KDP Bloc Marks 65th Anniversary of September Revolution

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc in the Kurdistan Parliament on Friday marked the 65th anniversary of the September Revolution, paying tribute to the leadership of the late Mustafa Barzani and describing the 1961 uprising as a foundational stage in the development of the Kurdish national movement and the eventual emergence of the Kurdistan Region as a constitutional entity.

In a statement issued on Sept. 11, the bloc said the revolution transformed the aspirations of an oppressed people into an organized national movement and united broad sections of Kurdish society around demands for political and national rights.

"On the 65th anniversary of the Great September Revolution, our bloc proudly commemorates the historic day when, on Sept. 11, 1961, under the leadership of the late Mulla Mustafa Barzani and the guidance of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the will of an oppressed people was transformed into a nationwide revolution," the statement said.

The bloc described the late Mulla Mustafa Barzani as the revolution's central leader and unifying figure, crediting his political leadership, courage and commitment to the Kurdish cause with transforming fragmented resistance into a sustained national struggle.

The September Revolution began in 1961 and developed into one of the most consequential Kurdish movements of the 20th century.

Previous Kurdistan24 reporting noted that the uprising extended from Zakho in the northwest to Khanaqin in the southeast and brought together different political, ethnic, religious and social groups.

Broad Participation and the Peshmerga

The KDP bloc said one of the revolution's defining characteristics was its capacity to provide people from across Kurdistani society with an opportunity to participate in the national struggle.

It argued that the movement strengthened confidence among Kurds in their ability to organize around a shared political cause and demonstrated the durability of popular resistance despite superior military power being deployed against it.

The bloc also highlighted the institutional development of the Peshmerga.

During the September Revolution, Peshmerga forces were increasingly organized into a structured fighting force that resisted successive military campaigns by Iraqi governments.

The statement described that experience as an enduring foundation for the Peshmerga's role in defending the people and territory of Kurdistan.

President Masoud Barzani, in a separate statement Friday marking the anniversary, similarly characterized the September Revolution as a broad national and democratic movement.

Read More: President Barzani Marks 65th Anniversary of September Revolution

He said Peshmerga, political figures, organizations, religious scholars, teachers, writers, intellectuals, young people and women all participated in the movement.

President Barzani said its principles and the resilience of its participants became a source of inspiration for subsequent phases of the Kurdish struggle.

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also marked the anniversary Friday, calling for unity among Kurdish political parties and emphasizing the need to collectively defend the constitutional status and achievements of the Kurdistan Region.

Read More: PM Barzani Calls for Kurdish Unity on 65th Anniversary of September Revolution

Social and Institutional Change

The KDP bloc's statement emphasized that the September Revolution was not limited to armed resistance.

In territories under the movement's control, it said, efforts were made to challenge discrimination and social oppression while advancing equality, human dignity and cooperation among different groups.

Women's participation was singled out as another important aspect of the revolution.

According to the bloc, their involvement demonstrated that the national movement could not be complete without the participation of both women and men.

Previous Kurdistan24 reporting has also documented how the revolutionary movement developed administrative and judicial structures in areas under its control while promoting Kurdish-language education, publishing and cultural activities.

The revolution's headquarters was established in the Galala area of Erbil province.

Those structures, although created under wartime conditions, represented an effort to pair armed struggle with political, administrative and cultural organization.

The KDP bloc said that experience helped cultivate a generation that would later continue the Kurdish national movement through subsequent periods of conflict and political mobilization.

March 11 Agreement and International Recognition

The statement also emphasized the revolution's role in bringing the Kurdish cause to greater international attention.

The bloc said the sacrifices of the Peshmerga and Mustafa Barzani's political message helped increase awareness abroad of Kurdish demands and the hardships experienced by the people of Kurdistan.

It further described the revolution as creating what it called the first major breach in the political order established after the partition of the region under the Sykes-Picot framework.

That characterization reflects the KDP bloc's interpretation of the revolution's historical significance.

More concretely, the movement eventually contributed to negotiations between the Kurdish leadership and the Iraqi government that resulted in the March 11, 1970 Agreement.

The agreement represented a major political breakthrough by formally recognizing Kurdish autonomy and establishing Kurdish as an official language alongside Arabic in Kurdish areas.

President Barzani and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani both highlighted that agreement in their anniversary statements Friday as one of the important political outcomes associated with the September Revolution.

From September Revolution to Constitutional Recognition

The KDP bloc said the revolution's political principles continued beyond the period in which the original uprising was fought.

It traced that legacy through the Gulan Revolution, later Peshmerga resistance and the 1991 uprising, which fundamentally altered the political situation in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Following the 1991 uprising and the withdrawal of Iraqi government institutions from much of the Kurdish north, elections were held in 1992 and the Kurdistan Parliament and regional institutions were established.

Read More: September Revolution Marks 65th Anniversary of Kurdish National Uprising

The Kurdistan Region was later formally recognized within Iraq's post-2003 constitutional system.

The KDP bloc presented those developments as part of a historical continuum rooted in the political principles and sacrifices of the September Revolution.

"The establishment of the Kurdistan Parliament and the emergence of the Kurdistan Region as a political and constitutional entity" were among the revolution's most important eventual achievements, the statement said.

Marking the 65th anniversary, the bloc renewed its commitment to preserving Kurdish unity, protecting the Kurdistan Region's constitutional status and defending the political and national gains achieved over successive generations.

"As the Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc in the Kurdistan Parliament, on the anniversary of this great revolution, we renew our pledge to President Barzani and our people to remain committed to the path of the late Mulla Mustafa Barzani," the statement said.

The bloc concluded by honoring Mustafa Barzani, Idris Barzani, those killed in the Kurdish struggle and the Peshmerga who participated in the September Revolution.

Sixty-five years after it began, the uprising remains a defining reference point in modern Kurdish political history, remembered not only for its military resistance, but for the national organization, political recognition and institutional development that its participants and successors sought to build from it.