The relentless armed and intellectual struggle of the various classes and strata of Southern Kurdistan, since 1931, despite its ups and downs, eventually resulted in the spring uprising of 1991 and the freedom of the Kurdistan Region. The Kurdistan Students Union organization, from its inception in 1953 until the spring of 1991, despite all the obstacles and difficulties, did not hesitate for a moment in its own way to strive for the sake of bringing the Kurd people to this safe shore.
The interval between the seventh and eighth congresses of the Kurdistan Students Union lasted more than 21 years. During that period, many changes occurred in the organization and structure of the organization, and several conferences were held at different times to reorganize them, so that the organization could be best adapted to the internal and regional developments, the last and most important of which was the spring uprising of 1991. After the uprising and the stabilization of the Situation in the Kurdistan Region, in 1993 the Kurdistan Democratic Party held its eleventh congress and the election of the Kurdistan National Assembly was held, and that was when the Kurdistan Students Union also decided to hold their own congress. Especially after the unification congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which meant that all mass organizations and unified parties had to be reorganized once again.
In the sixth meeting of the Kurdistan Students and Youth Democratic Union, on March 10, 1993, at the headquarters of the Secretariat of the Kurdistan Students Union in the Sheraton building in Erbil, the decision was made to hold the "Freedom Congress" and it was also decided to add 13 members from all branches to the Executive Committee, which consisted of the following:
1- Luqman Ismail and Bashar Hamid - Dohuk-Nineveh Branch.
2- Rebar Ahmed Khalid and Khanzad Ahmed Abed - Erbil Branch.
3- Aram Muhammad Abdullah, Arkan Tahsin Sadiq and Jalal Muhammad - Sulaymaniyah Branch.
4- Omar Sharif and Salam Hussein Abdullah - Kirkuk Branch.
5- Sasan Awni and Mustafa Salim Hamadamin - Salahaddin University Committee.
6- Gohdar Ismail - Secretariat Office Headquarters1.
The Secretariat Office after the uprising was as follows:
1- Abdullah Khalo Ali - Secretary.
2- Rafaat Saeed Muhammadamin - Member of the Secretariat Office.
3- Faryad Shafiq Muhammad, Known as Faryad Barzani - Member of the Secretariat Office.
4- Adil Ali, Known as Adil Botani - Member of the Secretariat Office.
5- Kurdistan Pirdawd Qadir - Member of the Secretariat Office.
6- Ibrahim Mustafa Muhammad - Member of the Secretariat Office.
7- Haji Abdulrahman Darwish - Member of the Secretariat Office.
8- Dzhwar Faiq - Member of the Secretariat Office2.
Also, the heads of the branches were as follows:
1- Rebar Ahmed Khalid - Head of Erbil Branch.
2- Haji Abdulrahman - Head of Sulaymaniyah Branch.
3- Azad Faiq Ghafur, Known as Dzhwar Faiq - Head of Kirkuk Branch.
4- Ibrahim Ismail - Head of the Refugee Branch.
5- Ibrahim Mustafa Muhammad - Head of Dohuk-Nineveh Branch3.
After these changes and based on the above decisions, from October 16-20, 1993, the (Freedom Congress) was held in the Yellow Hall in the city of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, with the presence of 793 representatives and under the slogan (Science - Peace - Reconstruction) with the presence of President Masoud Barzani, and in it, President Masoud Barzani, the representative of the Political Bureau, the Minister of Education, and the President of Salahaddin University delivered speeches4.
The congress representatives were divided between students and youth to elect two organizations. Regarding the Kurdistan Students Union, the following were elected to the Executive Committee:
1- Sasan Osman Awni - Secretary.
2- Hangaw Abdullahkhan - Head of the Relations Department.
3- Nazm Rashid - Relations Department.
4- Gohdar Ismail - Head of the Media Department.
5- Rebar Ahmed Khalid - Head of Erbil Branch.
6- Amin Osman - Head of Sulaymaniyah Branch.
7- Ali Awni Nimat - Media Department.
8- Tavga Omar Rashid - Media Department.
9- Mustafa Salim - Head of the Organization Department.
10- Shakir Abubakar Aziz - Organization Department.
11- Faris Omar - Head of Dohuk-Nineveh Branch.
12- Shno Amin Mansour - Head of Kirkuk Branch.
13- Fariq Sulaiman Herni - Head of the Finance Department.
14- Dilshad Shahab - Head of the Salahaddin University Committee.
15- Tariq Jafar Fayli - Organization Department5.
Reserves of the Executive Committee:
1- Abdullah Majid.
2- Arshad Hito, Known as Arshad Balta.
3- Bashar Hamid6.
All branches of the Students Union consisted of the Erbil Branch, Kirkuk Branch, Sulaymaniyah Branch, and Dohuk-Nineveh Branch. On August 18, 1993, the decision was made to open the Salahaddin University Branch, on February 1, 1996, the decision for the Akre Branch, and on February 1, 1996, the decision for the Soran Branch was made7.
Conducting the Congress:On October 23, 1993, in the city of Erbil, with the presence of all members of the Executive Committee, the members of the Secretariat Office were elected as follows, and among the members of the Secretariat Office, the secretary was elected:
1- Sasan Osman Awni - Secretary.
2- Hangaw Abdullahkhan - Member of the Secretariat Office and Head of the Relations Department.
3- Gohdar Ismail - Member of the Secretariat Office and Head of the Media Department.
4- Mustafa Salim - Member of the Secretariat Office and Head of the Organization Department.
5- Fariq Sulaiman, Known as Fariq Herni, Member of the Secretariat Office and Head of the Finance Department8.
After the "Freedom Congress", the first heads of the branches were as follows:
1- Faris Omar, Known as Faris Barwari - Head of Dohuk-Nineveh Branch.
2- Rebar Ahmed Khalid - Head of Erbil Branch.
3- Shno Amin Mansour - Head of Kirkuk Branch, considered the first female branch head in the history of the Kurdistan Students Union.
4- Amin Osman - Head of Sulaymaniyah Branch.
5- Shaban Shaban Ahmed - Head of Akre Branch.
6- Faisal Sadiq Tofiq - Head of Soran Branch9.
Source and footnotes
1- Irfan Aziz Aziz, Congresses and Conferences of the Kurdistan Students Union, 1st edition, (Erbil-Rojhalat Printing House-2012), p. 104.
2- Sasan Awni, Kurdistan Students Union: Some Aspects of Struggle and History, (Erbil-Ministry of Education Printing House-1998), pp. 175-176.
3- Ibid, p. 177.
4- The Freedom Congress begins its work, Brayati Newspaper, organ of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Unified, No. 1772, Erbil, Sunday, October 17, 1993 AD, pp. 1, 4.
5- Luqman Gharib, Martyr Haji Abdulrahman: A Stage Full of Giving in the History of the Kurdistan Students and Youth Movement, (Erbil-Roshnbiri Printing House-2003 AD), p. 165.
6- Irfan Aziz, previous source, p. 109.
7- Ibid, pp. 109-117.
8- Final statement of the first meeting of the Executive Committee of the Kurdistan Students Union, Peshkawtin Newspaper, organ of the Kurdistan Democratic Students and Youth Union, No. 48, Erbil, November 1993 AD, p. 3.
9- Sasan Awni, previous source, pp. 193-194, 234, 234, 240-241.