Kurdistan and The Kurds A Divided Homeland and a Nation without ...

General Sharif Pasha and his effort to obtain
independence for Kurdistan by diplomatic methods
in the aftermath of the World War 1
General Sharif Pasha was from Sulaimaniah and a
General in the Ottoman army. He also held several
diplomatic positions for the Ottomans in many European
countries. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, he found
that the Kurdish people could demand their right for
independence, after the abolishment of the Islamic
(Ottoman) cover. He took on the responsibility of
representing the Kurdish people in the peace conference
that was organised in Paris to discuss the affairs of world
nations after the World War 1. He submitted two
memorandums and two maps of Kurdistan to the
conference, including demands and rights of the Kurdish
people. The first one dated 22 March 1919, and the
second one on 1st March 1920. In January 1919 General
Sharif Pasha signed an agreement with the representative
of the Armenian people Bougus Nobar Pasha so that
both Kurds and Armenians submitted a joint memorandum
to the Peace Conference to determine the rights of both
nations. This diplomatic activity led to the signing of
Sevres Treaty on 10 August 1920. The Treaty stated the
right of forming a Kurdish state and an Armenian one.
However, when Mustafa Kemal came to power in Turkey
and threatened the west that he will turn Turkey to a
communist country moving in the orbit of the Soviet
Union, by actually signing several agreements with the
Soviets, the west started carrying out all his demands to
prevent that. The first of those was to cancel the Sevres
Treaty on the condition of keeping distance from the
Soviets. Thus, the west offered Mustafa Kemal the
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