The son of an educated family

Hassan Ghezelji was born into a religious and educated family in the city of Bukan in 1914. He began his education in a very young age. He started his education at his father’s, Mullah Ali, and continued later with Mullah Mohammad Fawzi and also at his uncle‘s Mullah Ahmad Turjani. He traveled to some areas in Kurdistan to continue his studies in science and knowledge. He started his job in the Mahabad Governor’s Office and served as the Deputy Governor of Mahabad.

His career coincided with the founding of “Komala J K” and establishment of the Kurdish Republic in Mahabad (Komala J K was the first Kurdish political organization and converted later to Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan). He joined “Komala J K” under the pseudonym “Jir” and started his political career. With his literary knowledge and experience, he founded “Halala” magazine, which was the mouthpiece of the Democratic Youth Union of Kurdistan in the section of the city of Bukan. He also wrote and translated articles for the Kurdistan newspaper (magazine of Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan). After the collapse of the government of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad, he fled to Iraqi Kurdistan. He settled in the village of “Sitak” at the “Sheikh Latif Hafid” family. There, too, he did not give up his journalistic activities. He and Ghani Blourian published a magazine with the title “Rega”, which means path.

Dangerous conditions prevailed at that time and the possibility of his arrest was strengthened. He was forced to move to Baghdad. In order to survive, he was forced to work as a laborer, peddler and street vendor. Later, he moved to Soleimanyeh and there he worked as a photographer. He resettled in Baghdad again and got a job as secretary at the Abdullah Sharif restaurant and was arrested by the police. He was imprisoned for one year. In April1954, the Iraqi central government handed him over to the Iranian authorities. He managed to escape and returned to Iraq. At that time, he traded with tobacco for three years in Bazian.

After the coup d‘etat and the change of political power on 14.July 1958 he had no fear anymore to be persecuted. He started his journalism activities in various magazines and newspapers. He migrated from Iraq to Bulgaria in 1961 and settled there. He continued his reporting activity for “Peik Iran” radio station. In 1965, he published the newspaper “Kurdistan” in cooperation with Dr. Ghassemlou and Karim Hesami. In those years he became a member of the Tudeh Party (it was a leftwing Soviet Union oriented Party). He wrote a lot of publications and articles for Kurdish magazines and newspapers of Iraq. 

He returned to his hometown Bukan after the collapse of the monarchy in Iran. He left for Tehran following the tasks assigned to him by the Tudeh Party. He was elected as a member of the Central Committee of the Tudeh Party at the 17th Congress of the party. He was assigned in charge of the foreign relationships. At the same time, he published the Kurdish-language newspaper “Nameyeh Mardom” in Kurdish. It was the newspaper of the TudehParty. The government of the Islamic Republic banned the activities and presence of theTudeh Party and arrested its members. Hassan Ghezelji was arrested by the Islamic regime on 5/2/1983. After several months of torture, he died in November of 1983 at the age of 69 in detention. His body was buried in Behesht Zahra Cemetery in Tehran.

Hassan Ghezelji was a skilled and knowledgeable novelist. He was a prolific political essayist, fluent in language and journalism. Most of his works have been published.

He has translated thirteen articles. His first story has been published under the title “Sky in Kurdistan Cinema”. His magnificent works are the following:

“Rural pacifism and bilateral agreements”, a common work of Hassan Ghezelji and Abdul Rahman Zabihi, Baghdad 1959

“Beggar’s Smile” contains a number of short stories, Baghdad 1972

An unpublished work: “Literary Theory”, translated from the Bulgarian language

“Socio-political language”, translation

“Short stories of Engel Karlichov”, translated from the Bulgarian language