Iraq
Jalal Talabani, late Iraqi president and head of the Patritic Union of Kurdistan, pictured during an event in France on November 17, 2009. File photo: AP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq has approved a request to rename the international airport in the Kurdistan Region’s eastern Sulaimani province after prominent Kurdish figure and late Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, a government official confirmed to Rudaw on Tuesday.
Maytham al-Safi, spokesperson for the Iraqi transport ministry, stated that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani and Transport Minister Razzaq al-Saadawi have “approved a request to change the name of Sulaymaniyah International Airport to the Jalal Talabani International Airport."
He added that “the decision will come into effect soon.”
A document obtained by Rudaw from the transport minister’s office also noted that the head of Airport Management for Iraq's Airports, Hussein al-Zubaidi, in early September sent a letter to the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) demanding they officially adopt the new name.
Safi further elaborated that the decision followed a formal request from The President Jalal Talabani Foundation (PJTF) - a non-profit dedicated to "preserving, collecting and archiving the life, works and writings of President Jalal Talabani to be recognized as a national heritage,” according to its official website.
The organization further aims “to provide resources and facilitate achieving President Jalal Talabani’s vision for Iraq and Kurdistan through our programs and initiatives."
Born Jalal Husamuddin Nurullah in 1933 and affectionately known as Mam Jalal, Talabani was a towering figure in Kurdish and Iraqi politics. He founded the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and served as Iraq’s president from 2005 to 2014 - the first Kurd and first non-Arab to hold the post.
His political journey began in 1946 at age 14, when he co-founded the Reading Advance Association, a secret student society. His dedication to the Kurdish cause deepened when he joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) around 1947 and later co-founded the Kurdistan Students Union in 1953, serving as its secretary-general.
Talabani’s commitment to Kurdish rights led him to the armed struggle of the 1960s, where he commanded revolutionary battles. After the collapse of the Kurdish revolution in 1975, he co-founded the PUK in Syria, consolidating various Kurdish factions into a cohesive force opposing the Ba’ath regime.
He also played a pivotal role in securing Kurdish autonomy following the 1991 Uprising, leading negotiations with Baghdad. After the 1992 elections, he helped form the first Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet and later championed federalism as the framework for Iraq’s future.
After the fall of the Saddam Hussein-led Ba’ath regime in 2003, Talabani was instrumental in shaping the post-Ba’ath Iraqi state. His vision of federalism was enshrined in the transitional State Administration Law and later the Iraqi Constitution.
Following his 2005 election as president, he emerged as a unifying role and mediator, which earned him widespread respect and prompted Iraq's highest Shiite religious authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to dub him as "Iraq's Safety Valve."
Talabani passed away in 2017 after a prolonged illness, however, his enduring legacy as a revolutionary and democrat continues to shape the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.
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