View source for Rafiq Hilmi

{{Infobox person
| name               = Rafiq Hilmi
| image              = 1 ڕەفیق حیلمی.jpg
| birth_date         = 1898
| death_date         = 1960
| party              = Hîwa
| children           = Nahide Rafiq Hilmi
}}
'''Rafiq Hilmi''' ({{Langx|ku|ڕەفیق حیلمی|translit=Refîq Hilmî}}'','' 1898–1960) was a Kurdish-Iraqi 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 [[Sulaymaniyah|Sulaimania]] and [[Baghdad]], he continued his studies at the Military Academy and Technical School of [[Istanbul]].
==Literary Life==
Early in his career he wrote for two Kurdish newspapers: ''Rojî Kurdistan'', the official newspaper of the [[Kingdom of Kurdistan]], and ''Bangî Kurdistan''. He was recognized as a talented literary critic after the second volume of his ''Kurdish Poetry and Literature'' was published in 1956. In this work for the first time [[Abdulla Goran|Goran]]'s poetry and characteristics of the modernist literary movement which he represented were studied and analyzed in depth.<ref>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|90-04-03587-7}}</ref>
==Political life and Hîwa-Party ==
Rafiq Hilmi is well known in Kurdish politics as the founder of a party called ''Hîwa'' (Hope).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blau |first=Joyce |title=ḤELMI, RAFIQ |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-iranica-online/helmi-rafiq-COM_2999?s.num=9&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-iranica-online&s.f.ribo_publication_year=2020&s.q=kurd |journal=[[Encyclopedia Iranica]]}}</ref>  It was initially a secret organization consisting of Kurdish intellectuals and civil servants. Under the influence of the predominantly Arab faculty in [[Kirkuk]], a student movement called “Darker” (''Darker'' is the Kurdish term for charcoal makers, but was about the Italian term of the “[[Carbonari]]”),<ref name=":2">https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/17192?locale-attribute=en, pp. 169 - 170</ref> which later became the ''Hîwa'', was founded and led by Rafiq Hilmi in 1937, which openly acknowledged its great paragons, the [[Italian Fascism|Italian fascism]] under [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]] and the [[German National Socialism]] under [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]].<ref name=":2">https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/17192?locale-attribute=en, pp. 169 - 170</ref><ref name=":1"><nowiki>https://youtu.be/nZZGQSoidB4</nowiki>, Information at 51:00</ref> These professors had presented to their students the national unifications that occurred under the rules of [[Otto von Bismarck|the Prince of Bismarck]] and [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]]. Many Kurds saw this as a remarkable example of Kurdish unity.<ref name=":2">https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/17192?locale-attribute=en, pp. 169 - 170</ref> 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.<ref>G.R.V. Stansfield, ''Iraqi Kurdistan: Political Development and Emergent Democracy'', 224 pp., Routledge Publishers, 2003. {{ISBN|0-415-30278-1}} (see p.64)</ref> Later, as the opinions and political views within the party became more polarized, the ''Hîwa'' Party eventually fragmented. It was divided into two factions: a radical [[Germanophile|pro-German]] wing and a more moderate, [[British Empire|pro-British]] wing.<ref name=":2">https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/17192?locale-attribute=en, pp. 169 - 170</ref>
''Hîwa'' also had established links with activists of ''Komala JK''<ref>''The Committee for the Revival of Kurdistan'', D. McDowall, ''A Modern History of the Kurds'', I.B. Tauris, 504 pp., 2004, {{ISBN|1-85043-416-6}} (see p.237)</ref> 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 late 1946.<ref name=":0">D. McDowall, ''A Modern History of the Kurds'', pp.290,294</ref>
==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|91-973354-3-6}} (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==
<references/>
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928145628/http://www.rafiqhilmi.com/ Rafis Hilmi's Official website]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilmi, Rafiq}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1960 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Kirkuk]]
[[Category:Kurdish-language writers]]
[[Category:Kurdish literary critics]]
[[Category:Kurdish nationalists]]
[[Category:Iraqi Kurdistani politicians]]
[[Category:Iraqi historians]]