General Mustafa Barzani

The Republic of Mahabad
 
In December 1945 the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad was declared by the Kurds, shortly after the declaration of the Azerbaijan People's Government, in northwestern Iran, which was under Soviet military control. Mustafa Barzani was appointed as the Minister of Defense and commander of the Kurdish army in the Republic of Mahabad. As Iranian forces began to engage the forces of the Republic of Mahabad, Barzani quickly proved his reputation as a capable commander with his forces inflicting defeats on the Iranian divisions, and was one of the few who did not surrender or defect to the advancing Iranian forces.

In May 1946 the Soviet troops were withdrawn from Iran and all support for the Republic of Mahabad was cut, in accordance with the Yalta Agreement. In December of that year Mahabad was finally overrun by Iranian troops which was followed with harsh punishments for those involved; the president of the Republic Qazi Muhammad was hanged in public in the "Çar Çira" square in Mahabad city along with his brother and a cousin, and a number     of libraries containing Kurdish texts were burned

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