Qazî Mihemed

Historical Overview

• Rise to Power: Born into a prominent religious family, Qazi Muhammad studied jurisprudence and mastered Arabic, Persian, and Turkish before being appointed sharia judge of Mahabad — as had been his father and grandfather. Amid the turmoil that followed the Allied occupation of Iran in 1941 and the collapse of Tehran's authority in the north, he co-founded the secret 'Society for the Revival of Kurdistan' (Komele) in 1942, and in 1945 transformed it into the Democratic Party of Kurdistan – Iran (PDKI). With qualified Soviet support during their occupation of northern Iran, the Republic of Mahabad was proclaimed on 22 January 1946 in Çarçira Square before crowds acclaiming the first Kurdish state of the modern age.
• Achievements: He founded the republic, appointed a Kurdish cabinet, made Kurdish for the first time in Iran an official language of administration and instruction, issued newspapers and magazines in Kurdish (Kurdistan and Hawar), and organised an army under General Mustafa Barzani, who had crossed from Iraq with 3,000 Barzani fighters. He concluded a treaty with the People's Republic of Azerbaijan and officially adopted the Kurdish flag — green, white, and red with the sun. He showed the world that the Kurds were capable of building a state with order and justice, not gunpowder alone.
• Significance to the Kurds and Medes: Qazi Muhammad is not merely a president who was killed but an idea that does not die. When the Soviets withdrew and abandoned the republic, he chose to remain in Mahabad and face his fate rather than flee. He was arrested, tried unjustly in Tehran, and hanged at dawn on 31 March 1947 in Çarçira Square — the very square from which he had proclaimed the republic. That insistence on dying on the same ground turned his blood into historical testimony and made Mahabad a political Mecca for every Kurd.

Timeline

1. 1893 CE — His Birth: Born in Mahabad — then called Sawjbulagh — to a religious family.
2. 1915 – 1930 — Studies and Judgeship: He studied jurisprudence and assumed the sharia judgeship of Mahabad after his father.
3. August 1941 — Occupation of Iran: Britain occupies the south and the Soviet Union the north; Iranian authority collapses in Mahabad.
4. 16 September 1942 — Founding of Komele: The clandestine 'Society for the Revival of Kurdistan' is formed.
5. 16 August 1945 — Founding of the PDKI: Komele is transformed into an open party under his leadership.
6. October 1945 — Arrival of Mustafa Barzani: The Barzani Peshmerga reach Mahabad after withdrawing from Iraq.
7. 22 January 1946 — Proclamation of the Republic: In Çarçira Square, Qazi Muhammad proclaims the first modern Kurdish republic.
8. March 1946 — Treaty with Azerbaijan: A treaty is signed with the People's Republic of Azerbaijan under Soviet auspices.
9. May 1946 — Soviet Withdrawal: Soviet forces leave Iran under American and British pressure — the beginning of the end.
10. December 1946 — Fall of the Republic: The Iranian army enters Mahabad without resistance, at Qazi Muhammad's order to spare blood.
11. 16 December 1946 — His Arrest: He gives himself up to spare the city a massacre.
12. 31 March 1947 — The Execution: He is hanged at dawn in Çarçira Square — the very square from which he had proclaimed the republic — alongside his brother Qazi Sadr and his cousin Qazi Sayf.

Battles & Achievements

• Founding the Republic of Mahabad: The first partially recognised Kurdish political entity of the twentieth century — eleven months that left an imprint of a century.
• Codifying the Kurdish Flag: He adopted the flag that today flies over the Kurdistan Region and in every Kurdish demonstration worldwide.
• Kurdish as an Official Language: For the first time in modern Iran, Kurdish was taught in schools and used in official newspapers.
• The Barzani–Mahabad Alliance: The integration of Mustafa Barzani's forces into the republic's army — foundation of the modern Peshmerga.
• Surrender to Spare Blood: A difficult political decision that spared Mahabad a certain massacre and transformed Qazi Muhammad from leader into martyr.

The Republic of Mahabad

• Mahabad — The capital and Çarçira Square — site of both proclamation and execution.
• Bukan — The republic's second city.
• Oshnavieh — The republic's northern boundary.
• Naqadeh — A point of friction with the Azeris.
• Sardasht — Bordering Iraqi Kurdistan.
• Tabriz — Capital of the allied Republic of Azerbaijan.
• Barzan — Home of Mustafa Barzani — the source of the republic's strength.

Quotes & Legacy

• We die standing — we do not live on our knees. — His most famous words before the gallows.
• The flag of Kurdistan will one day fly over every mountain, even if it is absent today. — Speech of January 1946.
• I surrender myself so that not a single child of Mahabad will shed his blood. — His justification for surrendering in December 1946.
• The republic is an idea, and an idea cannot be hanged. — Words attributed to him before his execution.

LEGACY

• Qazi Muhammad is the moment of birth of modern Kurdish political consciousness. The flag of Mahabad is the flag of today's Kurdistan Region. The party he founded, the PDKI, still endures. Mustafa Barzani, whom he raised up, became the father of the Kurdish revolution. His son Idris Qazi and many who came after walked his road. Every 31 March, Mahabad pours into its streets to mark the martyr's day. In Kurdish memory he is not a president who was killed, but a promise that was never broken.

SOURCES

• William Eagleton Jr. · The Kurdish Republic of 1946 · 1963 · Oxford University Press
• Archie Roosevelt Jr. · The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad · 1947 · Middle East Journal
• Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou · Kurdistan and the Kurds · 1965 · Publishing House of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences