Rafiq Hilmi

Rafiq Hilmi (1898-1960) was a Kurdish historian, writer and politician born in Kirkuk. He was founder of the Kurdish party "Hîwa" in 1938 and author of many books on the history of Kurdistan and Kurdish language. After attending school in Sulaimania and Baghdad, he continued his studies at the Military Academy and Technical School of Istanbul.

Literary Life

Early in his career as a writer, he worked for two Kurdish newspapers: "Rojî Kurdistan", the official newspaper of Kingdom of Kurdistan, and "Bangî Kurdistan" [J. Blau, [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/unicode/v12f2/v12f2028.html Rafiq Helmi] , Encyclopaedia Iranica.] . He became recognized as a talented literary critic after publication of the second volume of his "Kurdish Poetry and Literature" in 1956. In this work for the first time Goran's poetry and characteristics of the modernist literary movement which he represented were studied and analyzed in depth [F. Shakely, "The Kurdish Qasida", pp.327-338, in "Qasida Poetry in Islamic Asia and Africa", By C. Shackle, S. Sperl, BRILL Publishers, 1996, ISBN 9004035877] . He has also written several others books on Kurdish history and politics.

Political Life

Rafiq Hilmi is well known in Kurdish politics as the founder of a party called "Hîwa" (Hope) in 1938. This party was first organized in Kirkuk and then its acivities were expanded to north and central Iraq. It was initially a secret organization and there were Kurdish intellectuals and civil servants among its rank. While the political program of Hîwa was a mainly nationalist one and focused on securing autonomy for Iraqi Kurdistan, many members were also leftist-minded [G.R.V. Stansfield, "Iraqi Kurdistan: Political Development and Emergent Democracy", 224 pp., Routledge Publishers, 2003. ISBN 0415302781 (see p.64)] .

Rafiq Hilmi, himself was more supportive of a pro-British line within the party. "Hîwa" had established links with activists of "Komala JK" ["The Committee for the Revival of Kurdistan", D. McDowall, "A Modern History of the Kurds", I.B. Tauris, 504 pp., 2004, ISBN 1850434166 (see p.237)] in Mahabad and it sent two army officers "Mustafa Khushnaw" and "Mir Haj Ahmad" to the founding ceremony of Komala JK in September 1942. Hîwa maintained its links with Mahabad movement until the collapse of Republic of Mahabad in 1947 [D. McDowall, "A Modern History of the Kurds", pp.290,294] .Rafiq Himli also served in many posts under various Iraqi administrations, including Director of Education in Sulaimaniya in 1943, Deputy Governor of Baghdad in 1954 and Iraqi Cutural Attaché in Ankara in 1959.

Books

#Kurd le Seretay Mêjûwewe ta kû 1920, (Kurds from the dawn of history to 1920), Mosul, 1934. (in Kurdish)
#Kurdish Poetry and Literature, Vol. I, 1941.(in Kurdish)
#Kurdish Poetry and Literature, Vol. II, 1956.(in Kurdish)
#The History of Kurdistan
#Kurdistan at the Dawn of the Century, 168 pp., New Hope Publishers, 1998. ISBN 9197335436 (in English)
#The Science of Arithmetic (in Kurdish)
#Yaddasht, Memoirs and the Sheikh Mahmud Revolution, 6 Volumes, Baghdad, 1956-1958. (in Kurdish)
#Summary of the Kurdish Case (The Sévre Treaty)

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.rafiqhilmi.com/ Rafis Hilmi's Official website]