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Iran: Kurdish Grievances Remain A Thorny Issue
17.8.2005
By Bill Samii
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Iran's ministers of the
interior, of intelligence and security, and of
defense will come to the legislature on 17 August to
describe steps they have taken to reestablish order
and security in the country's predominantly Kurdish
northwestern provinces, according to Fars News
Agency on 13 August. Legislators are likely to be
disappointed.
Tehran's response to the recent unrest is following
a fairly typical pattern -- initial denials followed
by accusations of foreign involvement. Yet the
problems are sufficiently worrying that both the
executive branch and the legislature have conducted
inquiries.
Violence And Disturbances
The most recent problems in the northwest can be
traced to the early July shooting in Mahabad, West
Azerbaijan Province, of a Kurdish activist known as
Shavaneh Qaderi. Police reportedly shot him on 11
July when he resisted arrest. This led to
demonstrations, shop closures and strikes, damage to
buildings, and dozens of arrests. At least one
person, a police officer, lost his life.
Expatriate Kurdish sources claimed that after the
initial incident in Mahabad, the unrest spread to
other predominantly Kurdish towns, including Baneh,
Bukan, Divandareh, Oshnavieh, Piranshahr, Sanandaj,
Saqqez, and Sardasht. Websites posted photographs
purporting to show Qaderi's mutilated body, and they
made claims of dozens of civilian deaths at the
hands of security forces.
Official sources confirmed the extent of the
problems. Abbas Khorshidi, the deputy
governor-general in West Azerbaijan Province, said
four police officers were killed during 26 July
demonstrations in Oshnavieh, "Mardom Salari"
reported on 28 July. A civilian died as well,
Khorshidi said, but the family refused to permit an
autopsy, and no further information is available.
Alireza Jamshidi, the deputy governor-general for
security affairs in Kurdistan Province, described a
3 August demonstration in Saqqez in which security
forces intervened, "Farhang-i Ashti" reported on 7
August. Two police officers and six civilians were
killed, and 142 people were arrested.
Coinciding with these events, which reportedly
continued into the second week of August, were
violent and fatal clashes between Iranian security
forces and members of the Kurdistan Independent Life
Party (PJAK) -- which is affiliated with the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) -- along Iran's border
with Iraq and Turkey. Deputy Governor-General
Khorshidi confirmed on 8 August that four police
officers were killed in clashes near Urumiyeh the
previous day, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA)
reported.
In mid-June, security forces in Mahabad clashed with
Kurds who were celebrating the election of Mas'ud
Barzani as president of the Kurdistan Regional
Government in Iraq, and early June celebrations of
the selection of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader
Jalal Talabani as Iraq's president led to clashes in
which up to 15 police were injured.
The Official Reaction
Tehran has not been very forthcoming on developments
on the periphery that might shed an adverse light on
its assertions of national unity. Nevertheless, the
extent of the unrest and media inquiries has
prompted officials to react.
Brigadier General Ismail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, chief of
the national police force, dismissed the unrest
during a trip to the northwest in the second week of
August. He said locals were not involved in what he
referred to as isolated incidents. The interference
of outside elements, the police chief said,
exacerbated the situation. As for Qaderi,
Ahmadi-Moghaddam described him as a criminal rather
than a political activist, according to Iranian
media reports on 11 and 12 August.
Fars News Agency reported on 13 August that Iranian
security forces recently arrested two individuals
connected with Al-Qaeda -- reportedly Arabs from an
unspecified country bordering Iraq -- who
infiltrated Iran from an area in Iraq controlled by
the United Kingdom The two reportedly were present
during the unrest in Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan
provinces.
Some Iranian sources blamed the United States for
the clashes involving the PJAK. Parliamentarian
Mahmud Nabirudaki said on 9 August that "one of the
main reasons for the unrest" was a purported meeting
between PJAK members and U.S. military personnel in
Iraq's Salah Al-Din, IRNA reported. After this
meeting, he continued, leaflets calling for shop
closures and for protests against the killings of
Kurds were distributed in Mahabad, Oshnavieh, and
Sanandaj. Nabirudaki said the legislature's National
Security and Foreign Policy Committee has asked the
president to put the Kurdish issue on the agenda of
the Supreme National Security Council.
