Nawshirwan Mustafa His life & times

Nawshirwan Mustafa Amin was born in Sulaimaniyah city the Kingdom

of Iraq, southern Kurdistan, in the autumn of 1944, the son of Mustafa
Amin, a senior Government tobacco inspector and his wife Khanem.
Nawshirwan was their second child and oldest son. Najia, the eldest
had been born a few years before and over the years the family grew
with the addition of Najiba, then the second son Bakhtiyar and the
youngest daughter Tavga.

The family was part of a new emerging middle class; urban, non-tribal
and literate; the patriarch Mustafa, was a great proponent of education.
His daughters all attended university, going on in due course to
become teachers and headmistresses and the young Nawshirwan
Mustafa grew up amongst a growing library which spanned Persian
classics from 'a conference of birds' to scientific texts of the coming
age. The familys common love was animals, the family horse, rabbit
and the collection of Partridges adding to the vibrancy of the growing
family and Nawshirwan Mustafa's lifelong love for wildlife.

The city of Sulaimaniyah, founded by Princes of the Baban family was

unique amongst the cities of Iraqi Kurdistan as having been founded by
Kurds and for Kurds in the late 18th century. The Amin family had been
resident in Sulaimaniyah since its founding, coming with the Baban
princes as Mullah, Islamic clerics who served not solely as priests but
also as the cities literate class. Nawshirwan was born in the family
home, a large red mud brick townhouse in one of the citys oldest
districts; Sarshaqam, a few steps from the cities boisterous bazaar and
old grand Mosque. Built by the growing cities first builders the house,
which stands to this day in an ancient alleyway has been given over to
a refugee family, is a standing testament to the families roots in the
city.

Nawshirwan grew up in a climate of growing Kurdish national

sentiment, the first ever Kurdish republic was to be declared in
neighbouring Mahabad within two years of his birth. Sulaimaniyah itself
was the centre of growing Kurdish national fervour (the city being
home to four Iraqi officers - honoured to this day who hung for their
loyalty to the new republic of Kurdistan) in the developing Iraqi state,
demonstrations against the monarchy and in favour of Kurdish
self-determination provided the backdrop to Nawshirwan childhood and
by all accounts even from a young age Nawshirwan Mustafa took an
active role in the developing Kurdish political movement.

Whilst participating in schoolboy protests in favour of Kurdish

statehood and against Iraqi monarchical despotism, Nawshirwan
excelled at school. Academic achievement was prized and expected in
Mustafa Amin's growing household and Nawshirwan delivered;
consistently beating his peers Nawshirwan had a future assured in the
Iraqi Kingdoms burgeoning bureaucracy which was undone by his own
developing national sentiment.

Nawshirwan paired studying at the King Faisal School, Sulaimaniyah,

with political activity. Having joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party in
1960 at the age of 16, Nawshirwan passionate Kurdish patriotism,
strength of character and personal dynamism marked him for
leadership early on in his life. He joined the KDP just as the
organisation fell into two opposing camps, camps which would go onto
dominate Iraqi Kurdish politics for the next 50 years and into the
present day. The organisation had split along the traditional fault lines
of Iraqi Kurdish society, the north, tribal and conservative faced off
against the south, leftist and urban. Nawshirwan was naturally drawn
into the orbit of the younger generation of Kurdish patriots. With time
he developed a following amongst the new generation of politically
active Kurds, being elected in 1963 to the leadership committee of the
Kurdistan Students Union.

