THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 66, April 14, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE BARZANI CHAMELEON
By Kamal Said Qadir
THE BARZANI FAMILY: KURDISH POLITICS, INTERNATIONAL TREACHERY, & KURDISH NATIONALISM -- SWITCHING
ALLIANCES AS PART OF THE BARZANI FAMILY POLITICAL CULTURE -- MASOUD BARZANI AS AN EXTREMELY
UNREALIABLE ALLY OF THE U.S.A.
FULL STORY:
On September 11, 1961, Iraqi Kurds under the leadership of Mulla Mustafa Barzani, Founder of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) and father of the current Kurdish President Masoud Barzani, rose in rebellion against Iraq's central
government. Kurds often portray the event as spontaneous. [1] It was not.
A declassified KGB document suggests Soviet involvement in the Kurdish rebellion was part of a Kremlin plan to disrupt
Western interests in the Third World. The Kurds provided fertile ground for Soviet intrigue because of Barzani's ties to
Soviet authorities. [2] After the collapse of the Mahabad Republic in Iran, Barzani took refuge in the Soviet Union.
On July 29, 1961, KGB Chairman Alexander Shelepin suggested to Nikita Khrushchev, the Secretary-General of the Soviet
Communist Party, that the KGB have Barzani (code-named Ra'is, Arabic for president) "activate the movement of the
Kurdish population of Iraq, Iran, and Turkey for creation of an independent Kurdistan." If successful, the rebellion could
disadvantage not only the United States and Great Britain but also U.S. allies Turkey and Iran. [3]
After the Kurdish rebellion began, the KGB sought to further exploit the situation:
"P. [Peter] Ivashutin to the Central Committee of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union. September 27, 1961, St.-199/10c, 3 October 1961,
TsKhSD, fond 4, opis 13, delo 85, ll. 1-4.
"In accord with the decision of the CC CPSU of 1 August 1961 on the
implementation of measures favouring the distraction of the attention
and forces of the USA and her allies from West Berlin, and in view of
the armed uprisings of the Kurdish tribes that have begun in the North
of Iraq to: 1) use the KGB to organize pro-Kurdish and anti-[Abdul
Karim] Kassem protests in India, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Guinea, and
other countries; 2) have the KGB meet with Barzani to urge him to
'seize the leadership of the Kurdish movements in his hands and to
lead it along the democratic road,' and to advise him to 'keep a low
profile in the course of this activity so that the West did not have a
pretext to blame the USSR in meddling into the internal affairs of Iraq';
and 3) assign the KGB to recruit and train a 'special armed detachment
(500-700 men)' drawn from Kurds living in the USSR in the event that
Moscow might need to send Barzani 'various military experts
(Artillerymen, radio operators, demolition squads, etc.)' to support the
Kurdish uprising." [4]
While the Ivashutin document refers only to Barzani's relationship with the KGB in the run-up to and wake of the 1961
rebellion, other declassified material suggests ties between the Barzani family and Soviet authorities to have a long
history. [5] In 1973, though, the KGB severed its relationship with Barzani after the Baath Party and the Iraqi Communist
Party formed a tenuous alliance and Baghdad established close military and economic ties with the Soviet Union. [6]
Deprived of Soviet support, Barzani allied himself more closely with the United States, Iran, and Israel. However, in 1975,
Henry Kissinger pulled the rug out from the Kurdish rebellion when he brokered a border and non-interference pact
between Iran and Iraq. Mulla Mustafa Barzani took refuge in the United States, where he died in 1979. [7]
How is this episode relevant today? Switching alliances is part of the Barzani family political culture, intertwining survival
and power with Kurdish nationalism. Between 1980 and 1988, Masoud Barzani allied himself with Iran in its fight against
Saddam, even as the revolutionary authorities in Iran turned their guns on Iranian Kurds. After long hostility to Turkey,
in 1992, he allied with Ankara in its fight against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, PKK); in 1996,
he allied with Saddam Hussein against rival Kurdish leader (and current Iraqi President) Jalal Talabani. In the wake of
Iraq's liberation in 2003, Barzani has portrayed himself as a U.S. ally. For how long, though, remains unclear.
NOTES:
[1] Masoud Barzani, Al-Barzani wa al-Haraka at-Taharurya al-Kurdya. Al-Juz ath-Thalith: Thawrat Aylol, 1961-1975 (Erbil: Matbaat Al Tarbia, 2002), pp. 21-41.
[2] Pavel Sudoplatov and Anatolii Sudoplatov with Jerrold L. Schecter and Leona P. Schecter, Special Tasks: The Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness—A Soviet Spymaster (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1994), pp. 259-64.
[3] Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB and the World (London: Allen Lane, 2005), p. 175.
[4] Reproduced in Vladislav M. Zubok, Spy vs. Spy: The KGB vs. the CIA, 1960-1962 (Cold War International History Project Bulletin), Fall 1994, pp. 22-33.
[5] For more about the history of the Barzani family, see Ayob Barzani, Al-Muqawama al-Kurdya wa al-Ihtilal, 1914-1958 (Geneva: Editions Orient-Realites, 2002), pp. 35-59.
[6] See, for example, "Kurdish Efforts to Recruit International Support," declassified CIA document, Mar. 29, 1972; Oles M. Smolansky with Bettie M. Smolansky, The USSR and Iraq: The Soviet Quest for Influence (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1991), pp. 79-80.
[7] Smolansky, The USSR and Iraq, pp. 76-98.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
The Middle East & the Problem of Iran
Turkey, the Middle East, & the U.S.A.
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Kamal Said Qadir is an Iraqi Kurdish writer based in Vienna, Austria. He was detained by KDP security forces on October
26, 2005, for criticizing corruption within the KDP and was released months later, after an international campaign.
The foregoing article by Kamal Said Qadir was originally published in the Middle East Quarterly, Spring, 2007, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
April 14, 2007
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume IX, 2007
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity