Massoud Barzani Fast Facts – CNN
Father: General Mustafa Barzani, was chief of the military of the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad
Mother: Hamayil Khan
Marriage: Married (name unavailable publicly)
Children: Eight children
Religion: Sunni Muslim
Other Facts
Fluent in Kurmanji (Kurdish), Arabic, Farsi (Persian) and English.
Leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979.
Barzani was born on the same day that the KDP was founded in 1946.
Timeline
1962 – Quits school to join the Peshmerga (Kurdish fighters).
1970 – Is a member of the Kurdish delegation in talks with the government of Baghdad seeking a peace accord authorizing Kurdish self-government. An agreement is reached between Iraqi government and Kurds granting some autonomy.
1979 – Escapes an assassination attempt in Vienna, Austria.
1979 – Elected president of the KDP after the death of his father.
1994 – The Kurds in northern Iraq are divided into eastern and western political factions. Barzani is named the head of the northwestern region as head of the KDP. A parallel government is established in the east under the PUK.
1994-1998 – Barzani leads a war against the PUK. A peace agreement is reached in August 1998.
October 4, 2002 – Barzani and Talabani, leader of the PUK, apologize to the families of the victims of their internal war.
January 30, 2005 – Barzani is one of approximately 7,700 candidates in Iraq’s first free elections in over 50 years.
June 2005 – Elected president of the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq.
July 25, 2009 – Reelected president of the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq with 71% of the vote.
July 2013 – The Kurdish parliament votes to extend Barzani’s presidential term an additional two years.
June 2014 – Nephew, Nechirvan Barzani, is appointed Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s cabinet.
May 28, 2019 – Barzani’s nephew, Nechirvan Barzani, is elected president, making him the second president of the Kurdish Regional Government.
June 11, 2019 – Barzani’s son, Masrour Barzani, is elected Prime Minister of the Kurdish Regional Government the day after his cousin is sworn in as president.