Nawshirwan Mustafa's growing political activity went hand in hand with

his academic studies. Having graduated from his Sulaimaniyah high
school, Nawshirwan headed to the capital of Iraq, Baghdad, arriving in
the city for his university education in 1964. The Iraqi capital was then
a hotbed of Arab nationalist politics. The Hashemite Kingdom,
established and supported by the British had been brought to a violent
end in 1958 in a coup come revolution spearheaded by Colonel Abdul
Karim Qasim. Qasim, a military man with little political experience
combined anti-western policies with Iraqi nationalism. With no strong
party support and combating growing pan Arab ideology in the Iraqi
army, Qasim became reliant on the Iraqi communist party and
attempted to use Mullah Mustafa and the Kurdish movements as a
counterweight against the Arab nationalists having invited Mullah
Mustafa back from exile in 1958. Qasim himself was overthrown and
murdered in a coup led by the Arab nationalists in 1963. The Baghdad
Nawshirwan Mustafa arrived in was still in turmoil as Arif fought to
master the countries fractured society. Nawshirwan Mustafas political
influence in student and national Kurdish politics grew in this feverish
atmosphere. By 1967 he had graduated from Baghdad University with
a degree in Political science. He now dedicated himself to the Kurdish
national cause, working under ground, cell by cell, he developed the
organisation which would one day go onto being Baathist Iraq's most
dangerous foe, 'The Komala' (The league) which formally declared its
existence in 1972. Hand in hand with clandestine politics. Nawshirwan
was by now becoming a literary figure amongst the Kurdish
intelligentsia, by 1969, he was editor in chief of the Kurdish language
monthly 'Rizgari' (Salvation), the journal went onto became a focus for
Kurdish national discourse. Sensing the growing strength of the
Kurdish national underground movement. The Baathist partys highest
governing body, the Revolutionary command council, proscribed the
Komala organisation as a terrorist entity and prohibited Nawshirwan
Mustafa's Rizgari journal in 1970. The revolutionary command council
went on to sentence Nawshirwan Mustafa to death, by this time he had
escaped from Iraq.

Heading to Vienna he enrolled at Vienna University and began

studying for a masters in international law. An exiled student,
Nawshirwan embraced life in a modern European capital, developing a
lifelong love of classical music and hiking whilst in the Austrian capital.
In 1975, Nawshirwan was in the final stages of completing his
doctorate when thunder struck the Kurdish nation.

Mullah Mustafa Barzani, had signed a peace agreement with Baathist

Iraq on March 11 1970. The agreement which gave a portion of Iraqi
Kurdistan autonomy, fell apart after a meaningful solution to revenue
sharing and territory disputes could not be found. In 1974 Barzani
launched another rebellion, backed by the Shah of Iran and the United
States Government, Barzani mistakenly felt that he could win a
symmetric pitched battle war against the Iraqi Government. In 1975,
the Shah of Iran met the upcoming Iraqi Vice President, Saddam
Hussein, on the side-lines of an OPEC conference in Algiers. The
Shah agreed to abandon Barzani and the Kurds in return for territorial
concessions on the disputed Iraqi-Iranian border along the Shat-Al
Arab waterway. Having solely relied on the Iranians for material,
logistical and international support, Barzanis rebellion collapsed
almost overnight with the implementation of the Algiers Accord.

Nawshirwan immediately left Vienna for Damascus where the nucleus

of the new Kurdish opposition to the Iraqi government was gathering.
The most senior members met on the 22 May 1975 at the Tatila
restaurant in Damascus. At this meeting the decision was taken to
form a new political party to continue the resistance against the Iraqi
Government. On the 1 June 1975 the new organisation was
proclaimed, the Patriotic of Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The PUK, an
umbrella organisation, brought together three distinct political parties,
Nawshirwan Mustafas Komala, Jalal Talabanis Xati Gishti and Ali
Askaris Socialist party.

Jalal Talabani became the new parties, General Secretary and

Nawshirwan his deputy. The new movement, quickly moved to fill the
vacuum created by the collapse of Barzanis rebellion. Armed PUK
Peshmerga units infiltrated across the border and carried out their first
military attacks in the summer of 1976.
The PUK grew, year on the year the party and its armed forces
expanded their influence. The history of the movement and
Nawshirwan Mustafas life during these times is recounted in
Nawshirwan Mustafas own memoires; From the banks of the Danube
to the Nawzang valley (1975-1978), the fingers that break each other
(1979-1984) and Going around in circles (1984-1988).

In the mountains Nawshirwan shared the life of his men, living on the
basic rations, wounded several times and never compromising on his
beliefs he led from the front and established a fearless reputation.
Alongside his political role, Nawshirwan became the PUKs overall
Peshmerga commander in chief. Tactically talented, personally
courageous and strategically gifted, Nawshirwan became the Baathists
armies staunchest and most feared military opponent.

In the depths of the 1988, as Saddam ended the Iran war and turned
his armies against the Kurds to attack the Kurdish people with bullets,
shells and poison Gas. Nawshirwan managed to keep the national
struggle going, moving the forces from mountain valley to mountain top
he refused to follow Mullah Mustafas example and abandon the
revolution and seek exile.

