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Iranian Kurds vow to fight for regime
change
12.3.2007
By Mark Mackinnon |
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March 12, 2007
ZARKUS, Kurdistan (Iraq) -- Abdulla Mohtadi
stares at the distant mountains of his homeland, and
plans for the day when he and his men can return to
help overthrow the ayatollahs of Iran.
After 24 years in exile, Mr. Mohtadi thinks that the
moment he has been waiting for is getting closer.
The leader of an Iranian -Kurdish guerrilla movement
called Komala, he believes the United States is
getting ready to push for regime change in Tehran.
When that moment comes, Mr. Mohtadi says the Kurds
of Iran will be ready to help bring down Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, just as Iraq's Kurds
helped the Americans in ousting Saddam Hussein.
Komala rebels already stage occasional cross-border
raids into Iran, prompting Iranian forces to cross
into Iraqi Kurdistan three times during the 1990s.
In an interview at the Komala compound, which is
tucked into the hills of Kurdistan (northern Iraq)
about 50 kilometres from the Iranian border, Mr.
Mohtadi said the collapse of Mr. Ahmedinejad's
regime is now inevitable. "It will definitely
happen," he said. "People are counting on it. So
many people in Iran are waiting for the explosion,
for a chance to act."
The resources Mr. Mohtadi has at his disposal appear
limited. He says Komala has about 800 men and women
under arms in northern Iraq, and no heavy weaponry.
He claims, however, that in a crisis he can count on
the majority of Iran's 4.8 million Kurds. "The
support is there. What you see is the tip of the
iceberg," he said, waving his hand at the khaki-clad
men carrying Kalashnikovs through the compound.
Iranian Kurds actually took part in the 1979
uprising against the Shah that brought about the
Islamic Republic, but soon fell out with the
hard-line Shia regime. Most Kurds are secular Sunni
Muslims.
Mr. Mohtadi flew to Washington last year to meet
with U.S. officials, as well as other members of the
fractious Iranian opposition. Seven Iranian groups,
including Komala's traditional rival, the Kurdistan
Democratic Party of Iran, later signed a
co-operation pact.
In return for helping take on Mr. Ahmedinejad, the
Kurds of Iran would want the same prize that the
United States delivered to Iraqi Kurds after the
fall of Mr. Hussein: effective autonomy in the
provinces of northwestern Iran where Kurds are the
majority. Neither the Kurds of Iraq nor those of
Iran have given up the dream of eventually forming a
greater Kurdistan stretching across parts of what
are now Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.
Mr. Mohtadi said he thinks popular uprising would be
more effective than foreign military strikes. But he
admitted even that would require outside help.
"We believe the future of Iran is in political
change," he said. "But we cannot remove this
government on our own."
theglobeandmail com
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Îranę or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatę
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 4 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
More about Iranian Kurdistan
Komala Iran
Komalah (Komele in Kurdish) is a Marxist Kurdish
opposition group. The word Komele in Kurdish is
derived from Komel (Society) and means association.
In 1967, Komalah was founded and struggled against
the government and policies of Shah for 12 years
until 1979. In 1983
Komalah formed a political organization with other
Iranian Marxist and socialist groups called the
Communist Party of Iran.
More about Komala
The present leader of the organisation is Haji
Ahmadi. According to the Washington Times, half the
members of PEJAK are women, many of them still in
their teens, and one of the female members of the
leadership council is Gulistan Dugan, a psychology
graduate from the University of Tehran. This is due
primarily to the fact that PJAK is strongly
supportive of women's rights. PJAK believes that
women must have a strong role in government and must
be on an equal level with men in leadership
positions.
More about PEJAK- Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan
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