November 11, 2008. Copyright 2008, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Masoud Barzani: The fight continues
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, November 11, Graphic News:  Few leaders have fought as long for recognition of their people as Massoud Barzani. Now the president of the semi-autonomous enclave of Kurdistan finally has a place his supporters can call their own but their fragile status and dreams of full independence are under threat from Iraqis and Turks, as well as fellow Kurds.

While images of Barzani meeting VIPs around the world might indicate that his transformation from guerrilla fighter to anointed political leader is now complete, a question mark hangs forever over the fractured region in northern Iraq. One sticky issue is the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which is so hotly contested by its Kurdish, Arab and Turkoman communities that it has been left out of planned nationwide polls.

But the history of the Kurds and Barzani's own 20-year fight for their rights is as characterised by bitter rivalry as it is by dramatic twists and turns.

Born in Mahabad, Iran, in 1946, Barzani took over from his father, the revered Kurdish nationalist leader Mustafa Barzani, to become leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Throughout the Iran-Iraq war he and other dissidents fought the cause from exile in Iran, returning to their homeland after the 1991 Gulf War.

After the U.S. established a no-fly zone to protect the region from Iraqi attacks, Barzani's KDP shared power with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by his lifelong rival Jalal Talabani. Infighting between the two groups escalated into civil war before a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in 1998. Since becoming president of Kurdistan in 2005, Barzani has taken issue with Talabani, now Iraq's president, over his government's loyalty to Kurds.

Barzani, considered a cautious but passionate leader, has been credited with reforms to strengthen democracy in Kurdistan, but he has also faced allegations of corruption and nepotism. He is married and has eight children.
/ENDS