Kingdom of Kurdistan

The Kingdom of Kurdistan can refer to two kingdoms.

Southern Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan)

In 1922, Kurds in Iraq attempted to establish a semi-independent state, and actually succeeded in forming the Kingdom of Kurdistan, which lasted from 1922-1924 [1].

Shaykh Mahmud Barzanji of Qadiriyyah Sufis order, the most influential personality in Southern Kurdistan ^[2], was appointed Governor of the former sanjak of Sulaymaniya, rallied against British and declared an independent Kurdistan in May, 1919, but was defeated in June. On October 10, 1921, a statement was issued in Sulaymaniya, the capital of Kurdistan, to establish a Kurdish government. Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji declared himself as the King of the Kingdom of Kurdistan [3].

After the Treaty of Sèvres, which settled some territories, Sulaymaniya still remained under direct control of British High Commissioner. After the subsequent penetration of the Turkish army in the area, an attempt was made by British to counter this by appointing Shaykh Mahmud Governor again, in September 1922. The Shaykh revolted again, and in November declared himself King of the Kingdom of Kurdistan. Members of his cabinet included:

• Shaykh Qadir Hafeed, a brother of Shaykh Mahmud - Prime Minister
• Ahmed Bagy Fatah Bag - Customs Minister
• Zaky Sahibqran - Defence Minister
• Mustafa Pasha Yamolki - Education Minister
• Abdulkarim Alaka - Finance Minister (a Christian)
• Shaykh Mohammed Gharib - Interior Minister
• Hajy Mala Saeed Karkukli - Justice Minister
• Hema Abdullah Agha - Labour Minister

The army of the Kingdom of Kurdistan was called the Kurdish National Army. He was defeated by the British in July, 1924, and in January 1926 the League of Nations gave the mandate over the territory to Iraq, with the provision for special rights for Kurds. In 1930-1931 Shaykh Makhmud Barzanji made his last unsuccessful attempt.

British role in the destruction of the Kingdom

The Kingdom of Kurdistan did not last long, thanks to the British Royal Air Force acting on behalf of a puppet government in Baghdad. The British were not much kinder to the Kurds. It is wrongly preserved that the first regime that used poison gases against Kurds was Saddam Hussein’s government. This is wrong. British were the first regime to gas Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan. Noam Chomsky in his book, Deterring Democracy, describes British rule in the first chemical attack against Kurds as follows: Churchill was in favour of using air power and poison gas against ’uncivilized tribes’ and ’recalcitrant Arabs’ i.e. Kurds and Afghans. Not surprisingly, in the 1990s, William Waldegrave, who was in charge of Prime Minister John Major’s open government initiative, ordered the removal from the Public Record Office of files detailing how British troops had used poison gas against Iraqi dissidents including Kurds in 1919 [4].

Northern Kurdistan (Southeastern Turkey)

The second Kingdom of Kurdistan was attempted in southeastern Turkey in 1925 and only lasted 3 months. Another Kingdom of Kurdistan was declared at Palu in southern Turkey in February of 1925. Following a clash between Turkish policemen and supporters of Palu's Shaikh Said Piran, the Shaikh was forced by continuing riots to declare rebellion. Over the next few weeks, the rebels moved quickly, seizing several nearby towns and declaring a local Kurdish noble King of an independent Kurdistan. By the end of March, the rebels had overrun an area of several hundred square miles. The Turkish government responded belatedly, but halted the rebel advances. The rebellion was swiftly crushed, and Shaikh Said was captured on April 14, 1925. Several hundred rebels, including the Shaikh, were executed in the aftermath [5].

See also

• Republic of Mahabad

References

1. Chomsky, Noam, (1992), Deterring Democracy. New York: Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 19 Union Square West, NY 10003, pages 181-2.
2. Chomsky, Noam, (1999), The New Military Humanism - Lessons from Kosova. London: Pluto Press. ISBN: 0 7453 1634 4. 345 Archway Road, N6 5AA, page 62

Footnotes

1. Eskander, S. (2000) "Britain's policy in Southern Kurdistan: The Formation and the Termination of the First Kurdish Government, 1918-1919" in British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 27, No. 2. pp. 139-163.

General

1. McDowell, D. (1996) A Modern History of the Kurds, pp. 155-163, 194-196

External links

• Footnotes to History (Kurdistan, Kingdom of)
• Mustafa Pasha Yamolki: his life and role in the Kurdish nationalist movement, By Dr. Rebwar Fatah.
• Kurds - A People Without a State
• Sheik Mahmmud Barzanji