Kurdish Mahabad Republic 1945-1946

Mustafa al-Barzani was a Kurdish military leader who for 50 years strove to create an independent nation for the millions of Kurds living on the borders of Iran, Iraq, and the Soviet Union.

In 1946 Barzani emerged as president of the short-lived Kurdish Mahabad Republic, which had been established with Soviet aid in northwestern Iran. After the Soviet forces withdrew in 1947, the republic collapsed, and Barzani took refuge in Soviet Azerbaijan, where he remained until he was allowed to return to Iraq after that country's 1958 revolution.

The city is now mostly populated by Kurds. The area has been the scene of repeated political strife in modern times. Shortly after World War II, the short-lived Republic of Mahabad, with a Soviet-backed puppet government, was declared by the Kurds; the republic was overthrown when Iranian troops were sent there in 1946.

References

How to Stop a War; Mahabad; Mustafa al-Barzani.

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