Biography

Tawfiq Khaja Pir was born in 1919 in the village of Meroz, affiliated with the Sherwan Mazin sub-district in the Mergasor district of Erbil province. Before going to the Soviet Union, he was married, and his wife's name was Khazim Muhammad Karim. They had a son and a daughter named Rauf Tawfiq and Halima Tawfiq. The son was born in 1945 and the daughter in 1946. At that time, when a coup took place against the monarchy in Iraq and Abd al-Karim Qasim issued an amnesty for the companions of Barzani and  General Mustafa Barzanigave the companions the choice to return to Iraq or stay in the Soviet Union, he did not return to Kurdistan with his companions in 1959 and remained in the Soviet Union. He returned to Kurdistan in 1990 and settled in Bahirka. He passed away on July 24, 1999.

Struggle Record

General Mustafa Barzani held a meeting with his companions on May 6, 1947, in the village of Argosh and gave them the choice to stay or go to the Soviet Union. There, all his companions decided to continue and go to the Soviet Union. He accompanied General Mustafa Barzani on May 23, 1947, towards the Soviet Union and participated in the Battle of Qotur and the Battle of the Maku Bridge. After much hardship and fatigue, on June 18, 1947, he crossed the Aras River, which is located on the border between Iran and the Soviet Union, into the Soviet Union.

After arriving in the Soviet Union, on June 19, 1947, along with all his companions, they 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 the 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 transferred 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 lessons in the Kurdish language by some of their companions who were literate.

After the poor treatment of the 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, along with his companions, they were distributed in groups and squads by train to the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked on the Kolkhoz farms (lands that people rented from the government and later gave back the government's share).

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, and he immediately ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the situation of the Barzani companions. Finally, the committee's decision was that they should all be gathered in the city of Vrevitsk, so he went to the city of Vrevitsk in the Soviet Union in November 1951.

Sources:

    1. Archive of the Encyclopedia Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party

    2. Shaban Ali Shaban, Some Political and Historical Information, Third Edition, (Erbil - Rojhalat Printing House - 2013).
    3. Omar Farouqi, Sardar Dana: The Life and Struggles of the Late Mullah Mustafa Barzani, Second Edition, (Erbil - Ministry of Education Printing House - 2002).
    4. Karwan Muhammad Majid, The Barzanis from Mahabad to the Soviet Union, First Edition, (Sulaymaniyah - Paywand Printing House - 2011).
    5. From the memoirs of the martyr commander Hasso Mirxan Zhazhoki, 62 Days with Barzani: The Departure of the Barzanis to the Soviet Union, First Edition (Erbil - Rewshanbiri Printing House - 1997).
    6. Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement 1931-1958, (Duhok - Khabat Printing House - 1998).