ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – On May 26, 1976, 23 Peshmerga fighters fired the first shots of the Gulan Revolution from a small military base in Dolzawi, high in the mountains of the present day Kurdistan Region. Veterans of that movement share their memories.
Saeed Abdullah Haji Omarani was the first Peshmerga of the revolution to die in that first battle at Dolzawi.
“When the first clash happened, Saeed Abdullah was martyred,” Haji Wasman, a Peshmerga of the Gulan Revolution, told Rudaw. “Some others did not have guns but those who did fought for nearly an hour.”
From that day on, the Peshmerga carried out daily partisan operations, harassing and killing Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces in the hills.
“Coming back from Qoba, we killed numerous soldiers. There was a military base on this hill which we targeted. We conducted many operations but our military convoys, of which I was part, would go to Koya, Erbil plain, Khoshnawati and Shaqlawa. We conducted many operations in these areas and killed soldiers, seizing their AK47s and other weapons. We had confused the soldiers well,” Wasman remembers.
Uncle Nabi was the first Peshmerga to be injured during the revolution. He is 80 now. He is unable to speak, but his brother and son have written a book about those members of their family who fought in the early days of the revolution.
“In the first night they organized themselves before going out. Political leaders from home and diaspora were able to reach an agreement to fight. They also convinced themselves to return to the mountains and built the first military base in 1976,” said Nabi’s son, Shem Hamad Haji Omarani.
Most of the residents of Haji Omaran joined Peshmerga forces early.
“I entered Barzani’s house in 1968 and stayed there until the war began,” said Sabir Agha, another revolutionary.
“Mr Idris [Barzani] helped us very well. He said: ‘I will sell those clothes for you. I will make statues of you if I live.’ He would also say: ‘You made Barzani proud and honored Kurds with your blood which is on stones and trees.’ This is what Mr Idris said.”
The Gulan Revolution came hot on the heels of the Aylul Revolution.
After the Algiers Agreement of 1975, which crushed the Aylul revolt, the Gulan Revolution was a fresh uprising of the Kurds from the territory which is now the Kurdistan Region. It gave the Aylul revolutionaries new hope.
“All of us held each other’s hands. We were in touch with our leadership in Iran, just like a chain. There, we reorganized our forces. We arranged ourselves in all Kurdistan. The revolution gave hope,” said Gulan revolutionary Sardar Sheikho.
The revolution reestablished small partisan military bases. Some Aylul Peshmerga fighters, commanders and leaders joined the new revolution from inside and outside Kurdistan and resumed their military and political operations.
“People came from diaspora, Iran and other places. As a result, our revolution expanded. We became strong,” said Sheiko Edilbi, an Aylul revolutionary.
“Saddam could not prevail against us. We had many Peshmerga fighters. Later Masoud Barzani deployed some other Peshmerga for us. We expanded our positions. We became powerful.”
