The rise and fall of Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani

READ MORE

The son of iconic Kurdish nationalist leader Mullah Mustafa Barzani, and the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979, the 71-year-old joined the fight for an independent Kurdistan as a teenager.

Born on August 16, 1946, in Mahabad, capital of a Kurdish republic declared by his father amid unrest in Iran following World War II, Mr Barzani’s dream of independence was also shattered by his own actions.

His mistake was organising a referendum on independence, held on September 25, despite warnings from Baghdad – which branded the move unconstitutional – and advice from world powers keen on Iraqi unity as they continue fighting the so-called Islamic State in the region.

Weeks after the vote, which angered Baghdad, central government forces launched a sweeping operation, reclaiming territory and oilfields in and around the disputed province of Kirkuk from Kurdish peshmerga forces.

The loss of the oilfields, which provided income that would have been critical to an independent Kurdish state, sparked internal recriminations.

His detractors called for him to quit and the Kurdish parliament stripped him of his powers and met Sunday to redistribute these among the legislative, executive and judicial authorities.

In a televised address on Sunday, he spoke of betrayal.

“Rivals who handed over the oil city of Kirkuk to Iraqi forces without a fight committed high treason,” he said.

That evening, self-declared Barzani supporters stormed the Parliament gates, furious at the downfall of their leader.

Pragmatic and stubborn

Round-faced and sporting a small moustache, the “lord of the mountain” as he is often known, is usually seen wearing the garb of a peshmerga fighter: baggy khaki pants and shirt, a traditional sash and a chequered red and white scarf rolled around his head as a turban.

He is considered to be both pragmatic and stubborn.

His demand for self-rule within all historically Kurdish-populated areas of Iraq put him on a collision course with the Arab-led government in Baghdad and frustrated international powers.

One Western diplomat who asked Mr Barzani to postpone the independence vote was flatly told: “No, I can’t do it. I have a window of opportunity which will not happen again.

“Baghdad is still weak but is getting stronger, and then it will be too late,” Mr Barzani told the diplomat.

“I cannot go back and I believe that the countries which are advising me against holding the referendum will back me later.”

That was his mistake.

“Three million votes for Kurdistan independence created history and cannot be erased,” he said on Sunday. But his rhetoric of defiance is now also entwined with bitterness.

“All the delegations from the international community came here and admired the role of the peshmerga and the people of Kurdistan,” he said. “But unfortunately at the time they had to show action, they all went back to their own interests and all the principles disappeared.”

Mr Barzani “misinterpreted” the messages of his allies, particularly the United States and Ankara, according to Kurdish affairs analyst Mutlu Civiroglu.

Failing to read between the lines led not only to the isolation of the Kurds but also to the isolation of Mr Barzani’s KDP, a formidable body founded in 1946.

On the streets of Erbil, many still regard Mr Barzani as the father of what they hope will one day be an independent Kurdistan.

But others make pragmatic acknowledgment of the uncertainty that lies ahead.

“Whether he resigns or he doesn’t, it won’t make any difference because there is only one major power here,” Kurdish citizen Abdullah Nebi said at the local market. “If the Americans decide to support the Kurds, then we will rise up again. If not, everything will be finished.”

Kurdish rivalries

Mr Barzani had headed the KDP since 1978, taking over the leadership from his father.

For decades he was at odds with the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the party of Iraq’s late president Jalal Talabani.

During the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war, both parties sided with Tehran.

That partnership came at a heavy price and brought down retribution from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

In 1987, Saddam launched the Anfal campaign which saw nearly 180,000 Kurds killed and more than 3,000 villages destroyed.

The Saddam regime’s policy of “Arabisation” forced thousands of Kurds to leave their homes, to be replaced by Arabs.

Baghdad also used chemical weapons against the village of Halabja, killing 5,000 people.

After the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait, the Kurds won de facto autonomy when Western powers intervened to protect them from Saddam.

The United States and its allies set up no-fly zones in southern Iraq and the northern, Kurdish-majority region.

Short-lived political honeymoon

In 1992 the Iraqi Kurds elected a parliament and set up a government. The KDP controlled the north of the region up to the Turkish border while the PUK controlled the southeast, up to the Iranian border.

Their political honeymoon was short-lived, and in 1994 the PUK and the KDP fought a near civil war over the distribution of the territory’s resources and taxes imposed by the KDP on border traffic with Turkey.

Mr Barzani turned to his nemesis Saddam for help to push back Mr Talabani’s forces.

The episode prompted Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to chide Mr Barzani recently, saying that pact was a “blot” that had tarnished his reputation.

Mr Barzani and Mr Talabani buried the hatchet in 2003 as the Kurds allied with American troops in the war to overthrow Saddam.

After his ouster, the Kurds unified their administration, with Arbil in northern Iraq as the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

In 2005, Mr Barzani was appointed president by the Kurdish parliament and in 2009 elected with 69.6 percent of the votes in Kurdistan’s first presidential election.

His mandate expired in 2013 but was extended for two years and then continued in the chaos that followed the Islamic State group’s sweeping offensive across Iraq in 2014.

Now, as he prepares to step down, Mr Barzani’s tarnished legacy has besmirched hopes of an independent Kurdistan.