Kurdish sons unite decades after Peshmerga father marched to USSR

MINSK, Belarus —Two sons of Fatah Argushi, a Peshmerga who marched with Mullah Mustafa Barzani's to the Soviet Union, have been united in Belarus after 60 years apart.

Fatah Argushi had one son, Sharif, in the Soviet Union, and then after returning to what's now the Kurdistan Region, a son, Omar.

Aleftina Nikolayevna, the boys' mother told Rudaw: "When Fatah left, he said: ‘No matter what happens. Do not change the name of my son. Let his name stay as Sharif. I will find him through his name.’ Now my heart is relieved and I am very happy that Sharif can meet his brother..." 

Following the collapse of the short-lived Mahabad Republic in present-day Iran, the Kurdish leadership trekked to the Soviet Union for safety. Some of the Kurds stayed, others like Argushi returned to the mountains in what has now become the Kurdistan Region.

Omar recently traveled from the Kurdistan Region to Minsk in Belarus after much work and searching.

"I did not know what it meant to be a sibling, but it is a very strange feeling when all of a sudden you happen to have a brother. He considers my father to be his and so do I. There is a mutual feeling but I do not know how to deal with it," he said prior to departing.

Fatah Argushi was killed serving for the Kurdish struggle as a Peshmerga.

"Omar has been without a father for years. His father is a martyr and he [Omar] became a sole-survivor. He has had no siblings. Now he has found a brother. We keep crying [out of joy] and feel like he has been reborn. His brother is as young as he is and has one daughter," said Anisa Saeed Omar, the wife of Omar.

Sharif’s mother says that they did not know that the father died, but he had promised that he would find them both. Sharif struggled to express his feelings when meeting Omar in Belarus. 

"I had forgotten everything. I said that if my father no longer lives there is no point of having a family member … but a week ago I dreamt that I was sitting down, surrounded by a large number of beautiful girls. I did not figure out the meaning of the dream at the time, but when I saw my brother, I found out that I have many nieces," he said.

The two looked at 60-year-old photos, comparing their own faces to their father's. Omar and Sharif's story gives hope to families of the other 500 who marched from Kurdistan to Russia.

Omar believes it’s his duty to teach his older brother about his Kurdish roots, history, and traditions.

"Finding my brother was my final attempt to find him, but it was the beginning of a new struggle, and idea. It was the beginning of the fact that one can do big things. It was also the beginning of our struggle to care for him by teaching him his Kurdish patriotism and inform him of what Barzani and the Peshmerga have done to bring this country [of the Kurdistan Region]," said Omar.

The short-lived Kurdish republic, with its capital in Mahabad, northern Iran, was declared on January 22, 1946. On December 15, 1946, Iranian forces entered Mahabad, bringing an end to the Kurdish state. 

After returning to Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, the Peshmerga fought the Baathist regime in several uprisings to achieve greater autonomy. Eventually in 1992, the Kurdistan Regional Government was formed to govern the Kurdistan Region of Iraq with its capital in Erbil.