Kosrat Rasul Ali

Kosrat Rasul Ali
Vice President of Iraqi Kurdistan
Incumbent
Assumed office June 14, 2005
President	Massoud Barzani
2nd Prime Minister of PUK-controlled Kurdistan
In office 26 April 1993 – 21 January 2001
President	Jalal Talebani
Personal details
Political party	Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
Religion	Muslim

Kosrat Rasul Ali is a Kurdish politician and peshmerga veteran. He is a prominent member of Iraqi former-President Jalal Talebani's party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). He served as Prime Minister for the PUK's as-Sulaymaniyah-based administration of Kurdistan from 1993 until 2001, when he was succeeded by Barham Salih. Since the Kurdish reunification in 2005 he has served as Vice President to Kurdish President Massoud Barzani.

Early life

He was born in 1952 as Abdulla Rasul in the oil-rich village of Shiwashok near the city of Koya. His father was Rasul Ali, who worked for the oil company near the village. The family was well known in the area. Ali was educated at two schools and at mosque teachings. He used his own identification for day school and that of his dead brother for night school. He then went to study at Varna in Bulgaria.

The Aylul revolution in Iraqi Kurdistan and time in jail

In 1975, after returning home from Bulgaria, Ali joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party to participate in the Kurdish Aylul revolution. The same year the revolution came to an end he joined with the Komala party and he played a role in supervising student activities. In 1976, along with a number of his colleagues, he founded Kurdistan Students Group in Kerkuk. In 1977 he was arrested with 12 others by Bath Party agents and was imprisoned for several months during which time he was tortured. Later on that year, he and three of the others were released without having admitted any guilt. He joined the Peshmarga fighters in the mountains, taking 180,000 Iraqi Dinars from the agriculture market center in Erbil and gave it to Peshmarga. It was a noticeable financial support for Peshmarga at the time.

The 1980s and the time of Smaquli

Kosrat become a politburo member of Komala and of secret branches in 1981. In 1984 he was elected chief of the fourth center of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and held the post until 1988. By this time he was well known by the Bath regime for his activities, which were mostly operated from Smaquli village, outside Erbil. Somewhere at this point in an air strike by regime forces two of his sons lost their lives while trying to get to safety. They were aged 9 and 10.

1991 Raparin

When the Iraqi army invaded Kuwait in 1991, Kosrat held a major role in the uprisings, he participated and supervised the liberation of the Kurdish cities among them Shaqlawa, Hawler and Kirkuk. Kosrat accompanied by two Peshmarga had entered in two the city of Shaqlawa and located the person in charge of the city and made sure no resistance were made against Peshmarga. Shaqlawa was liberated without any resistance. In Hawler the people had attempted to liberate the city but were unsuccessful. Alongside the Pesharmga the people of Hawler managed to liberate the city on 11 March and Kosrat was the first commander to enter. He walked from the city citadel to the governors office alongside the people.

• In 1992 elected as Member of Kurdistan Parliament
• In 1993 selected as the second prime minister of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
• He plays a commanding role in the civil war in Kurdistan from 1996 till 1998
• In 1996 becomes KRG Prime Minister of the Suleimaniya administration
• In 2001 resigns from that post and becomes Executive Director of PUK politburo
• Becomes the PUK candidate to hold the position of Vise President of Kurdistan and does so in 2005 after the elections.