[4] He is a commander and General of the Kurdish PUK Peshmerga forces and is considered one of the most powerful people in Iraq.

[5] Mala Bakhtiar previously served as the chief of the Executive Bureau of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

[6] Currently, he is the joint leader of the Supreme Political Council of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), alongside Kosrat Rasul Ali.

[7] In 1986, Bakhtiyar left the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan to establish his own party, called Alayî Şoriş (Banner of Revolution).

[8] Following the 1992 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election, Mala Bakhtiyar and most of the former Alayî Şoriş leadership left the party and rejoined the PUK.