Reflections on the History of a Hundred Years of Oppression of the Kurdish People

This book is a study on the bloody and tragic history of the Kurdish nation over the past hundred years, consisting of an introduction and nine chapters.

The first chapter is about the ancient history and the emergence of the Kurds. In this chapter, the issue of Kurdish ethnology is subjected to a brief study, and a discussion about the Medes and their true relationship with the Kurds is also examined. Then, the issues of geography and history are linked together, which have led to the isolation of the Kurds.

The second chapter discusses the fall of the Ottoman Empire and its effects on the Kurdish nation. Important reference is also made to how Kurdish tribes were used, fragmented, and deceived in the name of religion. Alongside these, the massacres of Armenians and Kurds by the Ottoman Turks and the Young Turks are addressed.

The third chapter is devoted to the First World War and the division of the Middle East by Britain, France, and Russia. The efforts of Kurdish personalities to establish the state of Kurdistan within the framework of the Treaty of Sèvres and later the agreement of Atatürk with the Allied countries within the framework of the Treaty of Lausanne are discussed. The discovery of oil in the region as the beginning of the Kurds' misfortune and Britain's insistence on creating a country for the Arab tribes of southern Mesopotamia and forcibly attaching the Kurds to that country are examined.

The fourth chapter is dedicated to the creation of a country called Iraq by Britain, the settlement of the Mosul Vilayet issue in favor of Iraq, and the marginalization of the national aspirations of the Kurds.

In the fifth chapter, the emergence of the Barzan revolutions and the formation of a new national trend are presented. In this chapter, the great role of the Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani in the liberation movement of Kurdistan is revealed. Also, the formation of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad under the presidency of Peshawa Qazi Muhammad and the important role of the revolutionary army of Barzan, under the command of General Mustafa Barzani, are brought under discussion and study.

The most important topics of the sixth chapter are the revolution, meaning the July 14 coup and the return of Mustafa Barzani from exile, the emergence of the Aylul Revolution and the Ba'athist coup, the continuation of the revolution and the March 11 Agreement, the infamous Algiers Agreement, and the destruction of the dream of Kurdish autonomy.

The seventh chapter discusses the genocide of the Kurdish people, which, after the Algiers Agreement, Saddam's Ba'ath begins to devastate Kurdistan in every way: the genocide of the Faili Kurds and then the start of the Iraq-Iran war and again the massacre of the Kurds, first the genocide of the Barzanis, then the Anfal operations and the use of banned chemical weapons against the innocent people of Kurdistan.

The eighth chapter is devoted to the issue of demographics and the population of South Kurdistan. Here, focus is placed on the efforts to eradicate the Kurdish people and the cleansing that has led to a decrease in the number of the Kurdish population in South Kurdistan.

The ninth chapter consists of the fall of the Ba'ath regime in Iraq and the arrival of a Shiite group affiliated with Iran to rule the country, as well as the participation of the Kurds in the reconstruction of Iraq, and later the writing of the permanent constitution of Iraq. Also, the issue of the emergence of ISIS and the collapse of the Iraqi army in Mosul, the Kurdish decision to hold an independence referendum, the occupation of Kirkuk by the Hashd al-Shaabi with the help of Iran, and the behavior of regional and international countries regarding the Kurdish people's decision for independence are presented.