The Republic of Mahabad

During the early 20th century, there was a growing sentiment of Kurdish nationalism and political activism. While Kurdish leaders were unable to secure independence after World War I, a Kurdish state was created with support from the Soviet Union in the city of Mahabad after WWII. However, the so-called Kurdish Republic of Mahabad collapsed after the Soviets pulled out of Iran.

The rule of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran was particularly brutal for the Kurds, and Kurdish activists were active supporters of a regime change during the 1979 revolution. After the revolution, however, the new Islamic regime of Ayatollah Khomeini viewed the Kurds, with their different language and traditions as outsiders, as dangerous to the new republic. Armed conflict between the new republic and the Kurds broke out as Khomeini tried to establish governmental control in the Kurdish regions.

To this day, the relationship between the Kurds of western Iran and the Iranian government remains tense. As of 2015, the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) is an active political and militant organization, based on the Iraq-Iran border, that is pushing for Kurdish autonomy in the Iranian provinces of Kordestan, Kermanshah and West Azerbaijan.



Mahabad is the capital city of Mahabad County, West Azerbaijan Province in Northwestern Iran. Population estimates of Mahabad are around 200,000, the majority of whom are Kurdish. The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) recognizes Mahabad as the unofficial capital of Kurdish Region of Iran, which is different than the seat of Iran’s Kordestan Province, which is located in Sanandaj.
The Mahabad region has played a central role in Kurdish history for over 1000 years.
Many of the Iranian Kurds who currently inhabit the area are descendents of the Murki tribe, who claim to speak the most ancient and unadulterated form of Kurdish language.
In more recent history, Mahabad was home to the first Kurdish nationalist movement. Several Iraqi Kurds helped found the Republic of Mahabad in 1941, and were supported, in part, by the Soviets.
The Republic was short-lived, however, and as the Soviets pulled out of Iran in 1946, the Republic of Mahabad was absorbed by the new Iranian government, and its leaders were executed.