordinate... If I call myself a superior and am full while the subordinate in my sight is hungry, I consider that a great shame. But if I die of hunger myself and save a poor person from hunger, I consider it a very great honor... Humanity is that you sacrifice your own pleasures and comforts for the interest of the weak and the poor... If we do not have that cooperation and that spirit of sacrifice and selflessness, we cannot seriously serve our own nation... We must know that we will not succeed only with weapons... We will not succeed by taking money... We will not succeed by looting and swearing, by overstepping the rights of the people, by killing and cutting... We will succeed when all of us have pure hearts toward one another, and the superior and the subordinate respect one another, and every Kurd considers the gain and loss of every Kurdish brother as their own gain and loss... We are all truly brothers together... You come to my aid when I am in trouble, I am hungry, you give me a share of your food... If you are in need of my help, and I am in need of your help... let us come to each other's aid. For the service of the nation, selfishness must disappear... You are a son of the Kurds, and I am a son of the Kurds. I work for the nation, and you work for the nation. It is necessary that we spend our wealth, life, mind, knowledge, and everything we have for this nation... until we win freedom for it and remove the hand of the treacherous and oppressive enemy from it... If we do not strive for our nation with such sincerity and love, we must know that we are serving the enemy and will be responsible before God, history, and the nation...
I have told this story many times. You have also heard it: Like a father or a mother who has two sons, and one has been paralyzed and has fallen at home... Every day, father, mother, wash me, take me, bring me, carry me. One year, two years... The merciful mother and father also say: God has brought a calamity upon me... Oh Lord, take him away from me with Your mercy! Because he becomes a burden to them, and there is no hope of benefit from him. But the other son who is healthy, if his mother and father have the means, they spend money or clothes on him. Because if he is the son of a king, they say he will become the (Crown Prince), if he is the son of a shepherd, they say tomorrow I will grow old, he will take the herd Outside and earn my bread. They have hope that they will benefit from that child of theirs... If they also imagine that someone from the outside will help us... If we are that son who is paralyzed, no one welcomes us... But when we are men ourselves, everyone extends a helping hand to us. Even if we are not men, those people, even if they are parents, only help once. The second time they don't even greet us. If we are men and have a skill, all our wishes will be fulfilled... That manliness and strength are acquired through mind and action; with words, nothing can be done for us. Even if we say with our mouths that I did this, I will do that, but there is no action with it, what is the use?
If I have selfishness, arrogance, and envy toward my own nation, how can I serve it? If we do not help each other sincerely... even if we are mountains, we will collapse... My help to you is for myself, and your help to me is for yourself; we should not hold favors over one another. Because both of us are working for the nation and for ourselves, and the help of all of us is for the nation, of which we are also sons. You and I are brothers and people of one homeland, and our path is connected together. So let us, with sincerity and pure brotherhood, all join hands, and let this revolution of Kurdistan, which, as I said, is a source of pride and which this Kurdish nation has done—no one else has done this—not slip from our hands, and let us reap the benefits of all this suffering and hard work... In my life, until now, as long as I have been able to live with my friends and companions and manage my affairs: political or military, God has been gracious to me, and I have remained until now. Whether with honor or with disgrace, God knows whatever it is. My comrades also know that I have never betrayed my comrade, I have not been greedy, I have not had personal love in front of my comrade. I have given my food from my own pocket to him, I have endured hunger, I have given my clothes to my comrade, I have endured the cold myself. I have even had the possibility to go to the front with my comrades. I was the first person, ask. The place where the cannon and the airplane hit, the place where no one lives, I went to that place... If our army has attacked from the front, I was the first person, not once, not twice, not ten times, until I reached this state. After my return to Iraq, I did not have the possibility of strength; if the fear was from behind, I was the last person, until the last breath... Why? Because I have not considered myself dearer than anyone else; they are all human beings like me, we are all brothers. If we can serve, that service, which they call us servants, is better than any name of leadership and greatness, and it is a place of pride for a man to be a servant of his own nation...
Dear brothers:As I told you before, if we want to achieve success, we must all be very obedient to the system and organization; no revolution will succeed without observing the system. If an order is issued by the Party leadership, those to whom the order is directed must not ignore it... This means it will become chaos, everyone will act according to their own desire and selfishness, and at that time that person will not answer to orders... Instead of serving the nation, he becomes an enemy of the nation and is much worse than a collaborator... If in a house, among the family members, there is no elder, no younger, and no system, if no one executes the orders of those greater than themselves, if everyone finds something or some money and puts it in their own pocket instead of giving it to the rest of the family, and if they do not all work together for the sake of the whole family... that house will become chaos and the house will be without order!
