Commemorating the Life and Legacy of a Visionary Leader, Martyr Aram

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Martyr Aram.

Today, 31 January 2026, marks the 48th anniversary of the martyrdom of the leader Shaswar Jalal, widely known as Aram—a visionary leader, intellectual, and progressive leftist politician in the fullest sense of the term. A pragmatic Kurdish thinker, Aram lived the pain and suffering of the Kurdish people and devoted his life to the defence of their legitimate rights and aspirations.

In a short period, Martyr Aram emerged as a leading figure within the youth and student movements. He was distinguished by a calm and balanced character, high moral integrity, and a broad, forward-looking vision.

Martyr Aram was also an active and committed journalist. During the 1970s, he authored numerous books and articles, particularly in the newspaper Hawkarî. He wrote many in-depth analytical pieces examining the political developments of that period. His articles were published in Hawkarî’s foreign affairs section and later in the newspaper Brayati between 1973 and 1974. At a time when the leadership of the Kurdistan Ranjdaran Association was subjected to severe repression by the Ba’athist regime—resulting in the martyrdom of several leaders and the arrest of others—Martyr Aram continued to carry out his responsibilities with determination, safeguarding the organisation and its structure under extremely difficult conditions.

He played a pivotal role in laying the theoretical foundations of the new Kurdish revolution. He contributed to drafting the bylaws of the Peshmerga forces, establishing armed cells, and introducing the principles of the new revolutionary phase to veterans of the previous uprising. Martyr Aram also secretly authored and distributed revolutionary statements across the cities and villages of Kurdistan, and translated the first founding statement of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) into Kurdish.

When Martyr Aram moved to the mountains of Kurdistan, the written word accompanied the sound of resistance. With his weapon in one hand and his pen in the other, he embodied the unity of thought and struggle. He established the first printing press in the Qara Dagh district, enabling the production and distribution of revolutionary statements and publications.

Martyr Aram was born in 1947 in the Haji Khan neighbourhood of Sulaymaniyah. He completed his primary education in the districts of Mawat and Chwarta, and his secondary education in Sulaymaniyah. In 1964, he enrolled in the College of Engineering at the University of Baghdad. Due to an eye condition, he later transferred to the College of Commerce, from which he graduated in 1970.

He played an active and influential role in the Kurdistan Students Union and was among the founders of the Kurdistan Ranjdaran Association in 1970. In 1974, he participated as a representative of the Kurdistan Students Union Secretariat at the World Youth Conference in Moscow. Following the arrest of Martyr Shihab Sheikh Nuri and his comrades in 1976, Martyr Aram assumed leadership of the Kurdistan Ranjdaran Association. He subsequently went to the mountains, where he established the first armed wing of the new revolutionary movement.

After the formation of the PUK in 1975, Aram quickly proved himself to be a prominent and dynamic leader within the new party. Although prepared to join the armed struggle in the mountains against the oppressive Ba’athist regime, organisational necessities required him to remain in the city to supervise clandestine networks. In this capacity, he played a decisive role in reorganising party cells and supporting the emerging Kurdish revolution. In 1976, he returned to the mountains to further advance the revolutionary process, helping to lay the foundations for a new phase of resistance.

Martyr Aram was elected to the PUK Political Bureau in 1977. He was martyred on 31 January 1978 in the village of Tangasasar, in the Qara Qagh district.



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