24 Facts About Jalal Talabani

Jalal Talabani was an Iraqi politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, as well as the president of the Governing Council of Iraq.

Jalal Talabani is known as Mam Jalal amongst the Kurds.

Jalal Talabani was a prominent member of the Interim Iraq Governing Council, which was established following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Jalal Talabani was an advocate for Kurdish rights and democracy in Iraq for more than 50 years.

Jalal Talabani was born in Kelkan village into the Koysinjaq branch of the Jalal Talabani family.

Jalal Talabani received his elementary and intermediate school education in Koya and his high school education in Erbil and Kirkuk.

Jalal Talabani had to flee into exile in Syria in 1956, in order to prevent an arrest for being involved In activities of the Kurdish Students Union.

Jalal Talabani later returned to Iraq and gained a degree in 1959.

When in September 1961, the Kurdish uprising for the rights of the Kurds in northern Iraq was declared against the Baghdad government of Abd al-Karim Qasim, Jalal Talabani took charge of the Kirkuk and Silemani battlefronts and organized and led separatist movements in Mawat, Rezan and the Qaradagh regions.

In 1964, he and the Barzani family had a dispute over the direction of the KDP and Jalal Talabani left Iraq and settled in Iran.

Jalal Talabani negotiated a ceasefire with the Iraqi Ba'athist government that saved the lives of many Kurds and worked closely with the United States, United Kingdom, France and other countries to set up the safe haven in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Jalal Talabani was supportive of peace negotiations between the Kurdistan Workers' Party and Turkey, and was present as Abdullah Ocalan announced the ceasefire of the PKK on 17 March and prolonged it indefinitely on 16 April 1993.

Jalal Talabani pursued a negotiated settlement to the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War, as well as the larger issue of Kurdish rights in the current regional context.

Jalal Talabani worked closely with other Kurdish politicians as well as the rest of the Iraqi opposition factions.

Jalal Talabani was a member of the Iraqi Governing Council which negotiated the Transitional Administrative Law, Iraq's interim constitution.

Jalal Talabani was elected President of Iraq on 6 April 2005, by the Iraqi National Assembly and sworn into office the following day.

On 22 April 2006, Jalal Talabani began his second term as President of Iraq, becoming the first President elected under the country's new constitution.

Jalal Talabani's office was part of the Presidency Council of Iraq.

Jalal Talabani supported Barzani's extended presidency of the Kurdistan Region post-2013.

On 18 December 2012, Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke and was in intensive care in Baghdad, where his condition eventually stabilized after reports that he was in a coma.

On 19 July 2014, Jalal Talabani returned to Iraq after more than 18 months of medical treatment.

Jalal Talabani died on 3 October 2017, at the age of 83, in Berlin, Germany, of a cerebral hemorrhage as complications of the stroke he suffered in 2012.

Jalal Talabani died a few days after the referendum about the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan was approved by the voters.

Jalal Talabani was married to Hero Ibrahim Ahmed, daughter of Ibrahim Ahmed.