The Political Development of the Kurds in Iran

The Political Development of the Kurds in Iran
Pastoral Nationalism

In the modern age, nationalism can be seen as a universal phenomenon, a component of the development of our modern history, part of a process which originated in Western Europe and the Americas, and one which was copied by other groups in later stages. The models of nationalism, when transferred to a variety of societies, foster different forms of nationalism. Perhaps the most significant realization for the communities pursuing nationalism is that to model oneself on the West means pursuing the idea of the nation-state. Human history is passing through a phase, a key characteristic of which is that individuals feel the need to belong to a nation-state in order to obtain security and to ensure that their communities receive security, legitimacy and recognition. Those who feel the need of such recognition have before them examples of those who have achieved such recognition.

Those communities who are currently driven to espouse nationalism against an existing state feel threatened by those states. Hence they demand a state of their own, not only to achieve development, but also to be dealt with on a more equal basis.

Contents

List of Tables / ix
List of Maps / x
Preface / xi
Maps / xii

Introduction / 1

1 The Kurds and Kurdistan / 24
Introduction / 24
A brief background to Kurdish national history / 28
The Kurds in Iran / 31

2 The Political Economy of Kurdish Tribalism / 44
Introduction / 44
Kurdish tribes in the early decades of the twentieth century / 45
Why tribes settle / 49
Sedentarization 50
The economic impact / 53
Sedentarization in Iranian Kurdistan / 55
Change / 58
Differentiation and new groups / 59
Continuity / 62
Conclusion / 65

3 Nationalism or Tribalism? Simko’s Revolt / 66
Introduction / 66
Tribes and the state in Iran / 67
Kurdish tribal development up to the twentieth century / 69
Tribes and the non-tribal population / 70
Emergence of Pan-Islamism and nationalism in the region / 71
Simko’s revolt / 74
What were Simko’s motives and goals? / 82
Simko’s limitations as a nationalist leader / 83
Conclusion / 88

4 The Kurdish Republic in Mahabad / 89
Introduction / 89
The situation in Iranian Kurdistan during the early 1940s / 91
The Kurdish issue and the Great Powers / 94
The Kurdish Republic: the factors which made it a national movement / 97
Political preparations / 99
The achievements of the Republic / 111
The downfall of the Republic / 116
The story of the Barzanis / 121
Conclusion / 122

5 The Political Economy of Kurdish Nationalism / 126
Introduction / 126
Transition to a national community / 129
Inequality within Kurdistan / 142
Inequality between Kurdistan and Iran / 156
Conclusion / 162

6 Kurdistan from the 1946 Republic to the 1979
Revolution and the Islamic Republic / 165
Introduction / 165
The situation in Iranian Kurdistan between 1946 and 1979 / 168
Kurdish nationalism on the eve of the 1979 revolution / 171
Pastoral nationalism vis-a`-vis Kurdish communism: the KDPI and Komala / 173
The demands for Kurdish autonomy and the Islamic Republic of Iran / 184
The Iran–Iraq war / 190
The situation of the KDPI since the Iran–Iraq war / 192
Conclusion / 193
Conclusion / 197
Epilogue: the Situation of the Kurds in Iran and Neighboring Countries, 2002 / 210
Notes / 221

Bibliography / 237
Index / 245

List of Tables

1.1 Population / 27
2.1 Herd growth in western Sudan, 1974 / 54
2.2 Village population in Kurdish towns in Iran, 1851–1951 / 56
5.1 Agents’ purchase of peasants’ produce / 130
5.2 Sale of peasants’ produce by method of sale / 130
5.3 Distribution of migration of landless and landholding peasants / 132
5.4 Distribution of landlesss and shareholding peasants / 133
5.5 Birthplaces of heads of households and their fathers / 135
5.6 Geographic mobility of heads of households / 135
5.7 Occupation mobility among peasant households / 136
5.8 Occupations of heads of landless households whose fathers were farmers / 137
5.9 Urban and rural population, 1955–93 / 138
5.10 Distribution of landless laborers, by preferred type of radio program / 141
5.11 Distribution of landholding peasants by preferred type of radio program / 141
5.12 Land owned by peasant families after the Land Reform / 144
5.13 Distribution of types of peasant families by size of land ownership / 146
5.14 Household size in relation to household income / 147
5.15 Distribution of heads of landless households and their fathers, by occupational category / 150
5.16 Distribution of heads of peasant households, by occupation / 152
5.17 Distribution of sampled rural households by annual expenditure, Kurdistan and all Iran / 154
5.18 Distribution of sampled urban households by annual expenditure, Kurdistan and all Iran / 155
5.19 Ranking of provinces by average food share, 1983–84 / 159
5.20 Ranking and distribution of illiterate urban population 6 years of age and over by province, 1981–82 / 161

List of Maps
1 Kurdistan: principal districts and locations / xii
2 Distribution of Kurds across Turkey, Iran and Iraq / xiii
3 Principal Kurdish tribes / xiv
4 Kurdish languages / xv

Preface

This book examines the links between the structural changes in the Kurdish economy and its political demands, namely Kurdish nationalism in Iran. I argue that the transition of the nomadic/tribal society of Kurdistan to an agrarian village society was the beginning of a process whereby the Kurds saw themselves as a community of homogeneous ethnic identity. I discuss the political movements of the Kurds in Iran to argue that the different phases of economic development of Kurdish society played a great role in determining the way the Kurds expressed their political demands for independence.

I divide the political history of Kurdistan in Iran, and incidentally its economic development, from the First World War to the present into three periods. The first corresponds to tribal consciousness, during which the typical economic activity is herding, exchange relationships are based on barter, and social and political relationships are based, predominantly, on tribal ‘face-to-face’ contact within the community.

Simko’s uprising is discussed to illustrate the political counterpart of this period. The second period corresponds to the reign of Reza Shah and his tribal policies. This is the period of national consciousness among the Kurdish leaders in Iran, illustrated by the establishment of the Kurdish Republic in Mahabad in 1946. The third period begins with the Shah’s land reform program. I analyze the Kurdish participation in the 1979 revolution in Iran to illustrate the further development
of the Kurdish nationalist movement since the demise of the Republic in 1947, and I examine the differences and similarities of the two main Kurdish nationalist organizations at the eve of the 1979 revolution and later.

In the economic sections, I examine a number of economic and demographic factors which contributed to the disintegration of the nomadic/tribal society of Kurdistan (change), those which contributed to the cohesion and solidarity within Kurdistan (continuity), and those indicators of inequality between Kurdistan and Iran as the final precondition of the development of a unified nationalist consciousness / identity among the Kurds.

I would like to thank I. B. Tauris and David McDowall for permission to reproduce the maps of Kurdistan, which appeared in A Modern History of the Kurds (1996).

The Political Development
of the Kurds in Iran
Pastoral Nationalism

Farideh Koohi-Kamali
Department of Social Sciences, New School University, New York

© Farideh Koohi-Kamali 2003

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Koohi-Kamali, Farideh, 1949–
The political development of the Kurds in Iran: pastoral nationalism/

Farideh Koohi-Kamali.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-333-73169-7

1. Kurds–Iran–History–20th century. 2. Kurds–Political activity.
3. Kurdistan–Politics and government. I. Title
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