Despite the growing role of Iran in the recent period in the Middle East, and its ability to extend its influence on the capitals of the four Arab countries, and its success in reaching an agreement that maintains its nuclear program, and lets to lift the economic embargo imposed on it , and the rush of some European countries to invest in it , there are signs and phenomena inside and outside of Iran indicate the possibility of weakening its next role regionally, with unexpected internal crises . there are hotbeds of tension inside Iran to haunt the Iranian regime, and hinder its starting point of development internally to some extent, as well as some failures of its regional arms, which drains money and men, so aches are collected from home and abroad. We will discuss in this context one of internal problems that is potential to be exploded , the Kurdish issue in Iran.
Kurds are a Hendoaarani people , concentrated in the mountainous areas near the boundaries in Southwest Asia known mountains of Kurdistan, and the spread of their human geography in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, and to some extent in Lebanon and Armenia and Central Asia. The Kurds are one of the main ethnic groups in Iran .Where it occupies third place after the Persian and Azeri nationalism .Iranian Kurds estimated about 10% of the proportion of the population, with an estimated population of more than ten million Iranians, out of 75 million who are the total number of the Iranians. It is the second-largest presence of the Kurds in the Middle East.
Kurds are concentrated in the north-western part of Iran, including a so-called eastern Kurdistan and distributed in four provinces, namely: Kurdistan, Kermanshah and Ilam and western Azerbaijan . After the Islamic conquests, Kurds embraced the religion of Islam, and the majority of them follow the Sunni Shafi’ Sect.(madhhab) , and few of them embraced the Shiite doctrine , and with a few non-Muslim inhabited suburbs of Kermanshah, such as of “Alkehlir” and “sinjab .”
Kurds relationship with Iranian state are characterized with hostility in the period before the establishment of the Republic in 1979, the hostility is due for two important events first «Republic of Azad Stan» “Republic of Freedom” was founded by Kurdish leader «SmCo» in the twenties of the last century, which did not come to life until just a few months, before Iranians had drawn «SmCo» to the city of «Henw» to negotiate and killed him in the way of deception and evil . Second the Kurdish «Mahabad Republic», which was founded in 1946 in north-western of Iran, by the “Judge Mohammed,” the founder of Iran’s Kurdistan Democratic Party in 1945, and this republic had special forces of the Peshmerga, backed by the Soviet Union, which his troops penetrated, then at the Iranian territory under the pretext that Shah Reza Pahlavi was a pro Nazi in the World war II .
Due to the fact that the Kurds were the weakest link in the regional and international balances – at that time-, and the absence of a superpower at the time in favor of their rights of independence, as well as Iran’s role which was important in US foreign policy toward the Middle East, it has resulted in pressure from the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi “1946 / 1979 “on the United States to withdraw the Soviet its troops from northern Iran, a coalition of some influential Kurds (such as Imam Aziz Agha and Bayazid Aqa) with Al-Shah system in order to achieve narrow interests on the other. Which enabled him later on to drop the Republic of Mahabad in/ December 1946. This fall and the execution of the president, “Judge Mohammed” and his followers in the arena, which declared them independence, the state of the Kurdish had deepened the discontent about the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during his reign.
Prior to the Iranian revolution in February 1979 . the Kurdistan left- wing put , represented by the movement «Kumla» which was split from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, his hand with the rest of the left-wing parties in Iran to overthrow the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi regime and bring regime of Khomeini hoping that the latter will achieve their aspirations in self- rule as the rest of all Iranian non- Persian nationalities at the time. After the success of the Iranian revolution, the atmosphere of anger were prevailed the Kurdish areas in Iran because of the lack of opportunity for the representatives of the Kurds to participate in the writing of the new Iranian constitution. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou (1930-1989) was the leading Kurdish figures at the time, but the Khomeini regime prevented Ghassemlou from participating in the writing of the Constitution. Some historians attribute the rejection of Khomeini to the contribution of Kurds in the writing of the constitution to the religious and national dimensions taking in to consideration the fact that the majority of Iranian Kurds from the Sunni .
In contrast, the Iranian Kurdish parties refused the constitution prompting Khomeini to issue a fatwa against the Kurds considering them infidels. The Iranian government did not stop to this extent , because the matter was developed to a certain extent to the bombing of Kurdish areas by air, prompting the Kurds to declare «armed struggle», which lasted from 1979 to 1988. In 1980, the Iranian army carried out a campaign of wide combing in the Kurdish areas in Iran, especially in the cities Mahabad and Sanandaj and Marivan and Paweh. And between 1979-1982 armed clashes erupted between the Iranian government and the Kurds, and the Kurdish Iranian Democratic Party , led by Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou and Kurdish Left Party ” kom lah” were main parties in the conflict. the elements of the Iranian Kurdish parties were stayed in Iraq during the first Gulf War (1980-1988) and were supported by Iraq. In 1983, the Iranian government has been able to establish its control over the strongholds of the two parties. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Known Balbassadran arrested and executed many of the Kurds in Iran from members of both parties mentioned or sympathizers with the two parties. also during the armed conflict between the Kurds of Iran and the Iranian government, nearly 271 Kurdish villages were destroyed .
