Biography

Ahmed Hado Qurtas, known as (Mala Ahmed-Kurd), was born in 1924 in the village of Lerebir, affiliated with the Gortu sub-district in the Mergasor district of Erbil province. On June 21, 1932, he became a refugee in the Republic of Turkey. In 1959, he received an institute diploma in the agriculture department in the city of Tambov in the Moscow region in the Soviet Union. In 1975, after the collapse of the Aylul Revolution, he went to the Kingdom of Iran as a refugee. During the chemical bombardment of the Badinan region, Ahmed Hado Qurtas once again went to the country of Iran as a refugee and later returned to Kurdistan in 1991. He passed away in 2022. He had proficiency in the Kurdish, Persian, Turkish, and Russian languages.

Struggle Record

 In 1943, he joined the ranks of the Second Barzan Revolution. He participated in the capture of police stations on October 2, 1943, in Shanadar and Shirwan Mazn; on October 12, 1943, in Kherazok; and on November 6, 1943, in Gortu. On August 19, 1945, by order of the Iraqi military tribunal, all his movable and immovable property was seized. On September 5, 1945, he participated in the capture of the Maydan Morik police station. On October 11, 1945, after the collapse of the Second Barzan Revolution, he went to Eastern Kurdistan. On March 31, 1946, he served as a Peshmerga in the Barzan force affiliated with the army of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad. On April 29, 1946, he participated in the battles of Qarawa and Mirdei in the Saqqez region (Eastern Kurdistan). In 1947, after the collapse of the Republic of Kurdistan, he participated in the battles of the Qalatan and Targawar regions (Eastern Kurdistan). After the collapse of the Republic of Kurdistan, on March 3, 1947, he participated in the battle of Nalos (Eastern Kurdistan).

He was also among the Peshmerga who returned to the Shirwan and Muzuri region through the Khwakurk road and the Barazgar plain via the territory of Northern Kurdistan on April 19, 1947..

After their return, General Mustafa Barzani held a meeting with his companions on May 6, 1947, in the village of Argosh and gave them the choice of staying or heading towards the Soviet Union. There, all his companions decided to continue and head towards the Soviet Union. On May 22, 1947, he accompanied General Mustafa Barzani towards the Soviet Union and participated in the battle of the Kotol (Qotur) valley and the battle of the Maku bridge, and was wounded by a Brno bullet in the battle of the Maku plain.

On May 22, 1947, after the large meeting in the village of Dere and the decision to go to the Soviet Union, he left with the force. From June 9, 1947, to June 11, 1947, he participated in the battles of the Qotur valley and the Maku bridge (Eastern Kurdistan), and was wounded by a Brno bullet in the battle of the Maku plain. 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, and crossed 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, 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, they were taught Kurdish language lessons daily for four hours by some of their companions who were literate..

After the bad 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 among the collective farms of the Soviet Union and worked on the Kolkhoz fields (lands that people rented from the government and later gave the government's share back)..

After much effort and the sending of 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 Barzani's companions. Eventually, the committee's decision was that they should all be gathered in the city of Vriviski, so Ahmed Hado Qurtas 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, Ahmed Hado Qurtas returned to Kurdistan with his companions on the ship Grozia via the port of Basra in the south of the Republic of Iraq.

In 1963, he participated in the Aylul Revolution. From 1962-1970, he remained in the Badinan region with Hasso Mirxan Dolamari. He participated in the battles of Mriba, Sari Akre, Pirs, Shush and Sharmana, Dinarta, and Qarawani. He was wounded by artillery shrapnel in the battle of Sharmana. In 1984, he participated in the Gulan Revolution and was a squad leader in the Barzan force under the supervision of Dr. Saeed Ahmed Nadir. He participated in the battle of Badlian and later returned to the Barzan region with a special force and participated in the battles of the Mergasor region in the villages of Bari Nzar, Alka, Irwan, and Saka. In 1988, he participated in the epic of Khwakurk.

 On December 11, 2010, at the Thirteenth Congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, due to his struggle and resistance in the Second Barzan Revolution, the Democratic Republic of Kurdistan's march towards the Soviet Union, the September Revolution, and the Gulan Revolution, he was awarded the Barzani Medal by President Masoud Barzani.

Sources:

1- Hamid Gawhari, The Barzani Medal is the highest honorary award, Volume One, (Erbil - Haji Hashim Printing House - 2015), pp. 432-433.

2- Kurdistan Regional Government, Ministry of Planning, Administrative Units of the Kurdistan Region Governorates and the number of families and population, Erbil, 2009, pp. 134, 137-138.

3- Hamid Gardi, Summary of History, First Edition, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House - Ministry of Education Printing House - 2004), pp. 34, 51, 60, 62, 67, 80, 90, 95, 133, 139, 151, 155, 170.

4- Haidar Farooq Al-Samarrai, Dia Jafar and his political and economic role in Iraq, (London - Dar Al-Hikma - 2016), p. 203.

5- Sha'ban Ali Sha'ban, Some Political Information and History, Third Edition, (Erbil - Rojhalat Printing House - 2013), p. 45.

6- Shawkat Sheikh Yazdin, The Golden Jubilee of the Peshmerga, (Pirmam - Khabat Printing House - 1996), p. 36.

7- Salih Yusuf Sufi, Chronology of Kurdistan and the World, First Edition, Volume Two, (Duhok - Duhok Governorate Printing House - 2013), pp. 577, 607, 619, 856.

8- Salih Yusuf Sufi, Chronology of Kurdistan and the World, First Edition, Volume Three, (Duhok - Duhok Governorate Printing House - 2013), pp. 974, 1005.

9- Omar Farouqi, Sardar Dana: The Life and Struggles of the Late Mullah Mustafa Barzani, Second Edition, (Erbil - Ministry of Education Printing House - 2002), p. 39.

10- Abdulrahman Mullah Habib Abubakr, The Barzan Tribe between 1931-1991, First Edition, (Erbil - Ministry of Culture Printing House - 2001), pp. 121, 126-127.

11- Abdullah Ghafoor, Geographical Dictionary of Erbil, (Erbil - Haji Hashim Printing House - 2015), pp. 21, 35, 44, 203, 273, 328, 366, 517, 532.

12- Qaid Miro Mirozi, The Battle of Guretuwi on November 6, 1943, Dengi Peshmerga Magazine, Organ of the Peshmerga Organization Bureau, No. 43, Pirmam, Rewshanbiri Printing House, July 31, 2001, p. 25.

13- Karwan Muhammad Majid, The Barzanis from Mahabad to the Soviet Union, First Edition, (Sulaymaniyah - Paywand Printing House - 2011), pp. 84, 94-96.

14- Hataw Magazine, No. 154, Sixth Year, Erbil, Kurdistan Printing House, Friday, April 15, 1959, pp. 2, 4.

15- From the memoirs of the martyred commander Haso Mirxan Zhazhoki, 62 Days with Barzani: The Barzanis' journey to the Soviet Union, First Edition (Erbil - Rewshanbiri Printing House - 1997), p. 118.

16- Laith Abdul-Muhsin Jawad Al-Zubaidi, The Revolution of July 14, 1958 in Iraq, (Baghdad - Dar Al-Rashid for Publishing - 1979), p. 288.

17- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement 1931 - 1958, (Duhok - Khabat Printing House - 1998), pp. 91, 95, 131, 139, 153, 184, 188, 193-197, 200-201, 205, 456.

18- Najaf Quli Pesyan, From Bloody Mahabad to the Banks of the Aras, trans. Shawkat Sheikh Yazdin, First Edition, (Pirmam - Golden Jubilee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - 1996), p. 260.

19- Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Board.