Qazi Muhammad: The Martyred President of the Kurdish Republic (1893–1947)
- Rezan Babakir
- Mar 16
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 16
On 22 January 1946, in the northwestern Iranian city of Mahabad, a Kurdish judge and religious leader named Qazi Muhammad climbed onto a wooden platform in front of the crowd gathered in Chwar Chira Square and read aloud a proclamation that had been drafted over months of secret meetings, dangerous correspondence, and careful political calculation. The proclamation announced the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan — the first and, as history would prove, the only Kurdish republic in history.
Table of Contents
Part 1: Mahabad and the Kurdish Tradition of Northwest Iran
Mahabad — also known as Sawj Bulagh, and known to the Kurds of the region as Sablax — is a city in what is today West Azerbaijan Province of Iran, in the heart of the Kurdish-inhabited highlands of northwestern Iran. The region had been part of the Kurdish world for millennia, and its population had maintained a distinct cultural and linguistic identity through successive waves of Iranian, Ottoman, and Safavid imperial authority. By the early twentieth century, Mahabad was the cultural and commercial centre of the Iranian Kurds, with a tradition of religious scholarship, merchant activity, and a Kurdish consciousness that had survived the centralising pressures of the Qajar and early Pahlavi periods.
Part 2: The Qazi Family — Religious Authority and Political Power
Qazi Muhammad was born in 1893 into the most prestigious family in Mahabad. The Qazis — the title means judge — had served as the chief Islamic judges of the Mahabad region for generations, combining religious authority with judicial function and political influence in the way that was characteristic of Kurdish religious families across the region. Qazi Muhammad was educated in Islamic jurisprudence and followed his family into the judicial profession, serving as the qazi of Mahabad while simultaneously developing the political consciousness and organisational skills that would make him the unlikely founder of a republic.
Part 3: The Second World War and the Soviet Opening
The Second World War transformed the strategic landscape of Iran and created the conditions that made the Mahabad Republic possible. The Soviet occupation of northwestern Iran in 1941 created a zone within which Iranian government authority was largely suspended and Soviet protection was available to groups willing to align with Soviet interests. Qazi Muhammad navigated this situation with extraordinary political skill, building a relationship with Soviet representatives while pursuing a Kurdish nationalist programme that went far beyond what the Soviets initially envisaged.
Part 4: The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
In August 1945, Qazi Muhammad founded the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) — the first formal Kurdish political party in Iran. The party combined a programme of Kurdish cultural and linguistic rights with a social democratic agenda, reflecting both the Kurdish nationalist aspirations of its members and the Soviet-era political vocabulary within which the party had to operate. The founding of the KDPI was significant in itself: it represented the first attempt to organise Kurdish political life in Iran through a modern political party structure.
Part 5: The Republic of Mahabad — Building a State in a Year
On 22 January 1946, Qazi Muhammad proclaimed the Republic of Kurdistan from Chwar Chira Square. He was elected president of the new republic by the regional assembly. Within the small territory the republic controlled — primarily the Mahabad region — he established institutions that represented a genuine attempt to create a functioning state: a cabinet, a national army, Kurdish-language education and broadcasting, a Kurdish-language press, and an administrative structure that replaced Iranian provincial governance.
The republic's military was commanded by Mustafa Barzani, who had crossed the Iranian border from Iraq with several hundred peshmerga fighters. The Barzani forces represented the republic's most effective military component, but they also reflected the republic's fundamental dependence on external support. Qazi Muhammad understood this dependence. He understood that without Soviet protection, the Iranian military could retake Mahabad. He hoped that the international political situation would continue to provide the umbrella that made the republic possible.
Part 6: The Collapse — When the Soviet Umbrella Closed
The Soviet withdrawal from Iran in May 1946, under American pressure and in exchange for oil concessions, removed the protection that had made the republic possible. The Iranian government began military operations to retake the Soviet-occupied zones, including Mahabad. By November 1946, Iranian troops were approaching the city. Qazi Muhammad made his fateful decision: he would not flee. He had been offered an escape route and had declined it. He would stay and accept the consequences. Barzani, with his fighters, crossed the border back toward the Soviet Union rather than surrender to the Iranian forces.
Part 7: Arrest, Trial, and the Gallows
Qazi Muhammad was arrested by the Iranian authorities when they retook Mahabad in December 1946. He was tried by a military court in Mahabad on charges of treason and rebellion against the Iranian state. The trial was brief and the outcome predetermined. He was convicted and sentenced to death. On 31 March 1947, Qazi Muhammad, along with his brother Sadr Qazi and his cousin Seif Qazi, was hanged in Chwar Chira Square — the same square from which he had proclaimed the republic fourteen months earlier.
Part 8: Legacy — The President Who Chose Death Over Exile
Qazi Muhammad is remembered as the president of the only Kurdish republic in history, the founder of the KDPI, and the man who chose to die with his people rather than escape into exile. His decision to remain in Mahabad when he could have fled is the core of his legacy: it transformed him from a political leader who had failed to hold his republic together into a martyr whose sacrifice gave the Kurdish cause a moral weight that has never faded. The Iranian Kurdish national movement has drawn on his memory continuously since 1947.
Key Events Timeline
1893 — Born in Mahabad into the prestigious Qazi family of Islamic judges.
1941 — Soviet occupation of northwestern Iran creates the political opening for Kurdish autonomy.
August 1945 — Founds the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI).
22 January 1946 — Proclaims the Republic of Kurdistan from Chwar Chira Square; elected President.
January–November 1946 — Governs the republic; establishes Kurdish-language institutions; commands Mustafa Barzani's forces.
May 1946 — Soviet withdrawal from Iran removes the republic's protection.
December 1946 — Iranian forces retake Mahabad; Qazi Muhammad arrested; refuses escape.
31 March 1947 — Executed by hanging in Chwar Chira Square, the same square where he proclaimed the republic.
Chronology of Qazi Muhammad
1893 — Born in Mahabad.
1945 — Founds KDPI.
22 January 1946 — Proclaims Republic of Kurdistan; becomes President.
December 1946 — Republic falls; arrested.
31 March 1947 — Executed in Chwar Chira Square.
References
7. Olson, Robert. The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s. University Press of Kentucky, 1996.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Qazi Muhammad?
Qazi Muhammad (1893–1947) was a Kurdish judge from Mahabad in northwestern Iran who founded the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan in 1945 and proclaimed and served as President of the Republic of Kurdistan — the only Kurdish republic in history — from January 1946 until its fall in December 1946. He refused to flee when the republic collapsed and was executed by hanging in March 1947.
Why did the Republic of Mahabad collapse?
The republic collapsed because it depended entirely on Soviet protection. When the Soviet Union withdrew from northwestern Iran in May 1946 — under American pressure and in exchange for Iranian oil concessions — there was nothing to prevent the Iranian military from retaking Mahabad. The republic's fundamental strategic weakness was its inability to survive without external support.
Why is Qazi Muhammad's legacy so powerful in Kurdish memory?
His decision to stay in Mahabad when he could have fled transformed him from a failed republic-builder into a martyr. He was offered escape and refused it. He chose to die with his people rather than save himself. This choice gave the Kurdish cause a moral weight that political success alone could never have provided. The Iranian Kurdish national movement has invoked his memory continuously since 1947.
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