By Arian Mufid:

Introduction

For the last two decades Kurdish nationalism has remained more alive than at any other time in the history of the Kurdish struggle. Strategies to establish our own country have never been far away. The slogan of an independent Kurdish state has never been relinquished.

More than a century ago, Sheik Ubadulla Shamzini’s uprising spread throughout Kurdistan – comprising, Iranian Kurdistan and Ottoman Kurdistan – encompassing the region in 1880. Most Kurdish historians have analysed this as one of the most powerful uprisings. Sheik Ubadulla Shamzini demanded the formation of a Kurdish state. The slogan of independence for the Arabs came later – around 1916, from the Sharif of Mecca – and with the help of the British. Even though the Arab nation held a conference in Paris they only managed to raise the slogan of decentralisation rather than independence. The first Kurdish newspaper – ‘Kurdistan’, published in Cairo in 1898 – had as its main slogan, ‘an independent Kurdistan, and nothing less’. The content of all its articles adopted this principle.

Hadji Kadir Coie , the famous Kurdish poet, always advocated Kurdish rule, and independence for Kurdistan (he died in Istanbul in1897). Most of the time his poetry spoke about a Kurdish state. In 1922 Sheik Mehmood created a Southern State of Kurdistan, and for the first time we had our own stamps and a Kurdish cabinet. When Sheik Mehmood declared an independent Kurdistan he was sitting next to Captain Noel, the British representative. In 1919, at the peace conference , Sharif Pasha gave a detailed report about Kurdish independence to the Alliance Powers.The Pact of

Sever had chapters and sections (62.63,64) devoted to Kurdish independence, which has never been implemented.
Qazi Mohamed formally proclaimed his Kurdish people’s government on January 22, 1946 in Chwar Chira square, where the town’s only two paved streets crossed. In attendance, as he raised the Kurdish flag, were Iranian tribal chiefs, KDP officials, three Soviet officers in a jeep with machine guns, and Barzani, soon to be seen decked out in a Soviet general’s uniform, with high boots and stiff shoulder straps.

We need to understand the concept of state, law, the regulations behind the state and national powers, and to analyse international law underpinning the nation state. Finally, to enrich our essay we will consider vivid examples of newly-built nation states throughout history.