On the other hand ,the Iranian regime had used Iranian Kurds as a fuel in its long war with Iraq in which the Kurds lost hundreds of thousands of children in that raging war without getting in return little or nothing of their legitimate aspirations, but Abdulrahman Kaslmo was assassinated by the Iranian regime after the end of the Iran-Iraq war in the July 13 1989, who represented for the Iranian Kurds a significant symbol of their educated and respectable symbols with two of his comrades, when they fired them with a hail of bullets as they sat at the negotiating table in Vienna. The matter which caused a shock in the free world, and thus proved that the Iranian regime is a treacherous regime and can not be trusted and his promises and commitments can not be taken seriously. It has been said that the Iranian regime had always felt the seriousness of Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou because the idea of revival of «Mahabad Republic» was stable in his conscience always, especially as he has trying for that goal in 1978 when he led about twenty thousand of the Peshmerga forces, enabling them to control the eight cities and twenty Kurdish towns.
Although the text of the Iranian Constitution in different locations indicated to the rights of non-Persian ethnic groups in Iran. However, the constitutional text is a thing and the reality is another thing. In fact, the Iranian regime fought the national rights of the Kurds, for the level of education, they have been deprived of the study of the Kurdish language in schools, and at the level of culture , any Kurdish literary book was subject to the supervision of Iran’s General Intelligence Service, and at the level of political freedoms, they prevented them from expression of their political positions, and tightened the noose on them in the formation of parties. On the social level , it was exercised against them a discrimination on the basis of admission to the universities, this distinction has not stopped at this point, but that the Iranian government excluded Kurds from holding top positions in their provinces.
And on the economic level, despite the natural resources and vast land enjoyed by the region of Kurdistan, but the Kurdish provinces in Iran is one of the worst provinces and least developing and most deteriorated. Thus, the Kurdish people are the poorest ethnic groups in Iran, given the low per capita income. One of the things that have left a negative impact on the Kurds: poverty and environmental issues, which include poor nutrition, clothing, housing, health, education, and the average number of Kurdish family members are estimated from six to seven people. It has spread increasingly and significantly the rate of disguised unemployment and drug smuggling operations, especially in the Kurdish areas in the vicinity with the borders of other countries .
Faced with this storming to the rights of Kurds in Iran, it was not impossible for them only to take up arms against the Iranian state, which has recently been active, where the some of the Kurdish armed groups to confront the Iranian regime governments, in terms of expression to the rejection of its policies towards them and force them to change, and to convey their voice to international institutions in the field of human rights, World public opinion that there is a national community suffer from systematic persecution by the Iranian state.
However , when Mohammad Khatami assumed the position as president between “1997/2005” , kind of détente as occurred in the relationship between the state and the Kurdish nationalism in Iran, the former President focused on slogans to promote political development, which was a practical way for the participation of the largest segments of the Iranian people, including Kurds .This period has seen a significant decline in the riots and unrest, which had led to military confrontations, even the Kurdish tendencies for the secession and autonomy and independence by some Kurdish groups showed a significant decrease.
Perhaps the reason for this is due to the achievements and meet some of the demands of the Kurds, noting that the Iranian government has appointed a group of Kurds from the Shiite sect in government positions in the country, including, for example, Abdullah Ramezanzadeh, who was appointed governor of the province of Kurdistan. Which is considered one of the students, “Mohammad Reza Mahdavi kani” the former Prime Assembly of Experts, which from his duties as the Board, the choice of the leader of the revolution(Murshed) . This is an indication of the presence of the sectarian dimension of the Iranian regime to the appointments from outside the Persian nationalist ruling it .
This came along with the high proportion of freedoms in writing articles and newspapers in the Kurdish language, in addition to the increase of press freedom in Kurdish publications, and allow them to establish a literary and professional and social groups by the Iranian state. It also came with the increase in Kurdish parties and cultural centers . Hence, it can be noticed closely to improve the political participation of Kurdish nationalism in policy-making.
Here it should be noted if we look at the issue of political participation; and through participation in the election processes, we note that the Kurdish areas, which constitute the predominant Sunni sect ratio which recorded very little participation .While Shiite Kurds were engaged widely in the elections, which include the presidential election and the elections of the Council of the Shura , as well as local elections in the provinces and rural areas, because of the sectarian motivation ; as Kurdish nationalism of the Shiite community do not feel a sense of exclusion and deadlock between them and the government such as the one prevailing in the Sunni areas.
But this policy did not last in the era of the former Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, “2005/2013 AD”; resulting in a contraction of the Kurds to participate in the election process and in turn encouraged their demand for independence and separation from the state. In his reign also arrests were increased in Kurdish circles, and included imams and religious scholars. The scope of violence against the Kurds were widened on two occasions, first when the formation of the Governing Council in Iraq was made in 2004, against the backdrop of the US occupation of the country and the recognition of Kurdish rights officially, this is why motivated the Iranian Kurds to get out on the streets to express their joy at the progress achieved for the Iraqi Kurds, the joy that turned into clashes with Iranian police and resulted in injuries to the Kurds.
The second occasion was taken place in 2005, when the Kurdish masses demonstrating in the anniversary of the assassination of the Kurdish Democratic Party leader, “Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou,” who was assassinated by the Iranian intelligence service in Austria in 1989, and the demonstrations turned into violent clashes with Iranian security, resulted in the killing of many Kurds in the “Saqez and Sanandaj” area and other cities that Kurds consider part of a greater Kurdistan.
As for the reality of the Kurds in the reign of the current Iranian President Hassan Rowhani, it was referred to by “Timor Yasi” the director of the Association for the defense of human rights in Iranian Kurdistan in a Geneva Conference , which was held on March 19 of this year, at the headquarters of the United Nations on the issue of non- persian nationalities and religious minorities in Iran. By saying that “the Kurdish people exposed to persecution in Iran, and that the largest proportion of political executions during the era of the presidency Rouhani was occured against Kurdish activists.”
In the last May , the suicide of a Kurdish woman called «Farinaz Khosrvani», she wanted to escape from the fate of a rape by security officials, caused to the outbreak of the events known as the «events of Mahabad». However, the incident was seen as a spontaneous that does not have political backgrounds, but events took a national political momentum from the echoes of the support of the Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan, the Iranian regime was forced to deal with it in great violence with the Kurds of Iran, and to prevent the protests to get out of control.
In the face of this multiple shapes of suppression by the Iranian regime to the Kurdish nationalism in Iran , the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan announced the resumption of armed action against the Iranian regime and that was done during the celebration of «Nowruz festival», and at its headquarters based on mountains of Qandil, along the Iranian – Iraqi border, within the territory of Iraqi Kurdistan. The announcement of the resumption of armed action, after notable activity of the elements of the party in the past two years, the party has been able to build a secret network of party members in northwest Iran zones, which are known as «Rugeellat», it has also set up a secret security force to hunt the spies, known as « Hama Rugeellat ». Sources in the party indicated, that party membership is increasing by the Kurds, analysts do not rule out a link of the recent party activity to the developments relating to declare the federalism by one side of the Syria’s Kurds, in addition to the issue of the possibility of a referendum on independence for Iraqi Kurdistan.
, the suppression of the Iranian regime to the Kurdish nationalism, and the lack of opportunities led to strengthen the ranks of veteran party with young people , as “the resumption of military operations came after the strategic decisions taken by the party leadership in the framework of planned targets, according to current conditions, and geographic and demographic analyzes », as Kaveh Joinmrd, said the member of the Central Committee of the party. After his threats of the largest operations in the next stage, and on the fifth of the past may , the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan announced the killing of 10 Iranian soldiers, and wounded 20 others in clashes that erupted in Iran in the countryside of Sardasht city, province, Iran’s West Azerbaijan, near the Iraqi border.
In the last July , the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan called for a general strike in all the cities of Kurdistan of Iran, to protest against the arrests and executions and oppression of the Kurds by the Iranian authorities, which are scheduled for:
- Close all shops in the markets of various Kurdish cities and towns and villages .
2 The strike of All employees and workers from working .
3. Abstention of all villagers from traveling to the cities and stay in their villages .
4. To raise the Kurdish flag and photos of the symbols of the Kurdish movement in public places.
The Iranian regime has responded to this Kurdish challenge in the fourth of August by collective executions to the twentieth Kurdish activist, and this action was denounced by the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights the Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein for the mass executions of 20 people in Iran for alleged crimes related to the terrorism. The United Nations Radio reported that “reports indicate that most of those executed were Kurds from the Sunni minority in the community. In many cases, there were serious doubts about the fairness of trials, and the observance of due process and other rights. ” the Radio added: “According to reports that Shahram Ahmadi, one of the men who were executed, beaten and forced to sign on a blank piece of paper to record the false recognition. His family has not been able to visit him before his execution, and there were directives to them to go to the cemetery instead of prison west of Tehran. ”
Prince Zeid bin Raad said that “the application of criminal excessive and vague charges , along with underestimation to the rights of the accused to a fair trial and due process has led in this case to a grave injustice” . and the High Commissioner Zaid also condemned the execution in the past month against Hassan Afshar 19-year-old, who was convicted two years ago on charges of rape. And said”The execution of juvenile offenders is particularly repugnant,” and urged Iran to “respect the strict prohibition against this practice under international law of human rights .”
From the above it can be said that the Iranian regime thought of what it owns of the ragged force that it is out of any social concern, probably that the regime did not realize that its repressive policies against the Kurdish nationalism stepped up anger and resistance to them. The lack of social justice, a condition imposed by the Iranian regime to all ethnic groups, including non-Persian nationalism , the Kurdish nationalism , which represented one of the strongest sources of the feeling of injustice. Depriving Kurd of their rights caused them again to take up arms in the face of the Iranian regime, but their success in the face to the Iranian regime is conditional on the availability of regional and international support first , and the coordination and support by other resentful non-Persian nationalities second. This means that the chaos caused by the Iranian regime in the Arab environment may go back to it.
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies