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ON 23 JANUARY 1946, the small town of Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan was witness to a great event. In the town's central plaza, known as the Chwâr Chirâ ("four lanterns"), a great number of sons and daughters of the Kurdish peoples of Iran and representatives from other sectors of Kurdistan had gathered together to form the first Kurdish national government in modern times. They named this government, "Republic of Kurdistan." Ghazi Muhammad, the well-known figure among the Kurds and the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, was chosen its leader.
Establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan to cover a portion of Iranian Kurdish territory was of such great importance and caused such a wonderful impact on the minds of the sons and daughters of the Kurdish people, that after the passage of fifty years, all Kurdish patriots in ad sectors of Kurdistan still hold its memory dear, and campaign to bring about its unfinished goals and ideals.
The advent and the untimely downfall of the Republic of Kurdistan has meanwhile attracted the attention of many historians and researchers. It still remains the subject of numerous analyses and assessments.
Indubitably, the establishment of the RepubUc of Kurdistan was an attempt to realize the long-held ideals of the Kurdish people in gaining their national (ethnic) rights and freedom: to be able to determine their own destiny. The choice of time - at the conclusion of World War ?, and the choice of place - the region of Mahabad, for the establishment of Kurdish national government, was a sign of the high level of political awareness of the leaders of the Kurdish people's movement for freedom headed by President Ghazi Muhammad.
Contrary to the claims advanced by the enemies of the Kurdish people and the opponents of the rights and freedoms of the Kurds, the choice of a republican form for the national government of Iranian Kurdistan at Mahabad was not a sign of "separatism" or an attempt to break Kurdistan from Iran. It was solely a rejection of the monarchical regime which the people of Kurdistan had suffered from throughout history. To validate this, it is enough to recall that in the early days of the declaration of the Republic, the late...