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Mahabad (in Persian: مهاباد , in Kurdish: Mehabad or Mihabad, alternative name: سابلاخ, Sablax) is a city in northwestern Iran with an estimated population of 168,328 inhabitants in 2006.[1] The city lies south of Lake Urmia in a narrow valley 1,300 metres above sea level, in West Azarbaijan Province.The name of 'Mahabad' (mah+abad) is the Persian translation of the ancient Mannaean name meaning place of moon, which is also a cognate with the Kurdish word mang. Mannaeans were a branch of Hurrians (Khurrites), a northern Mesopotamian people who many scholars believe were the ancestors of the Kurds. It was referred to in the Turkic languages as 'Savoj-bolaq', or 'Sablakh', which means "Cold-spring water".

Mahabad is the centre of a rich agricultural region, but the city itself is little developed by Iranian standards. Mahabad is connected by road with Tabriz 300 km north, Urmia 150 km north and Irbil in Iraq. The population of Mahabad is predominantly Kurdish. The city has also a university, the Islamic Azad University of Mahabad.[2]

The region of Mahabad was the centre of the Mannaeans, who flourished in the early 1st millennium BC.[3] The city of Mahabad has often been the centre of Kurdish nationalist movements in Iran.[4] During the Safavid dynasty, the region of Mukriyan saw skirmishes between Kurdish tribes and the Persian government. In 1609-1610, during the battle of "DimDim", the Mukriyan tribes of the region supported "Emîr Xan Lepzêrîn" (Golden Hand Khan), the Kurdish ruler of Beradost. For further detail see "Iranian Kurdistan" section in Kurdistan article. (Also see [5], [6]) .

The Chuwarchira Square at night in 2006, where the proclamation of the Republic of Mahabad in 1946 was.

In the year 1628, near the end of Shah Abbas I's reign, it became the capital city of the local government and many noteworthy buildings were constructed there. [7] Mahabad was briefly the capital of the Kurdish Republic of Mehabad, which declared its independence on January 1, 1946 under the leadership of Qazi Muhammad. The republic fell when the Iranian army invaded the region in 1947.

Mahabad was a small village in Deryaz, until the leader of Kurdish Mukri Tribe Budaq Sultan made it capital of its regional government with permission of Safavid kings. They ruled this city until Qajar kings ended their emirate in the middle of 19th century. Mahabad in World War I was a center of combat between the Ottoman Empire and Russia. It was sacked by Russia, and then by Semko. In 1935 a great flood ruined much of the city. Much of the modern city was built is the result of the reconstruction.

During the 1979 Islamic Revolution Mahabad was bombed by government forces on the 3rd of September. Other cities in the region were also attacked, and the Iranian Army ultimately recaptured the city from the Kurdish forces. The city was time and time again the center of Kurdish political movements. The latest movement for peace in 2005 was led by Kurdish youth organizations. The peaceful demonstrations were met with violence when Iranian forces arrested and killed several in Mahabad and all throughout the Eastern Kurdistan region.

The prolific translator into Persian, Mohammad Qazi came from Mahabad. He translated more than 70 important literary works into Persian. Some poets and writers have hailed from this city in the 19th and 20th century. Wafaei(1844-1902), Hejar (Abdurrahman Sharfkandi)(1920-1990), Hêmin(Sayyed Moháammad Amini Shaykho-al-Eslam Mokri)(1920-1986), Abdorrahamn Zabihi (1920-1980) and Giw Mukriyani, all from Mahabad, are considered as the main writers and poets. The first Kurdish-Kurdish-Persian Dictionary in Iran was written by Hejar. Kurdistan's national poet was the title given to Hejar(along with Hêmin) during the short lived reign of the Republic of Mahabad in recognition of his poetry's service to the cause[8]. After the fall of the Pahlavi monarchy in Iran in 1979, "Hêmin" set up the Salaha-al-Din Ayyubi Kurdish publishing house in Urmia, which publishes Sirwe (from spring 1985), a quarterly cultural magazine that Hêmin ran until his death in 1986 [9]. The dialect of Mahabad, is adopted as the literary standard of Kurdish language in western Iran.(which is very close to the standard "sorani" used in Iraqi Kurdistan)

The most recent unrest in the town of Mahabad began in early July 2005, following the shooting of Shivan Qaderi. Kurdish sources mention him as "a Kurdish opposition activist". Shivan Qaderi also known as Sayed Kamal Astam, or Astom, and two other Kurdish men, are told to be arrested by governmental forces in the town of Mahabad on 9 July. Iranian side claimed he was a smuggler and criminal.

Kurdish and opposition version of events: "The security forces then reportedly tied Shivan Qaderi’s body to a Toyata jeep and dragged him in the streets. The local Iranian authorities are reported to have confirmed that a person of this name, “who was on the run and wanted by the judiciary”, was indeed shot and killed by security forces at this time, allegedly while trying to evade arrest. During the days following Shivan Qaderi’s death, several thousand Mahabad residents, mainly youths, took to the streets to protest the killings. The demonstrations spread to other mainly Kurdish neighbouring towns of Sanandaj (Sinne), Sardasht, Piranshahr, Oshnavieh, Baneh, Bokan and Saqiz. (see [10] and [11]) According to the Human Rights Watch, 17 Kurdish people were killed by the Iranian security forces in July and August 2005, during the demonstartions in different cities in Iranian Kurdistan.[12]".

This interpretation of events is not accepted by the official Iranian sources.

• Hêmin(Hemin) Mokriani in Encyclopaedia Iranica
• Short Biography and works of Zabihi
• Zabihi, Abdal Rahman, Qamusi zimanî Kurdî (Dictionary of Kurdish Language),Korî Zaniyarî Kurd Press, Baghdad Vol. I 1977.244 p. Vol. II 1979. 230 + 7 p (through letter b).
• Mukriyani, Giw, Ferhengî mehabad (Mahabad Dictionary),Kurdish-Arabic dictionary, Kurdistan Press, Hawlir (Arbil), 1961,795 p.
• Sharafkandi, Abdurrahman (Hejar or Hajar), Henbane Borîne, Ferhengî Kurdî-Kurdî-Farsî (Kurdish-Kurdish-Persian Dictionary) Tehran : Sorush Press, 1991, 1032 p.,[13]
• Article of the Monde Diplo on Mahabad (in French)

Coordinates: 36°46′N, 45°43′E