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Kingdom of Kurdistan
*Keyaniya Kurdistanê*
شانشینی کوردستان
Kingdom of Kurdistan Keyaniya Kurdistanê شانشینی کوردستان
1921–1924/1925
	Flag
Status	Unrecognized state
Capital	Sulaymaniyah
Common languages	Kurdish
Religion	Sunni Islam
Government	Monarchy
• Malik	Mahmud Barzanji
• Prime Minister	Qadir Barzanji
Historical era	Interwar period
• Treaty of Sèvres	10 August 1920
• Proclaimed	September 1921
• Treaty of Lausanne	24 July 1923
• Disestablished	July 1924/1925
• British Mandate of Mesopotamia ends	3 October 1932
Currency	Kurdish notes
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Kurdish state (1918–1919)
Mandatory Iraq

The Kingdom of Kurdistan^[2]^[3] was a short-lived Kurdish state proclaimed in the city of Sulaymaniyah following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It lasted from September 1921 until July 1925.^[4] Officially, the territory involved was under the jurisdiction of the British Mandate of Mesopotamia.

Sheikh Mahmud revolts

Mahmud Barzanji with his soldiers in Slemani

During the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurds attempted to establish an independent state.

Mahmud Barzanji, the Shaykh of the Qadiriyyah order of Sufis, the most influential personality in Southern Kurdistan,^[5] was appointed governor of the former sanjak of Duhok, but rallied against the British and declared an independent Kurdistan in May 1919. He was defeated in June.

On 10 October 1921, a statement was issued in Suleymanyah, the capital of Kurdistan, to establish a Kurdish government. Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji declared himself as the King of the Kingdom of Kurdistan.^[6]^[7]^[8]

After the Treaty of Sèvres, which settled some territories, Sulaymaniya still remained under the direct control of the British High Commissioner. After the subsequent penetration of the Turkish "Özdemir" Detachment into the area, an attempt was made by the British to counter this by appointing Shaykh Mahmud governor again, in September 1922. The Shaykh revolted again, and in November declared himself King of the Kingdom of Kurdistan. Members of his cabinet included:^[9]

Shaikh Qadir Hafeed – Prime Minister
Abdulkarim Alaka, a Christian Kurd – Finance Minister
Ahmed Bagy Fatah Bag – Customs Minister
Hajy Mala Saeed Karkukli – Justice Minister
Hema Abdullah Agha – Labour Minister
Mustafa Pasha Yamolki – Education Minister^[10]
Shekh Mohammed Gharib – Interior Minister
Zaky Sahibqran – Defence Minister of the Kurdish National Army

Barzanji was defeated by the British in July 1924, and in January 1926 the League of Nations gave the mandate over the territory back to Iraq, with the provision for special rights for Kurds. In 1930–1931, Shaykh Makhmud Barzanji made his last unsuccessful attempt.^{[clarification needed]}

The British Royal Air Force's Iraq Command acting on behalf of the Iraqi government in Baghdad played a part in bringing the Kingdom of Kurdistan to an end.

References

Footnotes

^ "Rojî Kurdistan* 1922-1923 (Silêmanî) official newspaper of Kinddom of Kurdistan". Retrieved 23 October 2014.
^ Facts On File, Incorporated (2009). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East, Kingdom of Kurdistan. Infobase. ISBN 9781438126760. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
^ Asadi, Awat (2007). Der Kurdistan-Irak-Konflikt: der Weg zur Autonomie seit dem ersten Weltkrieg. Verlag Hans Schiler. ISBN 9783899300239. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
^ Prince, J. (1993), "A Kurdish State in Iraq" in Current History, January.
^ Eskander, S. (2000) "Britain's policy in Southern Kurdistan: The Formation and the Termination of the First Kurdish Government, 1918-1919" in British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 27, No. 2. pp. 139-163.
^ Ham, Anthony (2010-09-15). Middle East by Anthony Ham. Lonely Planet Publications. ISBN 9781742203591. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
^ Fatah, R. (2005) Mustafa Pasha Yamolki: his life and role in the Kurdish nationalist movement Archived 2014-03-30 at the Wayback Machine
^ Simon, Reeva S.; Tejirian, Eleanor Harvey (2004). The Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921, by Reeva S. Simon, Eleanor Harvey Tejirian. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231132930. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
^ Fatah, R. (2006) The Kurdish resistance to Southern Kurdistan annexing with Iraq Archived 2014-04-19 at the Wayback Machine
^ Mustafa Paşa bir müddet sonra Süleymaniye'de İngiliz destekli bir hükümet olan Şeyh Mahmud Berzenci hükümetinde Eğitim Bakanlığı görevine getirilmiştir. (Ferudun Ata, Süleymaniyeli Nemrut Mustafa Paşa: Bir İşbirlikçinin Portresi, Temel, 2008, ISBN 9789754101003, p. 103.)