(Timur Bakhtiar) and how he dealt with the Kurdish issues in Iran and Iraq 1957-1970

Abstract

During his reign (1926-1941), Reza Shah pursued a hostile policy against the Bakhtiari tribes, abolishing their tribal privileges and undermining their local authority in their regions. However, unlike his father, Mohammad Reza Shah (1941-1979) sought to win their favor, marrying Soraya Bakhtiari and appointing her cousin, Timur Bakhtiar, to key government positions. Timur Bakhtiar headed the SAVAK apparatus, which he used as a means to protect the Shah's regime and combat Iranian opposition figures of various stripes, from the far left to the far right. Not only that, but at the Shah's request, he began to interfere in the affairs of neighboring countries. He began to spread propaganda among the Kurds in Iraq that they were an Iranian people of origin who should be protected and defended. The goal of this systematic propaganda was nothing more than to fight the new regime in Iraq after the July 14, 1958 revolution. However, after a period of time, the Shah removed him from his position and expelled him from the country, so Bakhtiar chose the trench of opposition and resistance to the regime. The Shah, and when he settled in Iraq in 1969, Bakhtiar returned again, confirming his kinship with the Kurds. He began corresponding with Kurdish tribal leaders in Iran and activists from Hadka, urging them to unify efforts and form a united front against the Shah. He also made great efforts to employ the wings of the Kurdish movement in Iraq and direct it toward achieving his goals and plans, which were in line with the goals and objectives of the Ba'ath rulers in Iraq at the time. However, the SAVAK apparatus, founded and headed by Timur Bakhtiar for a period, succeeded in reaching him in Iraq and eliminated him by assassinating him in August 1970. His body was buried in a cemetery in Najaf, along with his hopes and ambitions, forever.