With the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Nawshirwan Mustafa sensed that an

opportunity may unfold for the Kurds of Iraq to finally achieve their long
held dream for self-governance, He began planning for the 1991
uprisings. With the collapse of the Iraqi army in the Gulf War
Nawshirwan Mustafa launched his plan for a general Kurdistan wide
uprising in March of 1991. The uprising spread from village to town,
from town to city and from province to province. On Nawroz day 1991,
Nawshirwan Mustafa was able to announce the liberation of the last
Kurdish city under Iraqi Army control, Kirkuk. Kirkuks first liberation
was not to last but Nawshirwan Mustafa had permanently evicted
Saddams forces from the Provinces of Sulaimaniya, Arbil and Dohuk
and laid the foundations for what would go on to become the Kurdistan
Region of Iraq. Nawshirwan was the most senior Kurdish leader of any
political party in Kurdistan whilst the uprisings where underway,
gradually the others returned, first Jalal Talabani returned to Kurdistan
and then Massoud Barzani, now leader of his fathers Kurdistan
Democratic party which had been based in Iran during this period.

The Kurdish parties agreed to hold the regions first elections in May
1992 to fill the governance vacuum that had formed across Kurdistan
in the wake of the uprisings. The elections where marred by electoral
fraud, especially in the Badinan region, the stronghold of Barzanis
Kurdistan Democratic Party. The initial results gave the KDP 51 of the
100 seats up for grabs and Talabanis PUK 49. At this point
Nawshirwan Mustafa campaigned for the PUK to accept the results,
allow the KDP to form a majority government and for the PUK to form
the regions opposition. Nawshirwan feared that the proposed
PUK-KDP coalition would lead to a monopoly on power and that the
lack of an opposition in the region would cripple the regions young
democracy. Talabani and Barzani went ahead regardless, the KDP
gave the PUK its one extra seat to settle allegations of electoral fraud
and the two formed the so called 50-50 cabinet.

The PUK went ahead with its first congress in the same year,
Nawshirwan Mustafa recommended the election of all senior PUK
officials be by the partys rank and file rather than by members of the
leadership so as to give the party greater accountability now that the
party had progressed from an underground organisation to an open,
democratic and modern party. The other PUK leaders again set
Nawshirwan Mustafas advice aside.

Nawshirwan Mustafa sensed that the region and his party was heading
towards totalitarianism. He left Kurdistan for London in 1992. Whilst in
London he devoted himself to writing his memoires and other books
spanning a history of Kurdish journalism, the republic of Mehabad and
of the Kurdish principalities in the Ottoman Empire.
As had been feared the 50-50 system created by Barzani and
Talabani soon headed towards chaos. The KDP in Badinan and the
PUK in the Sulaimaniyah region became entrenched, splitting the
region into two distinct, separate mini-states, by May 1994 the parties
had started the Brother killing wars fighting over the regions
resources, the leadership of each party sent thousands of young men
to their deaths.

Nawshirwan Mustafa continued to live in London, being disgusted by

the war of Kurd against Kurd and that each party was used by the
governments of Iraq, Iran and Turkey to kill fellow Kurds. He pushed
for peace to be made and headed up the PUK delegation to the U.S
sponsored Dublin peace talks of 1995.

The fighting culminated in the KDPs role as auxiliaries in Saddams

attack and conquest of Arbil on the 31/8/1996. Riding in on Iraqi
republican guard tanks the KDP fortified its position in Arbil and the
partition of the Kurdistan region into so called yellow (KDP) and green
(PUK zones) became permanent.

With the end of the Kurdish civil war, he agreed to return to

Sulaimaniyah to attempt to help rebuild the regions, institutions,
infrastructure and economy. On returning to Kurdistan he reassumed
his position as deputy secretary general of the PUK. And again
pressed for systemic reforms both within his own party and within the
region in general.

The United States liberation of Iraq in 2003 marked the next chapter in
Nawshirwan Mustafas life. As one of the first Kurdish politicians into
Baghdad after the fall of the Baathist dictator, Nawshirwan Mustafa
became Jalal Talabanis deputy in the countries new governing
council. A shrewd negotiator, strategic thinker and deal maker
Nawshirwan Mustafa pressed for the inclusion of the Kurdish language
into the new countries constitution, pressed on the historicity of
Kirkuks Kurdistani identity and secured a strong Kurdish voice in
Baghdad.

Sensing that the creation of a federal, democratic and pluralistic Iraq

was a great opportunity for the democratisation, liberalisation and
modernisation of Kurdistan, Nawshirwan Mustafa pressed for reforms
within the PUK. Feeling that a reformed, modern and transparent PUK
could spearhead change in the entirety of Kurdistan region,
Nawshirwan Mustafa pressed Jalal Talabani for internal reforms.

