Pages from the History of Political Associations in Sulaymaniyah in the Inter-war Period

Abstract

The study of the history of the political associations in Sulaymaniyah during the period between the First and Second World Wars was of great importance due to its role in establishing and crystallizing national thought among the Kurdish people. This research aims at shedding light on the political associations that emerged in Sulaymaniyah during this period, studying the circumstances in which they were established, their founders and objectives, as well as their impact on the Kurdish society. The study reached a number of important conclusions, the first of which is the impact of the great British occupation on the political, intellectual and cultural reality in Sulaymaniyah. The result was the emergence of the first Kurdish nationalist awareness movement, which was expressed through the establishment of a number of political associations Sulaymaniyah, whose activity initially focused on denouncing the British occupation and its policy, and then developing its activities and objectives to demand the Kurdish national rights, the right to self-determination, as well as the interest in Kurdish culture and language. The direct result of this activity was the success of these political associations in Sulaymaniyah, which succeeded in creating the appropriate environment for the emergence of the revolutionary movement in Sulaymaniyah and the Kurdistan of Iraq in general after the Second World War.