Sheikh Mahmud Barzanjı and the Mosul question: borders, identity and sovereignty in the Anglo-Turkish rivalry

This study examines the international dispute over the vilayet (province) of Mosul after the First World War and the role of Kurdish leader Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji in this process. The research addresses the British Empire’s strategy of maintaining control over Iraq within the scope of its colonial policies and Turkey’s counter-argument that viewed Mosul as an integral part of Anatolia. The Mosul issue, which remained unresolved in the Treaty of Lausanne, was brought before the League of Nations and became a complex matter involving conflicting ethnic, political and economic interests in the region. The study analyzes in detail how Turkey and Britain instrumentalized the Kurdish issue to maintain their dominance over Mosul and examines Sheikh Mahmud’s stance.