Mahabad Republic (Iran, January-December 1946)

Last modified: 2005-08-06 by joe mcmillan
Keywords: kurdistan | sun | star (red) | komala |
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courtesy of the Center for Kurdish Political Studies

• Mahabad Republic
• Kurdish Communist Party (Komala)
• Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran

See also:

• Kurds
• Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq
• Iran
• Iraq

Mahabad Republic

In 1941 Britain and the USSR partitioned Iran into two zones of control in order to prevent the country from entering the war on the side of Germany. In the Soviet zone, the Kurds of northwest Iran enjoyed de facto independence. At war's end, Teheran pressured the Soviets to leave, which they did in December 1945. As they left, the Kurds formally proclaimed themselves independent in January 1946, with their capital at Mahabad. The government included many Kurds from Iraq, including Mustafa Barzani, the army commander. Their forces were Soviet-equipped and uniformed, but they owed no ideological allegiance to the USSR. Their flag was the tricolor of the Kurdish Communist Party (Komala) plus a golden sun in the center.

Teheran gradually marshalled its forces, and when they were satisfied the Soviets would not intervene they crushed the Mahabad Republic in December 1946. The leaders were executed, but Barzani led the Iranian forces on a wild goose chase and eventually escaped to the Soviet Union. His escapades contributed much to Kurdish legend and nostalgia for independence. In 1946 he founded the Kurdish Democratic Party, Partiya Demokrata Kurdistane (PDK).
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