1920-1940’s

 From 1920 to 1940, the Kurdish people navigated a period marked by both political suppression and cultural endurance. The unratified Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 had promised the possibility of a Kurdish state, but the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne (1923) erased those hopes, dividing Kurdish regions among Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. In Southern Kurdistan (now northern Iraq), one notable rebellion against British rule was led by Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji, who was initially appointed governor of Silêmanî and later declared himself King of Kurdistan. His short-lived Kingdom of Kurdistan (1922–1924) represented a bold assertion of Kurdish sovereignty before being crushed by British forces. Despite the political setbacks, Kurdish society advanced culturally: in 1926, during the British Mandate, Hepse Xanî Neqîb (1891–1953) established the first girls' school in British Mesopotamia in Silêmanî, marking a critical step in Kurdish women's education. Meanwhile, in Turkey, Kurdish uprisings—most notably the Sheikh Said Rebellion (1925) and the Ararat Rebellion (1930)—were met with harsh repression, including the Dersim Massacre of 1937–1938. In contrast, Soviet Armenia became a center of Kurdish cultural preservation. There, Rya Taza, the first Kurdish-language newspaper in the USSR, began publication in 1930, and Kurdish-language radio broadcasts from Yerevan promoted Kurdish music, oral storytelling, and the Yezidi dialect. Intellectuals such as Arab Shamilov and Celadet Ali Bedirxan fostered a modern Kurdish literary movement; the latter also created a Latin-based Kurdish alphabet, still influential today. The aristocratic Bedirxan family, once rulers in Ottoman Kurdistan, maintained cultural and political influence in exile. Among them, Princess Leila Bedirxan rose to prominence in Paris during the 1920s–30s as a dancer and cultural diplomat, symbolizing a refined and internationally visible Kurdish identity. The period closed with the brief but symbolic Republic of Mahabad in Iran (1946), which championed Kurdish education, press, and military organization under President Qazi Muhammad and General Mustafa Barzani. Throughout these transformative decades, Kurdish women emerged as educators, artists, rebels, and community leaders—their images conveying resilience, intellect, and grace in the face of colonialism, displacement, and patriarchy.