Mahabad

Mahabad with main street

Mahabad (in Persian: مهاباد , in Kurdish: Mehabad, local name: سابلاخ, Sablax) is a city in northwestern Iran. With an estimated population of 168,328 inhabitants in 2006 [1], the city lies south of Lake Urmia in a narrow valley 1,300 metres above sea level. It lies in West Azarbaijan Province.The name of 'Mahabad' (mah+abad) of the region is the Persian translation of the name of the ancient Mannaean of the region meaning place of moon which is also a cognate with the Kurdish word mang. Mannaeans were a branch of Hurrians (Khurrites) who are the main ancestor of the Kurds.

Mahabad is the centre of a rich agricultural region, but the city itself is little developed by Iranian standards. Mahabad is connected by road with Tabriz 300 km north, Urmia 150 km north and Irbil in Iraq. The population of Mahabad is predominantly Kurdish. The city has also an university. It's the Islamic Azad University of Mahabad.

History

The region of Mahabad was the centre of the Mannaeans, who flourished in the early 1st millennium BC.[2] The city of Mahabad has always been the centre of Kurdish nationalist movements in Iran. During the Safavid dynasty, the region of Mukriyan which includes Mahabad and Piranshahr was one of the centers of resistance against Shah Abbas I. In 1609-1610, during the battle of "DimDim", Mukriyan region supported "Emîr Xan Lepzêrîn" (Golden Hand Khan), the Kurdish ruler of Beradost. For further detail see "Iranian Kurdistan" section in Kurdistan article. (Also see [3], [4]) .

In the year 1628, near the end of Shah Abbas I's reign, it became the capital city of the local government and many noteworthy buildings were constructed there. [5] Mahabad was briefly the capital of the Kurdish Republic of Mehabad, which declared its independence on January 1, 1946 under the leadership of Qazi Muhammad. The republic fell when the USSR relinquished support in 1947.

Mahabad (or its old name: Sablakh) was a small village in Deryaz, a region between Piranshahr and Mahabad until the leader of Kurdish Mukri Tribe Budaq Sultan made it capital of its regional government with permission of safavid kings. They ruled this city until the middle of 19th century Qajar kings ended their emirate. Mahabad in world war I was center of war between Ottomans and Russia. It was sacked by Russia,and then by Semko. In 1935 a great Flood swept the city and modern city was built on the ruins of old city.

During the revolution in 1979, Mahabad was bombt by Iranian forces on 3rd September 1979. Before other cities in the region where also attackt. Later the Iranian army conquert the city. This had happend because the kurds want more autonomy. But Chomeini doesn't gave them any. So a Dschihad was done against the sunnit kurds. During this campagne Mahabad was part of the attackt cities

Culture

Many poets and writers have hailed from this city in the 19th and 20th century. Wafaei(1844-1902), Hejar (Abdurrahman Sharfkandi)(1920-1990), Hêmin(Sayyed Moháammad Amini Shaykho-al-Eslam Mokri)(1920-1986), Abdorrahamn Zabihi (1920-1980) and Giw Mukriyani, all from Mahabad, are considered as the main writers and poets. The first Kurdish-Kurdish-Persian Dictionary in Iran was written by Hejar. Kurdistan's national poet was the title given to Hejar(along with Hêmin) during the short lived reign of the Republic of Mahabad in recognition of his poetry's service to the cause[6]. After the fall of the Pahlavi monarchy in Iran in 1979, "Hêmin" set up the Salaha-al-Din Ayyubi Kurdish publishing house in Urmia, which publishes Sirwe (from spring 1985), a quarterly cultural magazine that Hêmin ran until his death in 1986 [7]. The dialect of Mahabad, is adopted as the literary standard of Kurdish language in western Iran.(which is very close to the standard "sorani" used in Iraqi Kurdistan)

Human-rights situation

The most recent unrest in the town of Mahabad began in early July 2005, following the shooting of Shivan Qaderi, a Kurdish opposition activist, also known as Sayed Kamal Astam, or Astom, and two other Kurdish men, by Iranian forces in the town of Mahabad on 9 July, in circumstances where they may not have posed an immediate threat. The security forces then reportedly tied Shivan Qaderi’s body to a Toyata jeep and dragged him in the streets. The local Iranian authorities are reported to have confirmed that a person of this name, “who was on the run and wanted by the judiciary”, was indeed shot and killed by security forces at this time, allegedly while trying to evade arrest. During the days following Shivan Qaderi’s death, several thousand Mahabad residents, mainly youths, took to the streets to protest the killings. The demonstrations spread to other mainly Kurdish neighbouring towns of Sanandaj (Sinne), Sardasht, Piranshahr, Oshnavieh, Baneh, Bokan and Saqiz. (see [8] and [9]) According to the Human Rights Watch, 17 Kurdish people were killed by the Iranian security forces in July and August 2005, during the demonstartions in different cities in Iranian Kurdistan.[10]

References

• Hêmin(Hemin) Mokriani in Encycopaedia Iranica
• Short Biography and works of Zabihi
• Zabihi, Abdal Rahman, Qamusi zimanî Kurdî (Dictionary of Kurdish Language),Korî Zaniyarî Kurd Press, Baghdad Vol. I 1977.244 p. Vol. II 1979. 230 + 7 p (through letter b).
• Mukriyani, Giw, Ferhengî mehabad (Mahabad Dictionary),Kurdish-Arabic dictionary, Kurdistan Press, Hawlir (Arbil), 1961,795 p.
• Sharafkandi, Abdurrahman (Hejar or Hajar), Henbane Borîne, Ferhengî Kurdî-Kurdî-Farsî (Kurdish-Kurdish-Persian Dictionary) Tehran : Sorush Press, 1991, 1032 p.,[11]