A Demand For Answers
The majority of the Iranian population of
approximately 68 million is ethnically Persian, and
about 89 percent of the population practices Shi'te
Islam. The constitution asserts that the state
religion is Shi'ite Islam and the official language
is Persian. Kurds comprise 7 percent of the total
population, some 4.8 million people, and are mostly
Sunni Muslims.
The constitution grants equal rights to all ethnic
minorities and to practitioners of other schools of
Islam. It says laws in parts of the country where
these minorities predominate may reflect specific,
non-Shi'ite schools of Islam. The constitution says
minority languages may be used in the media and
schools. Nevertheless, Kurds and other minorities
frequently complain of inattention to their
economic, social, and cultural needs, as well as of
discrimination and inadequate representation in the
government.
The legislature has been proactive on the Kurdish
issue. Its National Security and Foreign Policy
Committee met on 5 August with the governors-general
and parliamentarians from West Azerbaijan and
Kurdistan provinces, as well as high-ranking
representatives of the Interior Ministry, the
Ministry of Intelligence and Security, and the
police.
The committee's rapporteur, Kazem Jalali, told ISNA
afterward that one of the factors contributing to
the unrest is the comparatively high level of
economic development in Kurdish areas of Iraq and
Turkey. Jalali referred to poverty, unemployment,
and smuggling. "Growing demands and sentiments and
the comparison of social, ethnic, and religious
status of the border area [with other regions] have
prepared the ground for disunity and encouraged the
residents to search for solutions outside [the
country]," he said.
The extent of the unrest in the northwest was such
that a government inquiry took place, but its
findings were not made public. Mahabad's
parliamentary representative, Jafar Ainparast,
regretted this lack of openness and warned that such
problems will occur again, "Siyasat-i Ruz" reported
on 7 August. "How come the foreign media criticized
this event fully and completely and we were not even
able to give people the necessary information?"
Ainparast asked.
The parliamentary representative of Saqqez and Baneh,
Fakhredin Haidari, called on President Mahmud
Ahmadinejad to look into the factors that contribute
to unrest in the Kurdish areas, "Siyasat-i Ruz"
reported on 7 August. He called for fair and speedy
hearings for arrested individuals, sympathy for the
families of the deceased, and the improvement of
"security conditions in the Kurdish regions of
Iran."
Sanandaj's Hushang Hamidi said on 9 August that
government officials have been informed of the
shortcomings in the Kurdish areas, ISNA reported.
"We have no problem raising the issue, but, although
our demands are legal, we have problems coming up
with solutions and removing the shortcomings," he
added. "We have civil demands. We want citizenship
rights. We want welfare and the observation of legal
rights and equality in various aspects including
management, and meritocracy in the Kurdish regions.
These are the areas in which Article 48 of the
constitution has not been observed." Hamidi went on
to say that his request for a meeting with the
president has gone unanswered, and he warned that a
failure to address such issues could lead to further
unrest.
"The real root and origin of these disturbances was
the promises that the officials have given when they
have come face to face with the demands of the
Kurds, but up to now, these promises have remained
unfulfilled," Sanandaj representative Amin Shabani
said, according to "Mardom Salari" on 13 August. He
said the superficial reason for the unrest was the
distribution of doctored photographs of Qaderi's
corpse, but he added that the police used excessive
force. Shabani also criticized state radio and
television for not providing accurate information
and thereby contributing to the unrest.
Shabani added that young jobless people in the
Kurdish provinces are angry, too. "Unemployment is
in fact one of the factors which made it possible
for certain elements to incite the young people of
the province," he added. Another grievance, he said,
is the absence of Sunni cabinet members.
Few Iranian minority group members advocate
separatism, and they mostly endorse the country's
territorial integrity. What they are calling for is
greater attention to their economic needs and their
political rights. Most of the country's officials,
at least in their public comments, appear to
recognize this, even if they are unwilling to act on
it.
An extreme exception is Hojatoleslam Gholam Reza
Hassani, the supreme leader's representative in West
Azerbaijan. ILNA reported on 10 August that Hassani,
known for his colorful turns of phrase, said: "I
warn the relevant authorities to put the bandits in
their place as soon as possible. They must put down
the provocation of the counterrevolutionaries, for
if they fail to do so, I shall wear my own death
shroud to command the volunteering public in the war
against bandits and counterrevolutionaries. I deem
it necessary to pick up my weapon and tear open the
chests of the counterrevolutionaries."
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