Prepared by: San Khasraw, Dyari Abubakar
After completing your service period, how did you continue your medical career?
Dr. Nawzad: After spending two years and nine months in Mandali, we were called back by the Ministry of Health in Baghdad. Although the people of Mandali made great efforts and requested the ministry to keep me in my position, I had to go to complete my medical training. After Mandali, I was accepted into the surgery department at Medical City (1) in Baghdad. At that time, Medical City Baghdad had only been open for one year. Initially, they placed me on the fifth floor, where I met Dr. Ali Ramah again, with whom I had previously worked at Karama Hospital. We worked there for a year as surgical trainees and then became surgeons. When we became surgeons, they redistributed us across Iraq's provinces again.
According to a ministerial order, I was supposed to go to Duhok city, which had recently become a province, but the people of Mandali had heard the news, so they went to the ministry and requested me to return to Mandali. Dr. Jamal Rashid, who was deputy head of the services department at the ministry, called me and said, "The people of Mandali are requesting you back, what's your opinion?" I loved the people of Mandali and they were poor people, so I decided to return to Mandali even though Duhok was better financially, but I loved the people of Mandali very much, so they changed the order and I went to Mandali.
Apparently, the people of Mandali continued to visit me during the year I was at Medical City in Baghdad and brought their patients to me.
When you returned, what was the general situation in Mandali?
Dr. Nawzad: Politically, compared to about a year before when I left, it had gotten worse. The Ba'ath Party had completely taken control of the situation. Part of the population had been sent to Iran and Arabs had been settled in their place. At the same time, there was an understanding between the revolutionary leadership of that time and the Iraqi government. This was the March 1974 agreement, and they threatened that if Kurdish demands were not implemented, armed struggle would resume. During that period when I remained in Mandali, I married with an acquaintance of ours who was from Kirkuk.
At that time, I had secret connections with the Kurdistan Democratic Party organizations, and also because there was no guarantee for the continuation of the March 11 agreement (2), and I didn't want to remain close to the Ba'ath regime's authority, so I requested a transfer to Sulaymaniyah city. When I was in Mandali, I had brought my parents and siblings, so first I sent them away, then I sent some of my belongings to Baghdad and sold my car, then I came to Sulaymaniyah. It didn't take long before the revolution started again. As soon as the revolution began, I went to Halabja. They were reading names on the radio of those who had joined the revolution. When they read my name on the broadcast, saying I had joined the revolution, then the people of Mandali knew I was no longer with them.
What was your situation in Halabja at that time?
Dr. Nawzad: I experienced several strange incidents in Halabja. I'd like to tell you about a few of them:
In Halabja, there was a house belonging to Ahmad Hama Salih Jaf. With a group of doctors and my colleagues, we would go there in the evenings to sit and spend time. Later, an order came that doctors must return to the leadership and be redistributed from there, so everyone would know where they were working. My uncle and I, Karim Haji Homar Qasab, and someone else went by car from Halabja to near the Kareza road and continued on foot. From there, no car was available, so we walked through valleys to Safra and Zarwon (4). It had been a long time since I had walked, so I was very uncomfortable. On the morning of April 24, 1974, we reached Nuredin village (5). I was very exhausted and tired. We stayed there that night and decided to go to Qalladze in the morning. We gathered to go to Qalladze, but we saw planes coming and going, bombing Qalladze. In reality, we were determined not to stay in Nuredin village, but one of our group said, "Let's stay tonight and go to Qalladze tomorrow." If we hadn't listened to that brother and had gone into Qalladze, we would very likely have been caught in the bombing. When we entered Qalladze, many people had lost their lives. Some people were going to Sulaymaniyah and some to Iran. I had walked a lot, my legs were mostly wounded. We went to Qalladze hospital where there was only one doctor, Dr. Mustafa Barzanji, and one or two other doctors had come to help, but they transferred most of the wounded to Iran. The next day we met, meaning on the 26th of the month. We reached the vicinity of Qalladze, but we heard on the radio that Halabja had been bombed and that house where we used to stay most evenings (Ahmad Beg's house) had been bombed. I think one or two people remained, all the others had become martyrs. So I was saved from two bombing incidents within two days.
When you reached Galala, what happened? How were the events there?
