page_title: Republic of Mahabad
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Republic of Mahabad / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Mustafa Barzani (Kurdish: مستەفا بارزانی‎ Mistefa Barzanî) (March 14, 1903 – March 1, 1979) also known as Mullah Mustafa was a Kurdish nationalist leader, and the most prominent political figure in modern Kurdish politics.
context_page_description: The Republic of Mahabad was a short-lived Kurdish self-governing unrecognized state in present-day Iran, from 22 January to 15 December 1946. The Republic of Mahabad arose alongside the Azerbaijan People's Government, a similarly short-lived state.
  The capital of the Republic of Mahabad was the city of Mahabad, in northwestern Iran. The state encompassed a small territory, including Mahabad and the adjacent cities of Piranshahr and Naghadeh. The republic's foundation and demise was a part of the Iran crisis during the opening stages of the Cold War.
context_section_description: Mustafa Barzani, with his soldiers from Iraqi Kurdistan, had formed the backbone of the Republic's forces. After the fall of the republic, most of the soldiers and four officers from the Iraqi army decided to return to Iraq. The officers were condemned to death upon returning to Iraq and are today honored along with Qazi as heroes martyred for Kurdistan. Several hundred of the soldiers chose to stay with Barzani. They defeated all efforts of the Iranian army to intercept them in a five-week march and made their way to Soviet Azerbaijan.
  In October 1958, Mustafa Barzani returned to Northern Iraq, beginning a series of struggles to fight for an autonomous Kurdish region under the KDP, carrying the same Kurdish flag that was used in Mahabad.
  Massoud Barzani, the President of Iraqi Kurdistan from 2005 to 2017, is the son of Mustafa Barzani.  He was born in Mahabad when his father was chief of the military of the Mahabad forces in Iranian Kurdistan.
caption: Qazi Muhammed establishing the Republic of Mahabad
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