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Ramzi Nafi or Ramzi Nafi Rashid Agha (Kurdish: ڕەمزی نافیع ڕەشید ئاغا, romanized: Remzî Nafî' Reşîd Axa; 1917–1949) was a Kurdish nationalist who collaborated with German military intelligence, the Abwehr, in an unsuccessful operation aimed at undermining British governance in Iraq during World War II in 1943. In exchange for fomenting insurrection against British occupation, Ramzi Nafi was assured assistance in establishing an autonomous Kurdish nation state. There is ongoing debate regarding whether Ramzi Nafi subscribed to National Socialist ideology or whether collaboration with the Nazi regime was purely opportunistic in the pursuit of Kurdish independence. Due to his pivotal role in the failed Operation Mammoth, Ramzi remains an extremely polarizing figure who is revered by some yet reviled by others in recent Kurdish history.[1]
Life
Youth
Ramzi was born in 1917 to a prominent family from Erbil. He attended primary school and secondary school in Erbil. At the time, there were no high schools in Erbil, so as a result he went to a high school in Kirkuk for a year. In Kirkuk, Ramzi joined the far-right Hîwa party led by Rafiq Hilmi.[2] Ramzi then attended a science-oriented high school in Baghdad in the years of 1937 and 1938. He passed the bachelor's degree exam in Baghdad, and in 1939 decided to leave for Beirut. He attends the American University of Beirut for two years and achieved the rank of freshman.[3] He was known for his opposition to the British Empire putting Kurdish lands within Iraqi borders. In Beirut, he met with Kamuran Alî Bedirxan, Nûredin Zaza, and some active figures in the Kurdish nationalist Xoybûn party at that time, which he joined and strived for an independent Kurdish state.[1][4] He remained in Beirut from October 1941 to March 1942. Later, he went to Istanbul to complete his education and was accepted in the private Robert College. It was in Istanbul in mid-1942 where he was contacted by the Abwehr and Major Gottfried Müller's men for Operation Mammoth.[3]
Operation Mammoth (Mammut)
Operation Mammoth was a German special forces mission in 1943 during World War II, led by Major Müller and accompanied by Ramzi, to incite a rebellion of Iraqi Kurds in an attempt to expel the British from the region, gain control of the oil fields, and somehow deliver them to the Wehrmacht because Operation Barbarossa was not progressing as it was expected in reaching the Caucasus. In return for ejecting the British, the Kurds would be assisted by the Nazis in creating an independent Kurdistan. Major Müller, the mastermind of the operation, needed "a native Kurd who would be prepared to jump with us, lead us to a good hiding place and then make contact for us with Sheikh Mahmud and other Kurdish chieftains."[5] Shortly after his arrival in Istanbul in 1942, Ramzi was contacted by several members of the Sicherheitsdienst unit and Müller's men to discuss the possibility of creating a roadmap-like plan for Kurdish unification in exchange for Kurdish uprisings against the British occupying the Kirkuk oil fields.[4][6][7]
Failure
Ramzi Nafi after his arrest
The mission failed on the first day. The weapon and equipment cases were lost in the parachute drop and the group landed 300 km from the intended target. Ramzi and the Germans operatives were taken prisoners by British and Iraqi forces, tortured, and given the death sentence. Major Müller managed to escape and return to Germany, where he lived until his death on 26 September 2009. Ramzi had his sentence reduced to life imprisonment; however, he became mentally insane in prison and was released from prison in 1947. Ramzi died two years later in 1949 in his hometown Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.[5]
The Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline,[8][9] which routed Iraqi oil to refineries near the Mediterranean city of Haifa from 1935,[10] and which Time described on 21 April 1941 as the "jugular of the British Empire",[8] as well as the Kirkuk-Tripoli pipeline branching off at Haditha,[9] formed the backbone of the Western allies' warfare in the Mediterranean, and their loss would have had a decisive impact on the further course of the war.
Ramzi Nafi street in Erbil
Biographies
Ramzi Nafi', der große Märtyrer, den die Stadt Hawler opferte. Mas'ud Mohamad 1985.
Operation Mammoth
Werner Brockdorff: Geheimkommandos des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Wels 1967, ISBN3-88102-059-4.
^ abRosbeiani, Pherset Zuber Mohammed (3 July 2012). Das Unternehmen "Mammut" (doctoralThesis). Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Philosophische Fakultät III. doi:10.18452/16540.
^Müller 3rd ed., Salem-Buchdienst GmbH, Stadtsteinach, 2007, Gottfried Johannes (21 March 2011). Einbruch ins Verschlossene Kurdistan. Dr. Roland Henss Verlag.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