We, too, in this revolution, are a family; it is necessary for everyone to execute the orders of those greater than themselves with great obedience... Whatever they find, they must spend it for the expenses of the entire revolution, not use it for their own benefit... If someone is held accountable, they must not be offended; whoever is clean does not fear accountability... If someone is called to court, they must not say I will not go... It is necessary for the truth and rights to be revealed. Whoever says I will not go to court proves the accusation against themselves. If someone tells me, come to court, I will go... I will answer whatever the judge asks, I will not be offended by it at all, if I have not committed a sin or a fault... It will be revealed to everyone that I am innocent and I will be triumphant.
A human being becomes beautiful by obeying the law and orders... We must not deviate from the law that we have set for ourselves so that there is no chaos. If a responsible person... is transferred from one place to another, they must not say they do not trust me, that is why they are transferring me... No, that is not it. That is what the interest of the revolution requires. It is possible that tomorrow someone else will come to their place and they will go to another place. We must have obedience, we must work for the public interest.
Everyone who works in this revolution must, first me, then all the officials, up to a Peshmerga, up to a member of the Party, keep this in mind: if we hurt the heart of a villager, a shepherd, a shopkeeper, a woman, a child, if we use insults and bad words against the individuals of the nation, if we take an egg, a chicken, or whatever they call it, causing harm to the nation through injustice and oppression, they must know that we are becoming enemies of the nation and enemies of ourselves. If the heart of the nation is with us, even if the enemy is a thousand times more powerful... they cannot break us. If the heart of the nation is not with us... I swear to you, even if we are a thousand times more powerful than we are now... we will be broken and we will not be able to achieve success... If we do not all work together for the public interest and have selfishness and self-love, we are serving the enemy for our own destruction...
Dear brothers, just as I have always said in '45, in the year '60, and still say now: We are not fighting a war between Arabs and Kurds. I do not just say I will not fight the Arabs... I will not fight any nation. I will not fight with any nation over the name: this one is yellow, this one is red, this one is black, this one is blue, this one is white... Kurds and Arabs are brothers and they can live together with great harmony, brotherhood, happiness, and peace. Yes, the Arab is the elder brother and we are the younger brother, we say it is not justice and fairness for the younger brother to be hungry and naked and unable to study and learn something for himself and unable to express his opinion in the administration of his own common house, while the elder brother takes everything in the house for himself!! It is necessary to observe justice, for the younger brother not to consider himself oppressed and for injustice and oppression not to be committed against him...
We are not against the government if the government does not fall into the hands of the cowardly and the thieves! Those who serve the enemies of the Kurds and Arabs. In this revolution of ours, we want the interest of Iraq... first for the Arabs, secondly for the Kurds, and for all the people of Iraq. Turkmen, Assyrians, Armenians, whoever there is... We want an just, democratic government with free elections without pressure, coercion, injustice, and aggression in Iraq. There should be such a just law that the people of Iraq set for themselves... not that every day a military man says: (We have decided the following) and rules over the people of Iraq according to his own desire and selfishness, and the people cannot and dare not hold him accountable...
We have not attacked anyone and we will not attack anyone. We are defending the legitimate rights, property, honor, and life of the Kurdish nation. We never want: bloodshed and killing to occur between two brothers, Arab and Kurd. Because the war and killing of us, Kurds and Arabs... serves the enemies of Iraq. Therefore, my hope is that God will put wisdom and understanding into the minds of those who want to fight us... let them have mercy on the people of Iraq and not look at the injustice and aggression against the Kurdish nation... so that we can all live together as the people of Iraq in happiness, brotherhood, peace, and justice...
Dear brothers: We must know that the world does not remain for anyone and even if we have a thousand golden palaces, we will leave them and go under the soil. God has said in the Quran: (From it We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will extract you another time). Only honor, dignity, and humanity have value in the existence of a human being. A man must fear God, serve his own nation with honesty and sincerity, shoulder to shoulder with one another, defend against injustice, and be a follower of justice, fairness, and equality among the people. If we do good work... it will not be lost before God and the people, and if we do bad work, it will also not be lost. God Almighty has said in the Quran: (So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it).
Now, my hope is that you accept criticism for yourselves. Let us be obedient to orders, cast aside personal interest from your hearts, keep the public interest and the public good in your sight, cooperate with one another... That is all I can do... I entrust you to God... May God help us to do good...
Source:Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three. Part One 1961-1975, Aylul Revolution.