In 2004, Nawshirwan Mustafa circulated a petition which was

supported near unanimously amongst the PUK politburo for
democratisation of the PUKs decision making process. Talabani
promised that he would move the party in this direction. The PUK went
ahead with internal elections, which were intended to serve as the first
step towards reforming and democratising the party, however, other
factions soon turned to intimidation and outright bribery to sway the
elections. Nawshirwan Mustafa having now realised that the PUK at
that time was incapable of genuine reform decided to resign from the
party he had helped found and led in the hardest of times.

Nawshirwan Mustafa submitted his resignation from the post of PUK

deputy secretary general in December of 2006, he was soon followed
by his likeminded colleague Mohammed Tofiq Rahim, then Omar Ali
and soon after thousands of other PUK members.

Kurdistan in this period was descending into an unbridled kleptocracy.

Leaders big and small with in each of the KDP and PUK had created
vast patronage networks spanning the entirety of an ever expanding
and ineffectual bureaucracy. Every position, from military general to
hospital janitor was politically appointed. The economy itself was
dominated by massive conglomerates belonging to the ruling families.
Kar in the KDP zone and Nokan in the PUK zone, these corporations
backed by militia stifled any semblance of a free market as they
expanded into every facet of the economy.
The PUK and KDP had continued to maintain military forces, only
paying lip service to the idea of unified military command. Each ran not
only a militia but a growing secret police service to crush any dissent.

The parties where not content with their complete and utter domination
of the economic and political sphere. They set about occupying every
aspect of Kurdish society. From the Journalists Union to the
Association of the Disabled, the KDP and PUK ran parallel
organisations which handicapped and suffocated the emergence of
any semblance of a civil society.

The liberation of Iraq, with Kurdistan being lauded as an 'island of

peace' added fuel to the kleptocratic fire. Money invested in the region
was diverted by party bosses to their private accounts rather than the
poor of the region. As ever higher towers where built in the cities the
average citizen continued to struggle with little pay, poor public
services and failed schooling and healthcare.

Before the Baath regime and Saddam had collapsed, Nawshirwan

Mustafa had always been wary of diverging from the main political
parties, the KDP and the PUK. Despite fearing the rise of
totalitarianism in the Kurdistan region, it was feared that direct
opposition could quickly descend into another bout of infighting which
would only aid the Kurdish nations many enemies. Now that the Baath
had been removed and a democratic system established in Iraq with a
federal system for Kurdistan, it was felt that the time was ripe to extend
democratisation for Kurdistan.

After leaving the PUK, Nawshirwan Mustafa created the Wusha

media group in Sulaimaniyah City, comprising a radio station The
sound of Gorran, internet site Sbeiy and a Television channel
Kurdish News Network which went live on 31/12/2008. Wushas
media outlets; outspoken and concentrating on the peoples actual
worries and wants turned the regions media paradigm upside down,
Again showing that Nawshirwan stood completely aside from the
regions other politicians.

Nawshirwan embarked on his final political project at this point. Setting

aside any personal considerations he formed the regions first genuine
opposition. Rallying PUK members who were unhappy with the regions
current political system, members of other parties and young people
who had never participated in politics Nawshirwan Mustafa formed
Gorran, the movement for change. Gorran was initially mocked;
resource poor and in a region totally dominated by the ageing PUK and
KDP, No one could anticipate the movements power. The KDP and
PUK launched a wide ranging campaign against Nawshirwan
Mustafas new movement, supporters where assaulted, fired from work
and harassed. Nawshirwan Mustafas charisma managed to hold his
movement together in the face of the growing attacks. Gorran
differentiated itself from the revolutionary party model of the KDP and
PUK, who legitimated their rule because of their history of armed
resistance to Saddam Hussein. Nawshirwan Mustafas Gorran instead
instituted the regions first genuine political campaign, setting out a
manifesto and running on an anti-corruption, state building and liberal
platform.

