Kurdish Democratic Party (Lebanon)

The Kurdish Democratic Party in Lebanon (Kurmanji Kurdish: Parti a Demoqrat a Kurdî e Lubnan, lit. 'Kurdish Democratic Party in Lebanon'; Arabic: الحزب الديمقراطي الكردي في لبنان, romanized: Ḥizb al-Dīmuqrāṭī al-Kurdī fī Lubnān, lit. 'Kurdish Democratic Party in Lebanon' French: Parti Democratique Kurde – Liban, lit. 'Kurdish Democratic Party – Lebanon'), is the Lebanese branch of a namesake Iraqi-based Kurdish nationalist party, established by Jamil Mihhu in 1960, and based in Lebanon.^[1] However, it was not licensed until 24 September 1970.^[2]

Kurdish Democratic Party in Lebanon
Founded	1960; 64 years ago (1960)
Dissolved	1982; 42 years ago (1982)
Ideology	Kurdish nationalism
International affiliation	Kurdistan Democratic Party
Parliament of Lebanon	0 / 128
Website
www.kdp-lebanon.org
Politics of Lebanon Political parties Elections

Mihhu supported the Iraqi government against Kurdish rebels fighting for an independent Iraqi Kurdistan and he was captured and imprisoned by the Kurdish resistance in Iraq.

Consequently, the leadership of the party passed to Jamil's son, Riyad. Another son, Muhammad, disagreed with his family's position on several issues and therefore in 1977 started his own movement, the Kurdish Democratic Party-Temporary Leadership.

The party ceased activities in 1982 after the death of Jamil Mihhu, and lost its legal status in 1991.^[2]

The KDP-L in the Lebanese Civil War 1975–1990

When the War of the Camps broke out at Beirut in May 1985, the KDP-L joined an alliance of pro-Arafat Palestinian refugee camp militias, the Al-Mourabitoun, the Communist Action Organization in Lebanon (OCAL), and the Sixth of February Movement ('6th FM') militias against a powerful coalition that gathered their Druze allies of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and the Shia Muslim Amal movement militia forces backed by Syria,^[3] the Lebanese Army,^[4] and anti-Arafat dissident Palestinian guerrilla factions.

See also

• Kurdish Democratic Party (Turkey)
• Al-Mourabitoun
• Lebanese Civil War
• Lebanese National Movement
• Organization of Communist Action in Lebanon (OCAL)
• People's Liberation Army (Lebanon)
• Popular Guard
• Progressive Socialist Party
• Razkari Party
• Sixth of February Movement
• War of the Camps

References

1. "Kurdish Parties". Country Studies. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
2. Lokman I. Meho; Kelly L. Maglaughlin (1 January 2001). Kurdish Culture and Society: An Annotated Bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-0-313-31543-5. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
3. Stork, Joe. "The War of the Camps, The War of the Hostages" in MERIP Reports, No. 133. (June 1985), pp. 3–7, 22.
4. O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 158.

Bibliography

• Edgar O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon, 1975-92, Palgrave Macmillan, London 1998. ISBN 0-333-72975-7
• Marius Deeb, The Lebanese Civil War, Praeger Publishers Inc., New York 1980. ISBN 978-0030397011
• William W. Harris, Faces of Lebanon: Sects, Wars, and Global Extensions, Princeton Series on the Middle East, Markus Wiener Publishers, 1997. ISBN 978-1558761155, 1-55876-115-2

External links

• Official website of the KDP - Lebanon