PREFACE
THE time has perhaps come when a history of the Kurdish Republic of 1946 can usefully be compiled. Not that any particular moment is ideal, for it might still be too early to assess dispassionately all aspects of that controversial era, or already too late to capture accurately the essence of events now beginning to fade in human memories. Because the complete story of the Mahabad Republic cannot be pieced together from published sources, the pages that follow must be based on imperfect memories; for when the Republic collapsed the Kurds who took part in it set about destroying all written evidence of their involvement. Nor have official Iranian sources been inclined to perpetuate the bitter memories of events that deviated from the main stream of Iranian national consolidation and progress.
One of the most elusive tasks is to uncover the exact dates of events or even their order in time. In addition to any errors due to these causes, I have perhaps been too kind to some of the characters of this story and too severe with others ; while the contributions of some, for good or bad, have no doubt been overlooked altogether.
The standard English-language source of information on the Mahabad Republic has been an article that appeared in the Middle East J0urnal in July 1947, written by Archie Roosevelt, Jr, one of the few foreigners to visit Mahabad during the Republic. The fact that several dates were misplaced in that account does not detract from its remarkable insight into conditions at Mahabad at the time.
I must acknowledge my gratitude to -yrus Habibi of Mahabad, now with the American Consulate in Tabriz, who accompanied me and contributed his linguistic skill and balanced judgement on many field trips and interviews in quest of the story of his native town. Nor can I forget the holidays devoted by Mrs Oscar Reynolds of the U.S. Foreign Service to the transcription and typing of the first draft of this history. Of those who read the manuscript and made useful suggestions, Sir Reader Bullard deserves special mention, as does Miss Hermia Oliver, on the editorial staff of Chatham House. Mr Archie Roosevelt was kind enough to read me excerpts from notes of his visit to Mahabad and to let me use two photographs from his collection. I should also like to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr C. J. Edmonds and his book on Iraqi Kurdistan, Kurds, Turks and Arabs; and to Pierre Rondot for encouragement and indirect inspiration of my study.
I must also remain in debt to all those Persians, Arabs, Turks, and Kurds whose confidence in my fair use of the materials they provided encouraged me to believe I could write this small seg-ment of their history. Of the Iranian army officers who were helpful I must mention Major-General (ret) Homayuni, Brigadier General Ali Asghar Fiuzi, and Colonel Mehran. The names of my principal Kurdish sources appear throughout this book and in the appendices. Most of them prefer to remain anonymous, so I shall not cite them individually, except for Sayyid Ahmad, son of Sayyid Taha of Shemdinan, who first told me of his adventures in the service of the Republic one day in 1955 as we motored by jeep into Barzani territory to Mergasor. Sayyid Ahmad's accidental death at Arbil in 1958 removed a bright spirit from the scene and a loyal friend from Kurdistan when I returned there in 1959. Of my other Kurdish friends and sources, those who contributed the most will know who they are.
Books that include names and phrases in Middle Eastern languages customarily set forth a system of transliteration or at least try to justify the lack thereof, as I do, since my system is sometimes inconsistent though based on certain relevant con-siderations. For example, most personal names are derived from Arabic and when written in the Arabic script that is used by the Persian, Arabic, and Kurdish languages, retain their original Arabic spelling. Kurdish pronunciation, though varying greatly within Kurdistan, usually remains nearer to the original Arabic than does Persian. I have therefore tended towards transliteration from the Arabic, making exceptions, as in Obaidullah rather than Ubaidullah, where the Arabic did not hit close enough to actual pronunciation in the region under study. Confining myself within the limits of the latin alphabet and omitting the ain and hamza, I provide no sure means of scientifically restoring foreign names and words to their original forms. Middle Eastern scholars and linguists should have no trouble, however, in recognizing where the ains and other symbols are lacking, and the innocent would do well to remain so.
Because of my past and present association with the United States Foreign Service, I must stress that the material used here is of non-official origin and that I alone am responsible for all views and interpretations.
W.E., April 1962 |