Republic of Kurdistan: political and historical dissertation by Mahmod Mala Ezzat*

On the Anniversary of the Proclaimed Republic 22/01/1946, Part One:

Mahmod Mala Ezzat

Translated by The Kurdistan Tribune 

Introduction

The establishment of the Kurdistan Republic is the most significant historical event in the history of Kurdistan and is so important because of the experience of the Kurdish nation having its own rule. The importance of such a kind of study lies in giving an ample lesson to the Kurdish movement today and for their struggle in the future. This historical event is the second chance the Kurdish people have had in the 20^th century; this complicated and vague chance brought the Republic to life. In this way the Kurds could achieve their nationalistic ambition as well as it providing a promising outlook for the future.

For that reason in my early age of writing I gave a lot of attention to this subject of the Kurdistan Republic, even though the age of the Republic could not reach one year and the overall experience lasted five years. For more than 30 years I have been writing articles and essays, preparing discussion panels and holding seminars on this subject. I have had these printed and published both inside and outside Kurdistan; the Kurdish experience has been significantly enriched by the cause of the Republic of Kurdistan.

My writing focuses especially on the following three historical chances in the 20th century which arose for the Kurds. Firstly the rule of Sheikh Mahmud (1918-1924) in the south of Kurdistan; secondly, the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan in 1946 in the Mokrian area; and thirdly the experience of the south of Kurdistan which continues up to now and the establishment of the KRG since 1992. The backgrounds to these three events have some similarities in the way they have enabled Kurdistan to rise to power and in the experience of the Kurdish people with crises: crises which were at times so deep and led to the collapse of the republic or Kurdish rule. There are a lot of similarities in these cases, in terms of reasons and factors for these experiences, as well as the background of geopolitics, their completion and the wave of these events.

The History of the Republic

Writing the history of Kurdistan in general and the Kurdish Republic in particular will be not easy. It means you have to analyse the different aspects of the flourishing of national resources and unveil the true picture of the movement and to do this we need to analyse the role of Kurdish leaders and their armed struggle and their mistakes in the past. Furthermore, we need to enlighten on the successes and failures of all of these movements and the repetition of these mistakes in the past and their tragedies. We need an evaluation of these conditions as well as time considering the wrong plan for success endured in those days by the Kurds. All of these considerations are not an easy task, especially when you take the factor of methodology into account.

In writing the history it would be unreasonable to leave any doubt as to the emotional impact ruling us. The true historian is one who can follow a chain of events and use each strategy to consider all aspects which have had a critical impact on the event. In that way the reader will trust and understand clearly the priority of the historian, which is to show the truth and not to distort the facts. The main role of the historian when they are coming to certain stages of enlightening the events of Kurdistan is to identify the weaknesses and mistakes as they are according to the time and the year of that event; they must be realistic in depicting the overall events…

Despite vital evidence we have on the Republic of Kurdistan and so many studies in that field, including MScs, PhDs, etc. this is still subjective and needs more evidence to show the reality of the situations which have engulfed the Republic. Up-to-date there are still outstanding issues on this subject and there are still gaps which cannot be filled so easily.

Kurdistan: the Theatre of War and Invasion

To analyse any situation requires an understanding of all the local factors which have played a major role in that situation. We should be critical and compare these with other situations as well as identifying the mistakes and manifesting any sources of work which have become critical to the main work or journey. The evaluation and assessing of these events according to the time, day, location and historical century which the situation has taken place are also essential factors. We have to understand the rule and development in different aspects of our society and the development and progress in respect of politics, the economy, intellect and religion; only then will we be able to come to a fair depiction of the historical background.

Furthermore, in order to understand the situation in the Mokrian area in Iran and Kurdistan and the primary conditions during these days, we need to take into account all of the progress and development relevant to the Mokrian and Kurdistan areas and the extent of the trends of these changes both politically and economically and their impact on the ordinary citizens in different areas of Kurdistan. We have to investigate the cause of the Kurdish people in Iran as a nation all over Iran and to identify how local events left an impact on each district in Iran. We have to assess how competition and international interest became the main motives for invading Iran by the Soviet and British Empires at that time and subsequently the American forces. We have to conclude how all of these forces worked against each other and their role on suppressed nations, like the Kurds.

The Republic of Kurdistan was established in a small part of Iranian Kurdistan, in the Mokrian Area in which their centre was Muhabad, which is 30% of the size of Iranian Kurdistan. Mokrian, in comparison to other areas of Kurdistan like the eastern part, became a centre of culture, poetry and nationalist zeal. Also, the Mokrian area was the core centre for the Kurdish society as it integrated the other parts of Kurdistan. Mokrian was a random sample of Kurdish society which had been dominated by poverty, illiteracy and backwardness due to the colonialist state of the Kurdish people in those days. The colonialists divided Kurdistan according to religion and culture.

This extract has been translated from ‘On the Republic of Kurdistan’,  first published in Kurdish in 1988.

*About the author:

The author in 1962, when he was a teacher

The historian Mahmod Mala Ezzat was born in 1939 in Sulaymany. He came from a middle class family and his father was a clergyman in Iraq. He completed his primary and secondary school education in Sulaymany and to finish his studies he went to the University of Baghdad, studying at the College of History and Literature. After graduating, he became a teacher in 1962.

Due to his involvement in the Kurdish movement he was deported on numerous occasions to other parts of Iraq such as Najaf, Karbala, Amara Rumadi and Baghdad. Since the 1950s he has been a main contributor to the Kurdish nationalist movement as well as being a member of the teachers union and other civil organizations. He was also a member of the KDP in the 1960s in the political wing. In addition, he was a member of the Toiler League in 1975 and then joined the PUK inside their ranks in Sulaymany and worked with the PUK in the 1980s.

He was jailed by the Iraqi special security service in October 1980 and, while spending almost one year in jail in the worst conditions, this time was spent writing his famous book, ‘Perennial  Journey’. This book has become one of the most powerful pieces of literature concerning the Kurdish struggle against the Iraqi dictator. He was granted refugee status in Sweden in 1983 with his wife and five kids (Jilwan, Vian, Jwan, Arian and Mariwan) and survived by the support of his wife Galawej.

He later returned to Kurdistan and, when he became seriously ill, the Swedish Writers’ Union arranged for a private jet to collect him from Erbil and take him to Sweden for treatment. He  died a few weeks later, on 4th May 2005, and the same aeroplane returned his body to Kurdistan.

He taught at both secondary and advanced levels of high school and had a lot of responsibilities in these schools and institutes, reaching the post of Assistant to the Head of Education for the primary schools in Sulaymani.

He was writing in Arabic and Kurdish and made continuous contributions to local newspapers from the 1960s right up to 2005, including Noor, Brayati, Rzgari, Gzing, Raboon, Mamostai Kurd, Nue Dam, Kurdistan Nue and Dangi Mamosta, amongst others.

The last job he had was Editor-in-Chief of the PUK’s daily newspaper Kurdistan Nue in the year 2000.

He published more than 11 books on the issues of Kurds and Kurdistan in the south and west of Kurdistan, amounting to almost 2 million words in the Kurdish language.

The author also translated and printed more than 10 books, estimated to almost 1 million works in the Kurdish language, as well as translations from Arabic.

There is another important point in respect of his role as an author in that he had other books which he printed under different names due to the critical political situation in these days, for example ‘The Struggle of Workers’, was printed in Sulaymani in 1973 under the name of the Workers Syndicate of Kurdistan.

Mahmod Mala Ezzat’s many interviews were conducted in different languages, including Swedish.

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