August 16… Our Party’s Eighth Decade: Awareness, Determination, Action, Achievements, and Sacrifices

By: Fadel Mirani

First, I extend my congratulations to every member and friend of our party on the occasion of its 80th anniversary. I reverently commemorate the souls of our martyrs; the spirit of Barzani, father of the Kurds; and Idris, brother of every fighter; and I kiss the foreheads of all those who have chosen the path of liberating Kurdistan and preserving and elevating its people.

Words fall short of capturing the journey of our party; how much more so, then, do they fall short of expressing the magnitude of its sacrifices and the immense work and gains it has achieved for the nation.

History, across all parts of Kurdistan as well as in the countries of asylum and settlement and in all the regions of exile to which our nation has been forced as a result of its struggle for liberation, will recognize our pioneering and honorable role in ending the oppression of our people, with torches of light that ascended the mountains and descended to illuminate the plains.

Your party, my sisters, brothers, daughters, and sons, is this organization that has raised its banners through your presence—through your intellect, your choices, your persistence, your determination, and your endurance—as you have sacrificed yourselves, putting our people before yourselves and expending both effort and blood for their sake.

Mustafa Barzani and our party have been, and continue to be, the driving force behind national decision-making, preventing injustice and ensuring that it does not persist when it occurs.

Even before its first congress eighty years ago, the spirit behind our party’s founding was evident as it emerged as an organizational entity that kept pace with political developments at the national level and with global liberation struggles.

Mustafa Barzani’s ideas and struggle were the primary factors in drawing the attention of the authorities that ruled over our society and land to the mistakes they had made and the consequences they would face as long as they chose to remain blind.

If we were to examine the maps, photographs, and film footage of Kurdistan from two days separated by eight decades, the striking difference in what has been achieved would be reflected in the colors of the Kurdistan flag and our party and in the blood that has been shed across the land.

And if we were to trace the progress of our society—which has become more civilized and has deepened its commitment to peace and coexistence—we would find Barzani’s and our party’s clear role in fostering this progress.

If we were to try to comfort the families of the victims, neither time nor distance would be sufficient, nor would we be able to cover the entire geographical area.

If we were to record every sacrifice made for the sake of freedom by our people and our party, people would be astonished by the scale of these sacrifices.

If our land could speak of every fighter among our people and our party—whether they marched, dug trenches, or took refuge in caves, or whether they were martyred or wounded—the crowd would be so great that it would cover the plains and mountains.

Every farmer and shepherd, every teacher and doctor, every woman who provided bread and milk to our Peshmerga, every prisoner in a cell, and everyone awaiting execution for the sake of our nation, every child who perished amid displacement, bombardment, and the Anfal campaign—all of them carry a breath of Barzani within them, and they embody an immense spirit of sacrifice and generosity for Kurdistan.

All this generosity, accompanied by such immense suffering, stems from a ruling mentality that does not regard justice as something worth upholding. And despite all that has befallen us, we have been—and remain—as steadfast as an oak, as resilient as steel, and as determined as ever to press on. And the land—faithful to its duty—is a testament to generosity, brilliance, and goodness wherever you may be.

You are the builders of the present, and you are the ones who take pride in the fact that your party forced the arrogant oppressor to draft constitutions affirming our existence and our rights. You are the heirs to the March Agreement and the previous declarations recognizing our rights, and through your patience, all storms have passed without being able to uproot our resolve.

Your party has become the force that shapes the political equation—not merely a number within it that can be crossed out or reduced by the ignorant or the malicious. Its organizational roots are firmly planted in the earth, and its branches reach high into the sky. With you and all people of goodwill, Kurdistan continues on the path of building its people and its land, faithful to its duty and a beacon of generosity, brilliance, and goodness wherever you may be.

You represent the legacy of one of humanity’s great figures, Mustafa Barzani, the man who lived and died for his nation and his people.

Congratulations to all the organizations of our party, the Peshmerga, and all its bodies.

All our warmth and pride go out to our party’s friends—and there are many of them—and to every supporter and sympathizer of our nation.

Blessed are the efforts that began eighty years ago and produced cadres who have strengthened our work politically, militarily, organizationally, in the media, legally, administratively, in security, in awareness raising, technically, and in public relations.

Congratulations on this anniversary, which deserves to be celebrated and commemorated. It marks a renewal of our commitment to work with sincerity and wisdom so that our banners, under the leadership of our President Masoud Barzani, may continue to fly proudly in our beloved Kurdistan—the Kurdistan of freedom, democracy, and peaceful coexistence.

Fadel Mirani

Head of the Executive Committee of the Political Bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party