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Unrest in Iran's Kurdish region has left 17 dead,
Hundreds have been wounded
15.8.2005
By NAZILA FATHI, Published: August 14
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TEHRAN, Aug. 13 -
Unrest has rocked Iran's northwestern region of
Kurdistan in recent weeks leading to the deaths of
more than a dozen civilians and several members of
the country's security forces.
The protests are the largest in Iran since the 1979
Islamic revolution, when Kurdish rebels seeking
autonomy fought government forces. Last Sunday,
shops in more than a dozen Kurdish towns closed
their doors to protest what Kurds regard as
discrimination by the government in Tehran and
hundreds of people were arrested.
Human Rights Watch reported that 17 people had been
killed in three weeks of violence in several towns.
A Kurdish group, the Democratic Party of Iranian
Kurdistan, posted on Web sites the names of people
it said were the victims. It said more than 200
people had been injured. Four members of Iranian
security forces were killed near Oroumieh, a
northwestern city, the ISNA news agency reported.
Dozens of activists have been arrested, among them
Roya Toloui, a prominent advocate for women's
rights, several human rights groups said. The
authorities reportedly arrested her at her home in
Sanandaj on charges of disturbing the peace and
"acting against national security." Two Kurdish
newspapers were also shut down. The government is
very sensitive about hints of ethnic strife in the
country. It has refused to release detailed
information about the scale of the turmoil except
for several random reports about attacks on
government buildings during demonstrations.
The unrest erupted after security forces killed
Shivan Qaderi on July 9 in the city of Mahabad.
Pictures of the young man's body suggested he had
been tortured, and were widely distributed and
broadcast on satellite television channels. The
government said Mr. Qaderi was a hooligan and
accused him of moral and financial violations. The
Kurds said he was a political activist. Human Rights
Watch, citing reports from Kurdish groups, said Mr.
Qaderi was shot in public; the government has not
commented on the circumstances surrounding the
death. "The incident triggered the unrest but there
were other elements to it," said Jalal Jalalizadeh,
a former Kurdish member of Iran's Parliament.
"Kurdish people have fundamental demands but the
government has ignored them. More turmoil can erupt
again over other reasons."
Nearly 6 million of Iran's 67 million people are
Kurds, most of them Sunni Muslims in a country
dominated by Shiites.
According to the Constitution, Sunnis cannot run for
president. In protest, many boycotted the
presidential election of June 24 and the turnout was
less than 20 percent in some cities in Kurdish
areas. Many Kurds say they now worry about their
future under the new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
who was supported by conservative parties.
Kurds are also barred from teaching the Kurdish
language at schools and face restrictions in
publishing Kurdish literature. They say they face
discrimination in employment and university
admissions. Kurdish cities are among the least
developed in the country with the highest levels of
unemployment. Kurds have also been discouraged from
forming their own political parties.
Iranian Kurds have not sought independence since the
1979 Islamic revolution, which overthrew Shah Reza
Pahlavi and brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to
power, but they have demanded greater autonomy,
democracy and freedoms.
However gains won by Kurds in neighboring Iraq have
brought hope that some of them can be duplicated in
Iran.
"Iranian Kurds now believe they have to struggle to
have the similar social and cultural freedoms that
Kurds of Iraq have," said Mr. Jalalizadeh, the
former member of Parliament. After the 1991 Persian
Gulf war, when the British and American forces
protected Iraq's Kurdish region from Saddam
Hussein's government, the Kurds on the two sides of
the border increased their contacts.
Furthermore, five Kurdish satellite television
channels, whose programs can be received all through
the region, are helping to strengthen Kurdish
identity.
One satellite channel, ROJ TV, played an
instrumental role in mobilizing people in the recent
protests. It announced news about the protests and
statements by political parties.
The worst violence broke out in the city of Saqqez
on Aug. 3, where the Interior Ministry acknowledged
two people were killed and 142 people were arrested.
A senior official said government buildings and
banks were damaged.
Kurdsat, an Iraqi Kurdish satellite channel based in
Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, reported that thousands of
troops were deployed to put down the protest and as
many as 1,200 people were arrested. Human Rights
Watch reported that 11 people were killed.
Calm reportedly returned to the Kurdish cities late
this week after Kurdish members of Parliament
appealed to the protesters.
"The number of casualties and deaths also convinced
people that they were paying a high price in the
violence," said Khaled Tavakoli, a political
activist and journalist in Sanandaj, whose election
to Parliament in 2000 was overturned when a
conservative watchdog body ruled his votes void.
"But people are very proud of the unity that was
displayed in different cities."
www.nytimes.com
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