HIWA

Hiwa: translation

(Heva)

Hiwa(Hope) was an Iraqi Kurdish nationalist party composed largely of urban intellectuals embracing the political spectrum from left to right and established in 1941. Thus,Hiwaindicated the social shift gradually beginning in the Kurdishnationalistmovement away from the stereotyped exclusive mountain andtribalidentity. Rafiq Hilmi was the party's leader.Hiwawas weakened, however, by the absence of peasant membership and was unable to exploit theBarzanirebellion in the early and mid-1940s. AlthoughHiwapresented a memorandum to theU.S. ambassador inIraq, Loy Henderson, reminding him of U.S. president Woodrow Wilson's 12th point concerning Kurdish self-determination and requesting U.S. support for Kurdish autonomy in March 1945, the party ceased to exist by the end of the year. Elements ofHiwaparticipated in the establishment of theKurdistan Democratic Party(KDP) in 1946.