The establishment of the Kurdistan Democratic Party on August 16, 1946, and the joining of all political organizations in Southern Kurdistan to that Party, took the Kurdish revolutionary movement in Southern Kurdistan to a new stage. In this stage, as a sense of the importance of the position of active and influential segments of society and benefiting from their capabilities, the Party leadership attempted to organize the various segments of society, among them the student segment, which constituted a very broad, intellectual, and influential segment of society.
From the beginning of its establishment, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, like all other Iraqi parties and organizations, tried to participate in the important issues of the Country, and this was mostly through the student segment, who were among the most active members of the Party and had an influential participation in the events and developments of the Country. However, at that time, activities were carried out within the framework of the General Union of Iraqi Students, which was completely dominated by the communists. Despite this, in that stage, there was a good relationship between the Kurdish students within the Party and within the Iraqi Communist Party1.
The beginning of the efforts of Kurdish students to create an organization of their own dates back to the 1946-1947 academic year, when Kurdish students of the Koya Central School established a secret organization called the (Literary Advancement Association). This organization did not have its own by-laws and program from its inception, yet it had organized its members within the framework of 30-person cells2.
In 1948, for the first time in Iraq, at the (Siba') Congress on April 14, the decision to establish a student organization called the (General Union of Iraqi Students) was issued. Kurdish students played a major role in the success of this Congress, and of the 52 schools where the election of Congress delegates was held, in the Kurdish regions, delegates of the Kurdistan Democratic Party won for the Congress. It was decided to open a branch of the (Kurdistan Students Union-Iraq) within the framework of this organization, which was specific to the affairs of Kurdish students3.
Establishment of the Kurdistan Students Union
Due to the changes that Iraq was going through at that time, the difference in goals and ideology increasingly separated Kurdish students from those of Iraq, until they completely became two different trends from each other, and each of them tried to achieve their own specific goals. These became the reason for the Party leadership to think more seriously about establishing a student organization specific to Kurds within the Party, and at its Third Congress on January 26, 1953, within the framework of deciding to establish mass organizations, it decided to establish the (Kurdistan Students Union) organization. After the Congress decision was issued, the Kurdish students immediately set to work and their first Congress on February 18, 1953, in the city of Baghdad, was held secretly.
The Congress was held at the house of (Ziad Hama Agha of Koya)* near the (Bab al-Mu'azzam) area, with the attendance of fifty Delegates from the colleges of the University of Baghdad and the cities of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Kirkuk, and Mosul. Ahmad Abdullah Amidi, Jalal Talabani, Shamsaddin Muhammad Mufti, Hilmi Ali Sharif, Haidar Hamadamin, Muhammad Faraj, Ghafur Rashid Agha, Faiq Sabri, and several other students played a major role in the success of the Congress5.
The Congress lasted for two days, and after discussion and exchange of views, it was decided to establish two committees: one for amending the program and internal by-laws, and the other for issuing a publication regarding the reasons and importance of establishing the organization. Later, voting to determine the president, secretary, and members of the secretariat began. As a result of the voting, Ahmad Abdullah Amidi was elected as the first president and Jalal Talabani as the secretary of the organization. In terms of authority, the president was viewed as a symbolic position, and the powers of decision-making and implementation were mostly with the secretary and the secretariat6. As for the members of the secretariat bureau, who numbered seven members, they were elected as follows:
1- Shamsaddin Muhammad Mufti
2- Fazil Said Agha
3- Omar Mustafa (Dababa)
4- Kamal Muhyiddin
6- Haidar Hamad Amin
7- Ghafur Rashid Agha.
Later, the high committee (Secretariat Bureau) appointed Jamal Shali as the person in charge of relations for the colleges of the University of Baghdad. After the end of the Congress, as had been decided, a pamphlet in Arabic titled (Why the Kurdistan Students Union?) was issued and published. At the same time, branches of the Union were opened in most cities such as Baghdad, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Kirkuk, Koya, Rawandiz, Khanaqin, and Mosul, and the work and Activities were expanded and developed.
After a year of working as the president of the organization, Ahmad Abdullah Amidi resigned from his position in 1954 due to his graduation from the Higher Institute of Teachers and his appointment as a teacher, and Shamsaddin Muhammad Mufti was made the president of the (Kurdistan Students Union) organization in his place.
In this way, the work and Activity of Kurdish students were separated from the (General Union of Iraqi Students) within the framework of an organization specific to them, and the students who were members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party organizations consolidated their efforts and struggle within the framework of the (Kurdistan Students Union) organization for the success of the intellectual and revolutionary movement and serving the students in Southern Kurdistan.
Sources and References
1- Majid Hassan Ali, The Kurdish Student Movement in Iraq (1926-1970), Master's Thesis/Salahaddin University in Erbil 2008, Spirez Publications, (Erbil - Haji Hashim Press), pp. 103-106.
2- Erfan Aziz Aziz, Congresses and Conferences of the Kurdistan Students Union, First Edition, (Erbil - Rojhalat Press - 2012), p. 12; Majid Hassan Ali, Previous Source, p. 106.
3- Kurdistan Students Union of Iraq - Central Cultural and Media Committee of the Secretariat Bureau, Why do the students of Kurdistan need to have a specific organization..., (December 1973), p. 4; Majid Hassan Ali, Previous Source, pp. 12, 14.
4- The Encyclopedia of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, History of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Congress Conference (Program and by-laws), Volume One, First Edition, (Erbil - Press of Rojhalatlat- 2021), pp. 74-75; Kurdistan Students Union of Iraq - Central Cultural and Media Committee of the Secretariat Bureau, previous source, pp. 6-8.
*- Jalal Talabani writes that the location of the first Congress of the Kurdistan Students Union was the house of (Abdulqadir Kaka Ziad Agha of Koya) in the Adhamiya neighborhood, who was his classmate. Salah Rashid, Mam Jalal: A Life Interview from Youth to the Republican Palace, Part One, Second Edition, (Sulaymaniyah - Karo Printing House - 2017), p. 65.
5- Majid Hassan Ali, previous source, p. 127.
6- Same source, pp. 127-128; Khabat Students Magazine, In a special interview, President Talabani reveals the details of the founding of the (K.S.U.), Issue 109, (June 2012), p. 10.
7- Irfan Aziz Aziz, previous source, p. 18.
8- Majid Hassan Ali, previous source, p. 128; In a special interview, President Talabani reveals the details of the founding of the (K.S.U.), previous source, p. 10.
9- Majid Hassan Ali, previous source, p. 128; Irfan Aziz Aziz, previous source, pp. 18-19.