By Ageed Derky
Mullah Mustafa Barzani has been termed by his own family and followers as the father of the Kurdish nation, and the most patriotic Kurdish leader in the history of Kurds. While it makes good sense that freedom fighters should be given beautiful titles, but “Father of the Nation” is really exaggerated to be used for Mullah Mustafa Barzani because he really is notwhat his family and followers have depicted him to be in the public and historical records.
As it is said, most of the time there are two sides to a story, a good and a bad one. But sometimes only the good side of the story is told to the crowed and the bad side is kept secret deliberately to deceive and mislead as many people in order to control their mind and influence their lives for personal gains and benefits. As far as I remember, only one side of the life story of Kurdish leader Mullah Mustafa Barzani has been told to the public around the world and it is often exaggerated.
It is not that no one has ever interacted or lived closely to Mustafa Barzani and his family to have enough information about his life and personality, but the reasons of not speaking out everything about him are different for different people. Some people don’t speak it for political and economic reasons. While some others have bias opinions and remained silent to the truth. And some more kept quiet for the fear of being killed by Barzani family and his followers.
Many Kurdish people, especially the one who have served as an old Peshmarga with Mullah Mustafa Barzani, know that Mullah Mustafa
was an illiterate Kurdish leader. They also know that he did not hold any academic degree in the field of Political Science, Administration or Strategic Science. But they choose not to speak or write about it in any place. Although, a few people who have served as Peshmerga with Mullah Mustafa Barzani, have started speaking and giving out more information about the life of Mullah Mustafa Barzani through social media.
I have gathered as much information as I could from some old Peshmarga about Mullah Mustafa Barzani that have not been sent out and published to the public before. According to the statements of some old Peshmarga I have spoken to that Mullah Mustafa Barzani was not an educated person except he had some knowledge of Islamic teachings which he had learnt from Naqshbandi Sheikhs in Barzan region during his childhood.
Mullah Mustafa believed and lived his life on the bases of teachings of Quran. He practiced Quranic teaching which it means he was against secular and democratic values. He was an advocate of Islamic rules of life such as polygyny and superiority of men over women. He was married to more than one woman and he was superior to his wives. He was against the right to usury business, relationships outside of marriage, drinking alcohol, gambling, eating pork, and homosexuality right
Moreover, he believed in dynastic politics and feudalistic economic system where a single family should control economy and govern a nation. In reality, Mullah Mustafa Barzani was a religious tribal chief. He had a tribal mentality mixed with Islamic religious beliefs. His his tribal and religious mentality was always at the center of his decision making and as a result dominating his Kurdish nationalistic and political beliefs. As a tribal chief, his blood relations, bias, jealousy, selfishness and subjectivity feelings would always get in the way when he would make judgment and decisions towards none Barzani Kurdish people. Basically, his feeling of caring and attachment to his own family, tribe, and relatives were stronger than his feelings and beliefs of democracy and Kurdish and patriotism.
He became the leader of a so called Democratic Party of Kurdistan after he had picked up arm and fought against Iraqi rulers. He fought the Kurdish enemies for long years. And he always claimed that the reason he was fighting Iraqi rulers was because he wanted to get autonomy and rights for Kurds in Iraq. However, he himself proved through his mistakes and his biased and tribal -Islamic primitive mentality that he was not fighting to get a type of autonomy for Kurds where respect for freedom of choice, equality, democracy, human rights, pluralism and the rule of law would be reality and superior to the rule of his own primitive, tribal and religious mentality in such an autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq.
Despite the truth that Mullah Mustafa Barzani has fought against Iraqi rulers for many years of his life, his intentions gradually became clear through his dictatorship characteristics and traits that he was up to achieve a type of autonomy for Kurds within Iraq like a small kingdom that would be run under his rule as the king of Kurdistan, something like what Kurdish leader Mahmoud Barzanji did.
Read More: https://ekurd.net/mustafa-barzani-democratic-2019-03-09