Massoud Barzani

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Massoud Barzani
1st President of Iraqi Kurdistan
Incumbent
Assumed office  June 14, 2005
Vice President	Kosret Eli Resul
Born	August 16, 1946 (1946-08-16) (age 61) Mahabad, Iran
Political party	Kurdistan Democratic Party
Religion	Muslim

Massoud Barzani (Kurdish: مه‌سعوود بارزانی, Mesûd Barzanî) (born August 16, 1946) is the President of the Autonomous Kurdish Government in Iraq and leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Barzani was born in Mahabad, Iran, during the rule of the Republic of Mahabad. He has five sons and three daughters.

Contents 1 KDP 2 Bibliography 3 Notes 4 External links 5 References

[edit] KDP

Massoud Barzani succeeded his father, the former Kurdish nationalist leader Mustafa Barzani, as the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in 1979.

In 1995, he requested help from the Iraqi government to capture the city of Arbil from the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by the current President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, also a Kurd. Mr. Talabani obtained support from Iran in that struggle.

Barzani led the KDP in establishing a government in Iraqi Kurdistan with the PUK. After the invasion of Iraq he became a member of the Iraqi Governing Council and was the president of the council in April 2004. He was elected as the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region by the Iraqi Kurdistan's Parliament in June 2005.^[1]

[edit] Bibliography

• Massoud Barzani with Ahmed Ferhani (2004). Mustafa Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0312293161

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Kurdistan Regional Government website
• Profile of Barzani, kdp-ankara.org.tr
• CPJ protests jail term for Kurdish writer on defamation conviction, Committee to Protect Journalists, January 11, 2006.
• Kurdish writer is to be retried for the crime of defaming Masoud Barzani, Reuters, January 25, 2006.
• Eric Garris. Freedom of Speech, Kurdish-Style, Antiwar.com, January 25, 2006.
• 2002 BBC profile

[edit] References