How Turkey saved the Barzani family from British oppression

Turkey’s response to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) leader Masoud Barzani’s illegitimate referendum, which serves the purposes of Israel’s “Great Middle East Project,” has been falsely branded as “Kurdish enmity” by separatist lobbies. The real aim of these lobbies is to use the sensitivities of the Kurdish community to achieve their own interests and siege Turkey with a terrorist corridor.

Material that emerged from archives disproves the perception of Kurdish hostility by Turkey. The records of General Staff ATASE Archives, which contain details of how refugees from the Barzan tribe fled from the British to Turkey, were revealed after 85 years.

According to the documents, Turkey rescued the Barzan tribe from British oppression in 1932 and provided a refuge for them during the Great Depression.

After the First World War, oil-rich Iraq was in the hands of the British. The Barzan Tribe was a part of a front against the British in the region.

In 1931, the Barzan tribe took possession of the right wing of the Great Zab, a river flowing through Turkey and Iraq, with 1,700 Peshmerga forces. Following this, the British moved to neutralize the Barzani siblings.

The family began to be pressured in 1932. Barzan Sheikh Ahmad, Mullah Mustafa and Mehmet Sıddık and their families along with a group of 630 people were forced to leave Iraq in 1932.

The Barzan tribe that fled Iraq due to the British presence took refuge in Turkey on June 22, 1932.

According to the document dated June 24, 1932 and signed by the 7th Corps Command dedicated to the Erzincan 3rd Army Inspectorate and found within the General Staff ATASE Archive, Barzan Sheikh Ahmad, Mullah Mustafa and Mehmet Sıddık and their families surrendered their weapons and sought asylum at Turkey’s Yüksekova 6th Border Battleship stationed in Ovaca.

The Barzan family was taken from the border toward Gevar (Yüksekova). The document also details that they were only able to cover five kilometers per day because of the animals they were traveling with.

The Third Army Inspectorate also sent this document to the 9th Corps Command (Erzurum).

Another document dated July 23, 1932 included information about a total of 630 people comprised of 168 men, 156 women, 135 girls and 171 boys under Sheikh Ahmad’s care.

The group moved from Van to Erzurum on July 21, 1932, accompanied by guards arranged by the 2nd Movement Gendarmerie Battalion. This force accompanied the group to the Mozik village, where the 9th Corps was on duty. Following this, the 9th Corps requested the 1st civilian division to takeover.

Turkey has always supported the Barzan tribe who took refuge in Turkey in 1932. Turkey has always stood by decisions taken to ensure the prosperity of the Kurdish people in the region, and backed the KRG.

However, in the region in which Turkey is located, KRG leader Masoud Barzani has become the chief actor of the plan to divide the region by aligning with Israel. Barzani, despite all objections, reactions and oppositions, carried out the illegitimate referendum on Sept. 25. Barzani, who targeted Iraq's political and territorial integrity, is still pursuing chaos in the region.