Biography

 Yusuf Abdulrahman Isa was born in 1886 in the village of Safti, located in the Mergasor district of Erbil province. He was married. In 1932, after the failure of the First Barzan Revolution, he became a refugee in the country of Turkey. In 1945, he became a refugee in East Kurdistan. He passed away in 1966 and was buried in his homeland. 

Struggle Record

 In 1931, he joined the First Barzan Revolution, and in 1932, he participated in the famous Battle of Dolavazhe. In 1943, he joined the Second Barzan Revolution under the leadership of Mullah Mustafa Barzani. On October 11, 1945, following the failure of the Second Barzan Revolution, along with Mustafa Barzani and his companions, he crossed into East Kurdistan. After the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad, on March 31, 1946, within the framework of the Barzan force and along with his son Ahmed Yusuf Abdulrahman, he defended the Republic. He participated in the battles of the Saqqez, Targavar, and Margavar borders. 

After the fall of the Republic of Kurdistan and the return of Barzani from East Kurdistan to South Kurdistan, he participated in the defense battles of East Kurdistan until April 19, 1947, on the Iran-Iraq border. 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 head towards the Soviet Union. There, all the companions decided to continue and go towards the Soviet Union. On May 22, 1947, he accompanied General Mustafa Barzani towards the Soviet Union and participated in the Battle of Gali Qotur (Kotol) and the Battle of the Maku Bridge. After much hardship and fatigue, on June 18, 1947, at the Aras River, which is located on the border between Iran and the Soviet Union, he crossed into the Soviet Union.

After arriving in the Soviet Union, on June 19, 1947, along with all his companions, he was 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, Ayulakh, and Kalbajar in the Republic of Azerbaijan. On December 10, 1947, they were moved 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 the officers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, were given eight hours of military training daily. At the same time, for four hours a day, some of their companions who were literate taught them the Kurdish language.

After the mistreatment of the companions by Jafar Baghirov, it was decided that the military camp of Barzani's companions would be moved 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 among the collective villages of the Soviet Union and worked on the collective farms (the lands that people rented from the government and later gave the government's share back).

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. He immediately ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the situation of Barzani's companions, and the committee's final decision was that they should all be gathered in the city of Vriviski. Therefore, Yusuf Safti went to the city of Vriviski in the Soviet Union in November 1951.

In 1958, the Republic of Iraq was established under the presidency of Abdul Karim Qasim. On April 16, 1959, Yusuf Safti, along with his companions, returned to Kurdistan via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq on the ship Grozia. 

After returning, he settled in the village of Safti in the Mergasor district. Due to his advanced age, he did not participate in the Aylul Revolution. 

Sources:

  1- Interview with his family by Safar Yusuf Zhazhoki, December 2023, Erbil.

2- Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Board.