The Republic of Mahabad, 1946

On 22 January 1946 a Kurdish authority led by Qazi Muhammad was proclaimed in the city of Mahabad in north-western Iran, known as the Republic of Mahabad, or the Republic of Kurdistan at Mahabad. It did not last a full year: Iranian forces returned to the city in December of the same year, and on 31 March 1947 Qazi Muhammad and several of its leaders were executed. Short-lived as it was, Mahabad remains one of the most influential political experiences in modern Kurdish memory. This file separates what the documents say from what memory says. Iran and the Second World War In August 1941 British and Soviet forces entered Iran, and the north of the country fell within the Soviet zone of military influence. The weakening of central authority in parts of the north-west opened a political space that had not existed before. U.S. State Department documents from 1945 show that the Iranian government struggled to return its troops to Mahabad, that the Soviet authorities objected to Iranian military movements into the region, and that a substantial armed Kurdish force existed in and around the city. These circumstances did not create the Kurdish national movement from nothing, but they provided an exceptional environment that allowed it to become a more organised political experience. The political movement before the republic Kurdish politics in Mahabad did not begin in 1946. Political and cultural organisations existed before the proclamation, among them Komeley Jiyanewey Kurdistan — the Society for the Revival of Kurdistan. In 1945 the Democratic Party of Kurdistan in Iran emerged under Qazi Muhammad. Qazi Muhammad came from a family of religious and judicial standing in Mahabad and became the central political figure of the new project. The proclamation and the reach of authority On 22 January 1946 the republic was proclaimed, Qazi Muhammad became its president, and administrative, political and military institutions were formed to govern the areas under its authority. Yet its reach was geographically limited and did not cover all Kurdish areas of Iran. It was a local experiment with a wider national ambition, operating within a narrow geography and under highly complex international conditions. Proclaimed: 22 January 1946 — President: Qazi Muhammad — Effective rule ended: December 1946 — International recognition: No broad recognition Was it an independent state? Many Kurdish sources use the name “Republic of Kurdistan”, while much academic literature uses “Republic of Mahabad”. There is historical debate over how far its leadership sought full independence as opposed to autonomy and national rights within Iran. What is certain is that it established a real Kurdish administration for a short period, but never obtained broad international recognition as a sovereign state. Was Mahabad the first Kurdish state? The Republic of Mahabad is often described as “the first Kurdish state in history”, a description that is not accurate. Earlier centuries knew Kurdish principalities and political entities with varying degrees of autonomy or near-independence, among them Bidlis, Ardalan, Baban, Soran and Botan. It is more precise to say that Mahabad's standing rests on its being one of the most prominent modern Kurdish national republican experiments: an entity that declared itself a republic, with institutions, an administration and Kurdish as its official language, within a modern nationalist framework. Calling it, without qualification, “the first Kurdish state” disregards an older Kurdish political history. Qazi Muhammad Qazi Muhammad was less a conventional military commander than a religious, judicial and political figure with deep social influence in Mahabad. A U.S. diplomatic document dated 29 April 1946 describes him as the leader of an independence movement facing the Iranian central government; Washington was wary of any step that might read as American endorsement of an independent Kurdish state. Careful history must distinguish documented information from the sayings and testaments later attributed to him; many phrases circulating in his name require an original source. Mustafa Barzani and Mahabad After conflict with the Iraqi government, Barzani and a body of Kurdish fighters moved from Iraq into Iran and became an important military force attached to the republic. Their roles should not be confused: Qazi Muhammad was the political leader and president, Mustafa Barzani among its foremost military commanders and allies. After the collapse Barzani did not surrender; he crossed the border with hundreds of companions and reached the Soviet Union in 1947. Scholarly references record that Barzani remained in the Soviet Union for several years after 1947 and did not return to Iraq until after the 1958 revolution that overthrew the monarchy, resuming his political and military activity in Iraqi Kurdistan thereafter. Kurdish language and culture One of the most significant aspects of the experience was its attention to Kurdish language and culture; references note a printing press linked to the republic that produced newspapers, magazines and other material in Kurdish. Education in Kurdish — Press and publishing — Cultural and literary production — Translation and writing in Kurdish The Soviet role It would be wrong to claim the Soviet Union played no part in creating the conditions that allowed the republic to exist, and equally simplistic to say it was nothing but a Soviet project with no local Kurdish roots. The Soviet army's presence limited Tehran's ability to impose control and gave indirect cover to the local Kurdish authority; American diplomatic correspondence from 1946 documents extensive Soviet troop movements in north-western Iran, including towards Mahabad. Mahabad was the outcome of a local Kurdish national movement meeting an exceptional international moment — not of either alone. The 1946 Iran crisis and international pressure Mahabad was not an isolated local event; it unfolded inside