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Kurdish Iranian Opposition Leader Seeks
Clear Strategy From U.S.
18.5.2007
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May
18, 2007
ZERGUEZ, Kurdistan (Iraq), -- At his mountain
base just 62 miles from the Iranian border, the
Kurdish Iranian opposition leader says he is
confused about the Americans. Abdullah Mohtadi, the
secretary-general of the Komala Party of Iranian
Kurdistan, asks bluntly, "What is the American
policy on Iran?"
Mr. Mohtadi, who has met with American officials in
the past year at the State Department and other
government agencies, says that when he describes his
party's operations inside Iran and makes pleas for
public support, all he gets are nods. "There is no
clear strategy in terms of Iranian opposition or
Kurdish opposition in Iran," he says. "They show
some sympathy toward us.
They have started to publicly say things about
ethnic groups and women, but there is no formal
strategy. We still don't know what the U.S. wants to
do with this regime."
The questions from Mr. Mohtadi, whose Komala Party
is one of four major Kurdish parties now organizing
in Iran, would likely surprise the Bush
administration's spokesmen and its critics. The
president himself touted a decision in 2006 to set
aside tens of millions of dollars for Iranian
opposition groups and the opening of a special
office in Dubai to monitor the Iranian regime's
activities. Meanwhile, Seymour Hersh has reported in
the New Yorker on American contacts with some
Iranian ethnic factions. In March, ABC News had a
report on American links with Baluchi rebels in Iran
blamed for exploding a bus carrying Iranian
Revolutionary Guard members.
Mr. Mohtadi says his group, which claims some 800
fighters and a non-violent wing that focuses largely
on party organization and propaganda, is not looking
for America to invade Iran or even to provide
military assistance, as Iraqi opposition parties
sought in the 1990s. "We are not asking for an
invasion. We are saying that helping Iranian parties
fight for democracy and regime change is good for us
and good for America," he says.
At least rhetorically, the president would appear to
agree. Since 2003, he has pledged that as Iranians
stand up for their political rights, America will
stand with them. But this rhetorical support has
been matched with a record of privately and publicly
seeking negotiations with envoys of the Iranian
regime, particularly with regard to Iraq.
This week, the Iranians agreed to specific days to
meet with their American counterparts to discuss
Iraqi security, Last month, the commander of the
coalition forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus,
accused Iran's Quds Force of spearheading an
operation to kidnap and kill five American soldiers
near the Shiite holy city of Karbala.
Mr. Mohtadi's request for American assistance also
marks a departure from the Iranian reformers and
student groups in Tehran who have supported a
constitutional referendum aimed at eliminating the
unchecked power that the supreme leader and council
of guardians in Qom wield over the country's courts,
military, and legislature. As The New York Sun
reported prior to his first trip to America, the
dissident writer Akbar Ganji specifically asked that
America give him no support, noting that any
American assistance would lead to the deaths of his
comrades. Mr. Ganji has not yet returned to Iran.
The support Mr. Mohtadi seeks from America is
conditional, however. He does not want, for example,
to be used as a cudgel to harass the regime. "It is
better to publicly announce support," he says. "This
is a justifiable strategy in terms of helping the
Iranian people. Iranians deserve a better regime.
Iranians deserve a democratic government."
Inside a compound on the slopes of the Karadagh
Mountains, the Komala Party's operations appear
modest. There are trailers, running water, a space
for military training, and even a playground for
children, guarded by a perimeter fence. Money for
living expenses, Mr. Mohtadi says, comes from the
Kurdistan regional government, which has asked his
group, as well as the Kurdistan Democratic Party of
Iran, to refrain from launching military operations
inside Iran.
Mr. Mohtadi says he respects the wishes of his hosts
and is focusing his group's efforts on creating
political cells inside the Kurdish provinces, where
he estimates 10 million Iranian Kurds live.
The group's operations in Iran, as well as a
satellite television station based in Sweden, are
funded by private donations from inside Iran and
from Kurds in Europe and America, Mr. Mohtadi says.
Part of the Kurdish strategy in Iran is to form
alliances with other ethnic factions, such as the
Ahwaz Arabs, Baluchis, and Azeris, he says.
In this respect, Mr. Mohtadi does not favor Kurdish
separatism, a thorny issue that has kept many in the
Iranian opposition from forging close ties with the
Kurds.
"We believe in mobilizing people through mass
protests. When the time is right for armed struggle,
provided it is part of a political struggle, we
would consider it," he says.
The Komala Party has been affiliated with the
Socialist International. But Mr. Mohtadi says the
European left in particular has done little for his
cause. "There was never a clear strategy from our
European comrades in terms of Iranian opposition or
the Kurdish opposition," he says.
Toward the end of an interview with the Sun, Mr.
Mohtadi says he now thinks he has some common ground
with socialism's nemesis, Washington's
neoconservatives. "We have some things in common
with the neocons," he said. "We both believe in the
democratization of the whole Middle East."
nysun com
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Īranź or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatź
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
KDPI
The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in Kurdish
(Hīzbī Dźmokiratī Kurdistanī Źran) is a Kurdish
opposition group in Iranian Kurdistan which seeks
the attainment of Kurdish national rights within a
democratic federal republic of Iran.
The current
General Secretary of the Democratic Party of Iranian
Kurdistan is Mustafa Hijri
More about KDPI- Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran
**
Over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
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