Ali Askari

Ali Askari (1936 – 1978) was a Kurdish politician. His political party was Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Early life and family
He was born in 1936 in the village of Goptapa in Kurdistan. The family is originally from Sargalo but his great-grandfather moved to Askar. In early 1916 Ali Askari's father built a village which today is called Goptapa. He was the youngest among seven brothers and three sisters. Since there were no schools in Goptapa, he had to move to Askar to study at the age of 7. He stayed in Askar till 3rd grade, then moved to Agjalal to study 4th and 5th grade for his last year in middle school. At the same time he moved to Kirkuk to his uncle Sheik Raza, who was leading the Naqshbandi branch. He was a Kurdish politician.

Organizations
The family had started out as a Naqshbandi believers branch but created a new branch, Haqa, in the early 1900s. The English were opposed to the Haqa branch during the Iraq occupation. They also captured the branch's leaders twice. The first time they captured Sheik Abdul Karim (Ali Askari's uncle) in the 1930s. Haqa managed to release Sheik Abdul Karim in Kirkuk with the help of 20,000 of Haqa's followers. Ali Askari's other uncle Raza, based in Kalkasmag, was captured in the 1940s by the Iraqi Government under pressure of the British but again the Haqa branch succeeded in releasing another of their leaders with help by some 30,000 to 35,000 followers.

Political career
At the age of 17 Ali Askari became a member of Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP). After finishing high school Ali Askari applied for Military College and Civil-engineering College, but KDP asked him to move to Mosul and become KDP’s representative so he never went to college.

The Kurdish revolution started in 11 September 1961 and Ali Askari was asked to command the liberation of Zaxo, Duhok and the rest of the Bahdinan region. He was the youngest member of KDP’s leading staff.

Military career
In the 1960s Ali Askari led dozens of battles and commanded in different Peshmerga groups.

In 1975 Ali Askari asked Mustafa Barzani to continue the fighting with the Iraqi regime and stand up for Kurd's rights, however Mustafa Barzani disagreed. Ali Askari was one of the founders of, a newly created party, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Whom would start a new revolution against Saddam Hussein and his regime.

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Death
He was killed in an ambush, in 1978 during the battle of Hakkari.