Mala Bakhtiar

Hikmat Muhamad Karim known as Mala Bakhtiar (Kurdish: حیکمەت محەمەد کەریم‎ known as مەلا بەختیار; Arabic: حکمت محمد کریم‎‎ known as ملا بختیار; born on August 20, 1954) in the oil-rich town of Khanaqin which lies in southern east of Iraqi Kurdistan. He joined the Marx-Lenin association in 10/6/1970, a few months after its foundation. He joined Aylul Revolution in 1974. While he was in the revolution, he experienced too many difficulties due to his leftist views.

Early life

He returned to Khanaqin town in 1975 along with many of his colleagues up on the command of Marx-Lenin association, following the collapse of Aylul Revolution in 1975 due to the 1975 Algiers Agreement signed between Iraqi and Iranian governments on March 6, 1975.

The Regime of Saddam Hussein

As a result, Kurdish people suffered from expulsion and forced resettlement in a campaign known as Arabization, a campaign to drive Kurds out of their original places and replace them with Arab settlers.^[1] Soon after realizing these organized campaigns, the leadership of Marx-Lenin Association re-organized their groups in a bid to counterattack those campaigns. Thus, the Iraqi authorities launched a new campaign to chase and arrest the leaders of Marx-Lenin Association. Mala Bakhtiar was on the wanted leaders by the Iraqi regime but it failed to arrest him. Later, he became the chief of all secret cells of Marx-Lenin Association based inside the cities. He moved back and forth secretly among Iraqi cities of Baghdad, Kirkuk, Kalar, Samawah, Diwaniyah, Fallujah, Mosul, Sulaymaniyah and Erbil, aiming at preparations of the cells to re-launch armed struggles.

Career

After the announcement of establishing Patriotic Union of Kurdistan on June 1, 1975, witnessed a popular flourishing and established a wide organization among all Kurdish constituents.^[2] In the mid 1976, the PUK started to form Peshmarga forces according to a plan to re-launch armed struggle across the Kurdistan region. This struggle was initially based on a hit-and-run approach, a tactic that later became widespread and Mala Bakhtiar was assigned to play a vital role in reorganizing the armed groups by coordinating between the cities and the Peshmarga, eventually he joined the armed struggle.

Consecutive political Positions Held Since 1975

• In 1975, he became member of Marx-Lenin Association Leadership.
• In 1976, he was assigned as member of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Leadership.
• In 1978, he was the commander and chief of Halabja Regional Zone.
• In 1982, he was the chief of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Organizational Center- Sulaymaniyah Office.
• In 1984, he was a member of Kurdish negotiation group with Iraqi regime.
• In 1991, he contributed to the rise of Kurdish popular uprising.
• In 1992, he attended the conference of the Iraqi opposition political parties in Vienna.
• In 1992, he was a parliamentary candidate for Kurdistan Region's Parliament.
• In 1993, he was the chief of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Democratic Organizations Office.
• In 1995, he is the head of Kurdistan Olympics Committee.
• In 1999, he attended the conference of Iraqi opposition parties in New Work.
• In 2001, he was promoted to become a member of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Political Bureau.
• In 2009, he became member of Executive Body of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Political Bureau.
• In 2010, he became the chief of Executive Body of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Political Bureau.^[3]

Journalism

• Editor-in- chief of Medaniyat, or civic in English, magazine.
• Editor –in-chief of Chawder, a weekly paper. His first political forum was arranged in (1991) in Shaqlawa, Erbil.^[4]
• His first forum on secularism against Salafism was arranged in (1994).
• He was the first politician who had expected the ISIS attacks.
• His last mission was an arranging a conference on the occasion of Dabran Organization,^[5] entitled Religion for individuals and Democracy for all.

Books and Publications

• Kurdish Revolution and Modern Changes , (1992).
• Becoming Rebellious to History, Second Edition in (1998).^[6]
• At service of Literature, (1998).
• Democracy after Cold War, (1999).
• Collection of Some Topics, (1999).
• Democracy between Modernism and Postmodernism, (2000).
• Rational Freedom and Civil Society (2001).^[7]
• Democracy and its Enemies First Edition in (2006),^[8] and second edition in (2014).
• A Bunch of History of Kurdistan Toilers Party, or Komala^[9] (2012).
• Spiritual Totalitarianism and Duties of Modern Enlightenment, A Response to Secretary General of Kurdistan Islamic Union Report in (2013).
• Anaka Discourse and Turning of Contemporary of Kurdish Struggle, booklet, (2013).
• Group of Essays on 38th anniversary of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
• Intersection of Democracy and Salafism , first edition, (2014).
• Modern Political Road map in Middle East, (2014).
• Kurdistan Revolutions and Modern Changes,^[10] in (2015).
• Kurdistan, HDP and Turkey, Towards Which Political Harbor ?.
• ISIS, Expectations of its Emergence and Its Risks.

References

External links

• Mala Bakhtiar on Facebook
• Mala Bakhtiar on Twitter