Word: mehabad
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Mullah Mustafa al-Barzani has been a leader in the Kurdish struggle for independence for many years From 1932 to 1943 he and two brothers were exiled from Iraq because of revolutionary activities. After his 1943 rebellion against the Iraq government failed Barzani and comrades set up the Mehabad Republic in Iraq in 1946. When this was crushed a year later, Mullah Mustafa and 496 men fought their way back through Iraq to refuge in the Soviet Union. They remained in the U.S.S.R. until after the 1958 Revolution which overthrew King Faisal and brought Kassim to power...
...wind of a secret patriotic organization called the Committee for Kurdish Youth, and promptly sent two agents, in the guise of horse traders, to offer "help." The youth organization grew into a full-fledged Communist party and, by the end of 1945, into a Communist puppet regime. At Mehabad, in Persian Kurdistan, the "Kurdish People's Republic" was proclaimed under the watchful eyes of Red army Tommy gunners...
...puppet state was squashed within a year by the Persian army, which marched into Mehabad and hanged its president to a flagpole. But the "People's Republic" left several legacies, including General Barzani, who had headed the puppet state's army and managed to fight his way back to Russia. I asked a Kurdish officer serving in the Iraq army what would happen if Barzani's men came down across the border, calling on the Kurds to arise and unite. He answered: "Any Kurd-and I am proud to call myself one-would have a hard time...
...Mehabad, cradle of the short-lived Kurdish Republic, is a rural slum today, thanks to the Teheran government, which punishes Mehabad's people by refusing to buy their tobacco crop. In a recent election in Mehabad, the Russian-sponsored candidate got 1,600 out of 1,900 votes...
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