President Mam Jalal: A Pioneer for Kurdish Rights and Democracy in Iraq

PUKMEDIA

President Jalal Talabani

Former Iraqi President and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani (Mam Jalal) passed away in a hospital in Berlin, Germany, at the age of 83, seven years ago today.

He was in Germany seeking medical treatment and had reportedly slipped into a coma earlier that day. His condition rapidly deteriorated on Tuesday, 3 October 2017, when he passed away.

Mam Jalal was a Kurdish politician who served as the sixth President of Iraq and the President of the Governing Council of Iraq (the 39th Prime Minister of Iraq) from 2005 to 2014. He was the first non-Arab president of Iraq. Among the Kurdish people, he is known as "Mam Jalal," which translates to "Uncle Jalal."

He founded the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and served as its Secretary-General. He was a prominent member of the Interim Iraqi Governing Council, which was established after Saddam Hussein's regime was overthrown following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Since the 1960s, President Mam Jalal had been an advocate for Kurdish rights and democracy in Iraq.

In addition to his native Kurdish, Talabani was fluent in Arabic, Persian, and English.

Mam Jalal was the son of Sheikh Husamuddin Sheikh Nuri Sheikh Ghafur. He was born in Kalkan village, located in Koya town, at the foot of Kosrat Mountain, which overlooks Dukan Lake. He spent his early years in that village, where he completed primary school. Later, his father became the head of the Talabani Shrine, or Takiya, in Koya.

As a student, he exhibited exceptional intelligence and remarkable aptitude. As a child, he demonstrated leadership qualities by attending funerals before his peers. Teachers would select him to read national poems and anthems when the students assembled in the schoolyard each morning. From that point onward, the idea of nationalism became ingrained in his mind. As he began his fourth year of primary school, he quickly established himself as a leader among his peers, participating in various school activities such as public speaking and theatrical performances.

Since then, the idea of nationalism in Mam Jalal has blossomed. He delivered a passionate speech at a well-attended gathering in Koya during the Nawroz (Kurdish New Year) Festival in 1945 when he was just 13 years old. Subsequent Iraqi regimes later outlawed the event. His teachers and the attendees were highly impressed by his reading.

In 1946, upon the recommendation of one of his teachers, he founded a secret learning association called the "Reading Development Association." He was elected as the head of the association, which encouraged students to read materials beyond their school lessons.

Later that year, following the establishment of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on 16 August, he began his political activities among the students. Additionally, he contributed articles to the party's clandestine newspaper, Rizgari, under the pseudonym "Agir." In 1947, he became a member of the KDP and actively engaged in political activities.

In 1948, after completing primary school, he attended secondary school in Koya town. The Iraqi people rejected the Portsmouth Treaty, toppled Salih Jabir's administration, and installed Muhammad Sadir as its new leader in what became known as the "Year of Uprising."

During that period, freedoms were introduced, and a comprehensive election was held to elect representatives of the students across Iraq. Mam Jalal was elected to represent the students of Koya town and attended, for the first time, the Iraqi Students Congress held at Sabah Square, Baghdad, in 1948.

During the congress, Mam Jalal attended a session in which the well-known Iraqi poet Muhammad Mahdi Al-Jawaheri recited his famous poem "Martyrs' Day," written for his late brother and other martyrs of the uprising. Mam Jalal experienced a historic turning point in his life at that moment, and the great Iraqi poet has since influenced him. Later, he began to establish a sincere friendship with him.

In 1949, Mam Jalal was promoted to head of the Koya Area of the KDP. In February 1951, he was elected as a member of the KDP's central committee during the second congress of the party. However, to maintain unity within the party, he declined the position and gave it to one of his comrades who had recently been released from prison.

In 1951, he was arrested along with a number of his friends and sent to Mosul, where he continued his political activities. He then moved to Kirkuk to complete his education and re-establish the political structures of the party, becoming the head of the Kirkuk political organisations.

In 1952, he attended the College of Law in Baghdad. When the KDP's organisations fell apart, he managed to realign them.

