A Spring Redolent of Gunpowder in the Days of the Referendum

Selected by Mahya Hafezy
Translated by Kianoush Borzouei

2026-4-8

That year I could not be with my family for Nowruz. I was not overly distressed by this—firstly because I was an army man fulfilling official duties, and secondly because I was not alone in separation; my comrades were likewise apart from their families. We endured cold, dispirited days during the Nowruz of 1358 (1979). The sole abiding recollection is that we marked the new year at the Mahabad barracks with thoughts of our families.

A few days into March of 1979, the battalion command announced that a referendum would be conducted—a vote to affirm or repudiate the nascent Islamic Republic. For the balloting a helicopter was dispatched to land in the middle of the barracks’ parade ground. Personnel went in groups and cast their ballots. The polling officials, fearing a possible counter‑revolutionary attack, hurried the process in order to depart swiftly by helicopter.

Two types of ballots had been provided: one inscribed “Islamic Republic—Yes” and the other “No.” The forces stationed at the barracks deposited the “Islamic Republic—Yes” ballots into the box; I learned this from the men in the mess hall. Voting concluded in under an hour, and the helicopter departed.

That very night, heavy gunfire erupted from within the city, signaling armed engagement. The clash resulted in the death of a police officer whose body was abandoned beside the barracks; the assailants fled, and from the following day police personnel were no longer visible within the city. By night, the town and its intersections were effectively controlled by elements of Qasemlu’s Democratic Party, garbed in what was described as Kurdish attire.^[1]