The movement for Change managed to beat all expectations in the first
election it contested in 2009. Despite widespread voter intimidation,
ballot stuffing and electoral fraud the movement managed to take a
quarter of the regions seats. The KDP and PUK feeling threatened
when Gorrans Kurdistan regional election results where replicated in
the Iraqi national elections clamped down on dissent. The standoff
culminated in the February 2011 demonstrations, in which protestors,
demanding justice and democracy faced off against the regions
security forces and scores of demonstrators were killed when security
forces opened fire. Nawshirwan used his own personal reputation to
deescalate the situation when the region was threatened with
lawlessness, chaos and the Kurdish self-governance experiment
became genuinely threatened. Nawshirwan Mustafa, the military
commander of the mountains forbade his followers from taking up
arms against the regions security forces, vowing that democracy would
come to Kurdistan peacefully and that Kurdish blood must never be
spilt by Kurds again.

Gorran continued to grow and solidify into an institutional political

organisation. Initially forming the regions parliamentary opposition. The
first major opposition the region had ever seen. The movements sole
aim was not to obtain political power. Nawshirwan Mustafa always
intended for Gorran to act as an example of how democratic politics
should be conducted for the regions other political parties which were
stuck in organisations more reminiscent of the soviet era than modern
liberal party politics. Leading by example, the movement caused a sea
change in the regions political dynamic even without obtaining power.
By holding the governing parties to account, Gorran, enabled Kurdish
voters to question their government for the first time in their history. By
criticising leaders previously treated as idols, Gorran was able to show
that no one was above scrutiny and by scrutinizing the budget the
movement was able to staunch the massive corruption that the region
faced.

Nawshirwan Mustafa and Jalal Talabani had set their differences aside
in the Dabashan meetings in 2012 and vowed to both struggle to turn
Kurdistan region into a Parliamentary democracy and to prevent the
KDP using the Presidency as a vehicle for establishing a tyranny. The
Dabashan agreement between the PUK and Gorran failed to
materialise after President Talabani suffered a stroke.

Gorran entered its second Kurdistan region parliamentary elections in

2013. Campaigning with minimal funds, against a political party which
controlled the local armed forces and could and did cut an opponents
wages, Gorran managed to decisively beat the PUK again, becoming
the regions second largest Parliamentary party.

Having won the PUKs stronghold in Sulaimaniyah over, the leadership

of Gorran decided to enter into a coalition government, in the hopes
that the Kurdistan Region Government could be reformed from within.
Gorran as the regions second largest party and the major party in the
region most populous Province, took the regions Parliamentary
Presidency, multiple ministries including the Peshmerga Ministry as
well as the Governor of Sulaimaniyah Province.

The Gorran representatives in government worked on a reformist

agenda, while the region suffered economic collapse as the KDP
unilaterally embarked on a failed oil policy and the terrorists of ISIS
appeared on the regions long borders.

By 2015 Massoud Barzani had been President of the Kurdistan Region

for ten years. Having been initially elected as President in 2005, then
again in 2009, the PUK and KDP had used Parliament to extend his
term for two years in 2013. The KDP, Barzanis party, refused to even
discuss what would be done when Barzanis two year extension
expired. Gorran in only its seventh year of existence was able to bring
the majority of the regions political parties into its camp and push for
Parliamentary discussion of Barzanis illegal moves to permanently
occupy the presidency. Sensing that democratic forces where on the
cusp of victory, the KDP launched what amounted to a coup dtat on
October 11, 2015. Cutting communications in the regional capital,
sending armed units to the Parliament building and forcing the
Parliamentary President from the regions capital, the KDP closed the
regions Parliament down to protect Barzanis expired tenure being
questioned.

Nawshirwan Mustafa was by now seriously unwell, he still managed to

unite the democratic and reformist forces through sheer force of
personality. Pushing through an agreement between the PUK and
Gorran to unite their efforts. The PUK which had initially stood against
Nawshirwan Mustafa, now accepted his pre-eminence and rallied to
his side. The agreement which aimed to unite the two parties
parliamentary factions, push for a parliamentary system and curb
Barzanis growing dictatorial powers was signed on May 17th 2016.

Unfortunately, Nawshirwan Mustafas life was cut short before he could

complete his lifes work; the establishment of a free, fair and strong
Kurdistan. He died of lung cancer on May 19th 2017 in his beloved
Sulaimaniyah, amidst genuine, heartfelt and unbounded sadness
amongst the poor, the downtrodden and those who had been excluded
from power. The people he had spent his life defending, the people
who he lived amongst, the people who he struggled for.

In a time when Kurdish politics is marred with corruption, when trust in

Kurdish leaders is at rock bottom, when the people are yearning for
change; Nawshirwan Mustafa demonstrated that things could change,
should change and will change for the better.

Bazo H. Tofiq.