Dr. Nawzad: When we reached Galala, we met Dr. Mahmoud Osman who said, "We need a surgeon in Halabja. We've assigned them to Marivan and Sardasht, and we want one in Halabja too." He told me, "We've assigned you there." At that time, my wife was also in Hawar village near Halabja.
Right there in Galala, we went to Hama Aziz, who was a member of the political bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. While we were sitting there, a pickup truck was going around and shouting loudly that in a little while, a group of planes would come to our area, warning that these might be our own planes bombing the Iraqi government. Upon this, Kak Hama Aziz called out and said, "Where do we have planes?" In response, he said, "Well, we don't know either." He mentioned the name of a specific official, saying that person told them to say that.
The next night we stayed in Galala, we went to Kak Ali Askari's house. At that time, Dr. Muhammad Baqir was also there. A group of people from Sulaymaniyah city had also come to Kak Ali's house. Their house was on a hill, behind the house there was a large rock with a hole underneath it, for protection from aircraft bombing. Several times, due to aircraft approaching, we hid in that hole. The next day, news came that Idris Barzani wanted to see me and Dr. Muhammad Baqir, and then we should leave Galala. Below Ali Askari's house, on Haji Omran road, there was a yellow bridge that they used to call the Yellow Bridge. You had to go from there to Kak Idris's headquarters. We gathered to leave, but Kak Ali Askari shouted that we shouldn't go until the world gets dark, because aircraft attacks had increased. In any case, he insisted a lot and we didn't go. But what was strange was that shortly after, a plane came to the area and bombed the bridge. Immediately, a group of people became martyrs. In this way, for the third time on that trip, I was saved from death. After that, Kak Ali said, "Don't go to Kak Idris now, you'll go and he'll give you a rifle and Kalashnikov and you'll return." So I didn't go based on Kak Ali's words, but Dr. Muhammad Baqir went.
After a few hours, we left Galala and returned to Halabja.
So after Galala, at the leadership's request at that time, you returned to Halabja?
Dr. Nawzad: After Galala, we returned to Sulaymaniyah by the same route we had come. My family and my father's household in Sulaymaniyah had assumed I was dead, and they had also received news that I had been killed in one of those three incidents. I came back to Sulaymaniyah and from there went to Halabja. What made me happy was that I reassured my father's family that I hadn't been killed. From Sulaymaniyah, I went to Arabat by tractor. At Arabat's tea house, there was a pickup driver who told us he would take us to Halabja, but he said, "If you come back to Sulaymaniyah, I'll bring you, but I won't go to Halabja." His intention was to surrender again. I had several people with me who got angry with him and were about to hit him. So we reached Halabja by another tractor. When I returned to Halabja, I saw that the people of Halabja, due to heavy government bombing, were partly leaving the area toward Iran and partly toward Sulaymaniyah.
What was the situation in Halabja at that time?
Dr. Nawzad: When we returned to Halabja, most of the doctors from Sulaymaniyah city were there. But after the bombing increased, they had gone to Tawela. There, they had made Dr. Omid the head of doctors.
Which Dr. Omid?
Dr. Nawzad: Dr. Omid Madhat Mubarak. So several tents for doctors were set up on the road, a school building was turned into a surgical hall where I performed surgeries. They also gave a tent to me and my wife.
After a few days, the revolutionary leadership had made an agreement with the Iranian government to hand over several hospitals to us in the border cities of Iraq and Iran. In Paveh city, there was a large hospital, a nice and good hospital with an operating room, which they handed over to me. One night Dr. Omid came and said, "Gather yourself and go to Iran." That day there had been fighting near Darbandikhan, they had brought two wounded to take them to Iran. So they sent me, my wife, and the two wounded by ambulance to Paveh.
For more information
- Baghdad Medical City is the largest public medical project in Iraq, opened in 1961. The medical city consists of five major hospitals and is located on the banks of the Tigris River in the Rusafa district of Baghdad.
- March 11: This refers to March 11, 1970, when the Kurdistan Democratic Party signed an agreement known as the Kurdish Agreement with the Iraqi government of that time. However, the agreement did not last 4 years before war resumed.
- Safra and Zarwon are two villages close to each other. They are located in Mawat district, Sulaymaniyah province, Southern Kurdistan.
- Nuredin is a village located in Qalladze sub-district(center), Pushdar district, Sulaymaniyah province, Southern Kurdistan.
English 
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