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Paris: Main Iranian opposition groups seek
unity against government
15.6.2007
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June 15, 2007
Paris, France, -- Iran's diverse opposition
groups are in the French capital Paris over the
weekend in an attempt to join forces and form an
umbrella group against the ultraconservative
government of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The
roughly 300 delegates taking part in the conference
- including ten from Iran - represent all the
different strands of the Iranian diaspora - former
Marxists, monarchists who left the country after the
1979 Islamic revolution, nationalists, students,
women's rights activists, as well as representatives
of Iran's religious and ethnic minorities.
Opening the conference Friday, Shahu Hosseini, the
leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
(PDKI), stressed the need to preserve Iran's
multi-ethnic society saying that "only by
guaranteeing the rights of ethnic groups will the
difficult construction of a democracy be possible."
"The only guarantee to safeguard Iran's territorial
integrity is to create the conditions for a
voluntary unity among ethnic groups in the country,"
he added.
The conference is being attended by representatives
of Iran's significant minorities - including the
largest Azeri 24 percent, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8
percent, Kurd 7 percent, Arab 3 percent, Lur, Baloch
and Turkmen 2 percent - who accuse the Persian
majority (51 percent) of significant discrimination.
Also expected in Paris - where security measures
have been boosted to safeguard participants,
especially those coming from Iran - will be
reformists in the government of former president
Mohammad Khatami, Mohsen Sazgara, one of the
founders of Iran's revolutionary guard, the Pasdaran,
as well as leaders of the students' movement and
women's rights activists who have organised a number
of rallies in the past few weeks to protest against
a government crackdown on civil liberties.
The closed-doors gathering, which is expected to
conclude on Sunday, is being closely followed by EU
countries and the
US as well as the host country France, which is
unofficially represented by a senior presidential
official.
adnki 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
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
Others estimate 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.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
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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