Talabani received his elementary and intermediate school education inKoya (Koysanjak) and his high school education inErbil andKirkuk.[7] When he was in his teens, Talabani's peers began referring to him as "Mam" Jalal, as 'mam' meaning "paternal uncle" inKurdish, and the Kurds have called him by this affectionate name ever since.[8] In 1953, he began to study law at theBaghdad University. He had to flee into exile inSyria in 1956, in order to prevent an arrest for being involved In activities of the Kurdish Students Union.[9] Residing inDamascus, he was involved in the establishment theKurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS).[10] He later returned to Iraq and gained a degree in 1959.[9]
After completing his studies at the Baghdad University, he entered theIraqi Army, where he served shortly as a tank unit commander. In the early 1960s, he was made the head of the Polit bureau of theKurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).[9] When in September 1961, theKurdish uprising for the rights of the Kurds in northern Iraq was declared against theBaghdad government ofAbd al-Karim Qasim, Talabani took charge of the Kirkuk andSilemani battlefronts and organized and led separatist movements in Mawat, Rezan and the Qaradagh regions.[11]
In March 1962, he led a coordinatedPeshmerga offensive that brought about the liberation of the district ofSharbazher from Iraqi government forces.[12] When not engaged in fighting in the early and mid-1960s, Talabani undertook numerous diplomatic missions, representing the Kurdish leadership at meetings in Europe and the Middle East.[11] In 1964, he and the Barzani family had a dispute over the direction of the KDP and Talabani left Iraq and settled in Iran.[13][9] In Iran he purchased weapons without the knowledge of the Barzanis, following which he was expelled from the KDP in summer 1964.[13]
After the March 1970 agreement between the Iraqi government and the Kurdish rebels, Talabani returned to Iraqi Kurdistan, and rejoined the KDP, even though he wouldn't hold an office at the time.[13] The Kurdish separatist movement collapsed in March 1975, after Iran ended their support in exchange for a border agreement with Iraq.[14] This agreement was the1975 Algiers Agreement, where Iraq gave up claims to theShatt al-Arab (Arvand Rūd) waterway andKhuzestan, which later became the basis for theIran–Iraq War.[11] Believing it was time to give a new direction to the Kurdish separatists and to the Kurdish society, Talabani, with a group of Kurdish intellectuals and activists, founded the KurdishPatriotic Union of Kurdistan (Yekiaiti Nishtimani Kurdistan) in 1975.[7][15]
In 1976, he began organizing an armed campaign for Kurdish independence insideIraqi Kurdistan.[16] From 1977 onwards, he established the PUK base within Iranian Kurdistan in Nawkhan and another one in Iraqi Kurdistan in Qandil.[17] During the 1980s, Talabani sided withIran and led a Kurdish struggle from bases inside Iraq until the crackdown against Kurdish separatists from 1987 to 1988.[16] Following the invasion ofKuwait by Iraq in August 1990, he travelled to the United States, in order to offer his services and troops to the United States and raise support for the PUK. But his attempts did not bear the success he expected at the time.[18]
In 1991, he helped inspire a renewed effort for Kurdish independence.[7] He negotiated a ceasefire with the Iraqi Ba'athist government that saved the lives of many Kurds and worked closely with the United States, United Kingdom, France and other countries to set up the safe haven in Iraqi Kurdistan.[19] In 1992 theKurdistan Regional Government was founded.[20] He was also supportive of peace negotiations between theKurdistan Workers' Party and Turkey, and was also present asAbdullah Öcalan announced theceasefire of the PKK on 17 March and prolonged it indefinitely on 16 April 1993.[21] He was given aTurkish passport by the then-presidentTurgut Özal in 1992 in order to help Talabani travel freely. He returned the passport in 2003.[22]
Talabani pursued a negotiated settlement to theIraqi Kurdish Civil War, as well as the larger issue of Kurdish rights in the current regional context.[19] He worked closely with other Kurdish politicians as well as the rest of the Iraqi opposition factions.[20] In close coordination withMasoud Barzani, Talabani and the Kurds played a key role as a partner of the U.S. led Coalition in the invasion of Iraq.[19]
Talabani was a member of theIraqi Governing Council which negotiated theTransitional Administrative Law (TAL), Iraq's interim constitution.[12] The TAL governed all politics in Iraq and the process of writing and adopting the final constitution.[16]
Talabani with U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush on 2 October 2007Jalal Talabani with U.S. PresidentBarack Obama during a visit toCamp Victory, Iraq, 7 April 2009.Talabani with South Korea presidentLee Myung-bak, February 2009
On 22 April 2006, Talabani began his second term as President of Iraq, becoming the first President elected under the country's new constitution.[12] His office was part of thePresidency Council of Iraq.[7]Nawshirwan Mustafa was Talabani's deputy until Mustafa resigned in 2006 and formed an opposition party calledGorran.[12]
He supported Barzani's extended presidency of the Kurdistan Region post-2013.[4]
On 18 December 2012, Talabani suffered a stroke and was in intensive care in Baghdad, where his condition eventually stabilized after reports that he was in a coma.[24] A statement on the President's official website said that he was being treated for blockedarteries.[25][26] On 20 December, Talabani's condition had improved enough to allow travel to Germany for treatment.[27][28] The head of Talabani's medical team in Iraq has been GovernorNajmiddin Karim.[29][30] On 19 July 2014, Jalal Talabani returned to Iraq after more than 18 months of medical treatment.[31] Due to his absence from politics, as a result of his illness, the PUK became consumed by a succession crisis.[4]
Jalal Talabani died on 3 October 2017, at the age of 83 inBerlin, Germany ofcerebral hemorrhage due to the complications caused by the stroke he suffered five years prior in 2012.[32][7] He died a few days after the referendum about the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan was approved by the voters.[33]Masoud Barzani, President of Kurdistan Regional Government and for years his Kurdish rival,[4] announced sevendays of mourning inIraqi Kurdistan in memory of Talabani.[34] Iraqi Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadi also announced three days of mourning in the country.[35] Hisstate funeral was held on 6 October 2017.[36][37] Millions turned out across the cities and memorials were held across the globe.
^although they were not closely related with Jalal Talabani, cf. Martin van Bruinessen, 'The Qâdiriyya and the lineages of Qâdirî shaykhs among the Kurds', in: Thierry Zarcone, Ekrem Işın an Arthur Buehler (eds),The Qadiriyya Order,Journal of the History of Sufism (special issue) 1–2 (2000), pp. 131–149
^abcdBartrop, Paul R.; Jacobs, Steven Leonard (17 December 2014).Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection [4 volumes]: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection. ABC-CLIO. p. 1629.ISBN978-1-61069-364-6.
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
