Masud Barzani

Masud Barzani (2005)

Masud Barzani , also Massud Barsani ( Kurdish مەسعوود بارزانی Mesûd Barzanî , Arabic مسعود برزاني, DMG Masʿūd Barzānī ; *  August 16, 1946 in Mahabad , Republic of Mahabad ), is a Kurdish politician and was President of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region in Northern Iraq from 2005 to 2017 . In 1979 he took over the chairmanship of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (PDK) from his father Mustafa Barzani .

Early life

After a failed revolution against the Iraqi government, his father and his supporters fled to the Kurdish part of Iran. The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad was proclaimed there in the turmoil after the Second World War. Mustafa Barzani became general of the new state, but it collapsed again in December 1946 when the Iranian government recaptured Mahabad. Masud Barzani was born there. Barzani's father fled to the Soviet Union with a few hundred supporters . Masud Barzani himself went to Iraq.

After the military coup in Iraq in 1958 , the father returned to Iraq and negotiated with the leadership of Abd al-Karim Qasim about Kurdish autonomy, but the talks failed and led to the outbreak of the Barzani revolts . A year after the outbreak of the revolt, the sixteen-year-old Barzani also joined the armed struggle of the Peshmerga units. The father Molla Mustafa Barzani was the founder of the PDK and its chairman until his death in 1979.

Political career

In 1979 Masud Barzani took over the chairmanship of the PDK. Since the second Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq War in 2003, the Kurds have been able to expand their self-government. On June 13, 2005, Barzani was elected President of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region of the Iraqi state association for four years by a large majority in the Kurdish parliament . On July 25, 2009, he was confirmed in office by direct election with a majority of almost 70 percent. In 2010 he was confirmed as party leader. There are only two terms of office for the President. Barzani's term of office was extended by parliament for another two years in 2013. His presidency ended on August 19, 2015, but he continued to serve as president afterwards. Since the increasing tendency to disintegrate in Iraq and the widening civil war in Syria , Barzani spoke of the possibility of founding an independent Kurdish state .

However, by holding an independence referendum at the end of September 2017, it drew massive criticism. It is true that an overwhelming majority of the Iraqi Kurds voted for the Kurdish regions to split off from Iraq. The central government in Baghdad, which rejected the vote and called for its result to be annulled, then cracked down on the Kurds. The Kurds could no longer maintain the Iraqi city of Kirkuk and the surrounding oil fields in 2017. At the end of October 2017, Barzani announced that he would step down on November 1 and not seek an extension of his mandate.

family

Masud Barzani comes from the influential Kurdish tribe of the Barzani from the Badinan area in northern Iraq. He is married and has five sons and three daughters. Two brothers of Masud Barzani who had already died were Idris Barzani and Ubaidullah Barzani . His family holds high positions in politics and economy, which earned him the accusation of nepotism on the part of his opponents . His nephew Necirvan Idris Barzani has been Prime Minister of the Kurdish autonomous government since April 2012. His son Masrur Barzani has been Prime Minister of the region since July 2019.

Web links

Commons : Masud Barzani  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Curriculum vitae of Masud Barzani , official website of the Kurdish regional government

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} CNN Library: Massoud Barzani Fast Facts . In: CNN . ( cnn.com [accessed July 21, 2018]).
2. ↑ Iraqi Kurdish President Massud Barsani resigns. In: dw.com . October 29, 2017. Retrieved October 29, 2017 . 
3. ^ Skirmishes between the Iraqi army and the Kurds. In: Zeit Online . October 20, 2017. Retrieved October 29, 2017 . 
4. ^ Kurdish President Barzani resigns . In: The press . October 29, 2017.