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Rafiq Hilmi

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Rafiq Hilmi (1898–1960) was a Kurdish historian, writer and politician born in Kirkuk. He was founder of the Kurdish party Hîwa in 1938 and author of many books on the history of Kurdistan and Kurdish language. After attending school in Sulaimania and Baghdad, he continued his studies at the Military Academy and Technical School of Istanbul.

Literary Life

Early in his career as a writer, he worked for two Kurdish newspapers: Rojî Kurdistan, the official newspaper of Kingdom of Kurdistan, and Bangî Kurdistan.He became recognized as a talented literary critic after publication of the second volume of his Kurdish Poetry and Literature in 1956. In this work for the first time Goran's poetry and characteristics of the modernist literary movement which he represented were studied and analyzed in depth.[1] He has also written several others books on Kurdish history and politics.

Political life

Rafiq Hilmi is well known in Kurdish politics as the founder of a party called Hîwa (Hope) in 1938. This party was first organized in Kirkuk and then its activities were expanded to north and central Iraq. It was initially a secret organization and there were Kurdish intellectuals and civil servants among its rank. While the political program of Hîwa was a mainly nationalist one and focused on securing autonomy for Iraqi Kurdistan, many members were also leftist-minded.[2]

Rafiq Hilmi, himself was more supportive of a pro-British line within the party. Hîwa had established links with activists of Komala JK[3] in Mahabad and it sent two army officers Mustafa Khushnaw and Mir Haj Ahmad to the founding ceremony of Komala JK in September 1942. Hîwa maintained its links with Mahabad movement until the collapse of Republic of Mahabad in 1947.[4] Rafiq Himli also served in many posts under various Iraqi administrations, including Director of Education in Sulaimaniya in 1943, Deputy Governor of Baghdad in 1954 and Iraqi Cultural Attaché in Ankara in 1959.

Books

  1. Kurd le Seretay Mêjûwewe ta kû 1920, (Kurds from the dawn of history to 1920), Mosul, 1934. (in Kurdish)
  2. Kurdish Poetry and Literature, Vol. I, 1941.(in Kurdish)
  3. Kurdish Poetry and Literature, Vol. II, 1956.(in Kurdish)
  4. The History of Kurdistan
  5. Kurdistan at the Dawn of the Century, 168 pp., New Hope Publishers, 1998. ISBN 91-973354-3-6 (in English)
  6. The Science of Arithmetic (in Kurdish)
  7. Yaddasht, Memoirs and the Sheikh Mahmud Revolution, 6 Volumes, Baghdad, 1956-1958. (in Kurdish)
  8. Summary of the Kurdish Case (The Sévre Treaty)

Footnotes

  1. ^ F. Shakely, The Kurdish Qasida, pp.327-338, in Qasida Poetry in Islamic Asia and Africa, By C. Shackle, S. Sperl, BRILL Publishers, 1996, ISBN 90-04-03587-7
  2. ^ G.R.V. Stansfield, Iraqi Kurdistan: Political Development and Emergent Democracy, 224 pp., Routledge Publishers, 2003. ISBN 0-415-30278-1 (see p.64)
  3. ^ The Committee for the Revival of Kurdistan, D. McDowall, A Modern History of the Kurds, I.B. Tauris, 504 pp., 2004, ISBN 1-85043-416-6 (see p.237)
  4. ^ D. McDowall, A Modern History of the Kurds, pp.290,294
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