I am trying to find out about the Kurds after WWI and the internet so far proved to be disappointing as a reliable source of information on this topic.
The wiki entry on Mahmud Barzanji is very poorly written and very far from neutral. I turned to the Russian entry which is at least well-written and contains many interesting facts - but it has its own axe to grind, it seems. A further problem is that there are no sources cited at all in the Russian entry and I wonder if all the facts are really true.
One striking fact mentioned there is that when Barzanji proclaimed himself King for the second time he was supposedly recognized by the British and even received a congratulatory telegram sent in the name of the British Monarch.
This seems very suspicious to me, both on logical grounds and because there is no hint of anything like this in an academic paper which details the stormy relations between Barzanji and the British during 1922-1924.
So, what is the truth of the matter? Did the British really recognize Barzanji as King?