In January 1953, he participated in the third congress of the KDP, during which he was elected a member of the KDP central committee. Later, in his new role, he oversaw the first congress of the Kurdistan Students Union, a student organisation affiliated with the KDP. During the congress, he was elected Secretary-General of the Union. He was also one of the founders of the Kurdistan Youth Union.

In 1954, he was elected a member of the KDP Political Bureau. He visited several countries, including the former Soviet Union and China.

In 1957, he visited Moscow and Syria, where he had the opportunity to meet Syrian Kurds. After his return, he became the editor of the Xabati Kurdistan newspaper, which was secretly published in Sulaymaniyah.

On the first day after the victory in the July 14, 1958, revolution, he oversaw the popular uprisings in Sulaymaniyah. Later, he returned to Baghdad, where he contributed to the publication of Rizgari magazine.

In 1959, he was elected a member of the KDP central committee and again contributed to the publication of the Xabat newspaper, which was published in Arabic, where he wrote articles under the pseudonym "Perot."

In 1960, he was appointed head of the Sulaymaniyah Branch of the KDP, where he opened a capacity-building training centre for party members in Sulaymaniyah.

After the previous Kurdish newspaper was shut down by Iraqi authorities, he was later appointed editor-in-chief of a new Kurdistan newspaper. During this assignment, he wrote an article in support of the late Barzani and in protest of the former Iraqi prime minister, Abdul-Karem Qassim, who accused Barzani of various crimes. As a result, the Iraqi authorities issued an arrest warrant for him, and he returned to Sulaymaniyah.

In 1961, when the revolution reignited, he established the first military base in Chami Rezan, initially serving as commander of the Sulaymaniyah Branch of the Peshmerga forces. Later, he was appointed as the general commander of the Kurdistan Peshmerga forces.

During that revolution, he outlined many military plans and conducted ambushes, leading to the liberation of many parts of the outskirts of Sulaymaniyah.

After the notorious February Coup in 1963, Mam Jalal was appointed leader of the Kurdish delegation to Baghdad to negotiate with the Iraqi authorities over the rights of the Kurdish people in Iraq. Later, he visited Egypt and Algeria to meet with senior officials from both countries.

He expanded his travels to Europe, where he introduced the question of the Kurdish people and garnered support from European countries for the Kurdish revolution.

In 1964, he returned to Kurdistan and resumed command of the Rizgari Peshmerga Forces. In 1967, he participated in the Arab Socialist Forum in Algeria, where he issued a well-informed statement on the Kurdish people's status, their legitimate rights, and the path to friendly relations between Kurds and Arabs.

In 1970, he played a vital role in reuniting the two wings of the KDP political bureau, which had fallen apart. In 1972, he travelled to several countries, including Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. Mam Jalal was forced to remain in Iraq and Iran following the Algiers Agreement in 1975.

On 6 June 1975, he and some of his friends co-founded the PUK in Damascus, Syria, which was officially announced on 1 June 1976, and he was appointed Secretary-General.

As many political observers have noted, Mam Jalal was a catalyst for the unification of all Iraqi opposition groups and provided support for these groups before the collapse of the Iraqi Ba'ath regime.

After the liberation of Iraq, he was elected a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, and in November 2003, he took over the leadership of the Council, playing a vital role in the governance of Iraq.

On 6 April 2005, the Iraqi Parliament elected Mam Jalal as the first president after the fall of Saddam Hussein. He received 227 votes out of 248. In 2010, he was re-elected for a second term as Iraqi president.

On 18 December 2012, President Mam Jalal suffered a stroke and was hospitalised in Baghdad's intensive care unit, where his condition stabilised after initial reports of him being in a coma. A statement on the President's official website indicated that he was being treated for blocked arteries. On 20 December, his condition improved sufficiently for him to travel to Germany for medical treatment. After more than 18 months of treatment, Mam Jalal returned to Iraq on 19 July 2014. He passed away in Germany on 3 October 2017, at the age of 83.



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