Franso Toma Hariri (, ; 1937 – February 18, 2001), was an Iraqi Assyrian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, and a high-ranking and long-standing

Kurdistan Democratic Party The Kurdistan Democratic Party (), usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK, is the ruling Political party, party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional Government. It was founded in 1946 in Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan. ...

member and head of the KDP block of the

Kurdistan Region Parliament The Kurdistan Regional Parliament, also known as Kurdistan Parliament – Iraq (; ), or simply Perleman, is the parliament of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. It is made up of representatives from the various parties, lists or slates that are elec ...

Personal life

Franso Hariri was born in the city of Harir (70 km from

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

) in 1937, and graduated from the Erbil Teaching Institution in 1960. He worked for the

in the early 1960s and was a close friend of the late

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

leader

Mustafa Barzani Mustafa Barzani (14 March 1903 – 1 March 1979), also known as Mullah Mustafa, was a Kurdish nationalist leader and one of the most prominent political figures in modern Kurdish politics. In 1946, he was chosen as the leader of the Kurdistan ...

. Franso held important positions in the KDP during the Kurdish Revolution. He was elected a member of the KDP Central Committee in 1979 and was the head of the KDP delegation in the Kurdistan regional parliament, the

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of Erbil, and a minister in the third

Kurdistan Regional Government The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is the official executive body of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. The cabinet is selected by the majority party or list who also select the prime minister of the Iraqi Kurdish poli ...

in Erbil. He supported projects for the beautification and modernization of the city of

. He was also well known as a strong supporter of education, health, and sport projects in the city. His son Fawzi Hariri was a former Minister of Industry of Iraq.

Death

Hariri was assassinated on his way to work on February 18, 2001 by four Kurdish Ansar al-Islam members. Two previous attempts had been made on his life in Erbil on 1994 and 1997 at the same place and the same street but he escaped from both. In honor of Hariri, the Kurdistan Regional Government declared three days of mourning and renamed the Erbil football stadium the ''Franso Hariri Stadium''.

References

Kurdistan Democratic Party
Iraqi Assyrian politicians Nochiya Tribe People from Erbil Kurdistan Democratic Party politicians 1937 births 2001 deaths Assassinated Iraqi politicians People killed by Islamic terrorism Governors of Erbil Governorate Asian politicians assassinated in the 2000s Politicians assassinated in 2001 {{Iraq-politician-stub

Personal life

Death

See also

References