The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism in Print Culture

Established at the end of World War II, the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad epitomized Kurdish nationalism and over the years has received ample scholarly attention. However, this attention mostly investigates the dynamics of the Kurdish-Soviet and Kurdish-Azarbaijani relationship at the expense of the view ‘from below.’ Therefore, this paper attempts to fill a gap by delving deeper into the dynamics of the Mahabad-centered Kurdish nationalism by examining three publications by the Kurds themselves: Komalay J.K.’s Nishtiman (1943-1945), the Democratic Republic of Kurdistan’s Kurdistan, and Ismail Ardalan’s Kuhistan (1943-1946). During the Second World War years, Sunni Kurdistan in northern Iran belonged to the Soviet Union while the British controlled the Shiite Kermanshah and Ilam provinces in the south. While all Iranian Kurds certainly articulated a sense of belonging to Iran, however, there existed an undeniable divide between Shiite and Sunni Kurds. In the age of self-determination following WWII, Kurds sought to ascertain what constituted a Kurdish identity. This paper asks in turn, what role did the Iranian state propaganda and culture play in shaping the Kurds’ attempts at self-definition as reflected in the Kurdish press of the period? This paper analyzes, through the above-mentioned publications, the contestation of Kurdish identity in order to examine the development of Kurdish-ness prior to and during the Republic’s political tenure. Founded by educated youths of humble origins, Komalay JK’s Nishtiman endorsed a democratic ideology that included all people of Kurdish descent so long as they professed loyalty to Kurdish nationalism. Kurdistan, on the other hand, serving as the organ of the Republic of Mahabad and presided over by an educated Sunni notable of Mahabad, propagated a more restricted conception of the Kurds and Kurdistan. Kuhistan claimed all of Iranian Kurdistan, a stance best explained by the publication’s close contact in Tehran with the propaganda of the Iranian government against Kurdish nationalism. Ultimately, Kurds agreed upon a certain kinship with their Iranian brethren; but with political autonomy at stake, Sunni Kurds articulated their identity rather differently than Shiite Kurds. This paper fills this gap in our knowledge of the nuanced and complex relationship of Kurds to each other and to Iran during the Mahabad Republic.