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Kurdish guerillas launch clandestine war
in Iran
10.9.2007
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September 10, 2007
Kurdish guerrillas have launched a clandestine war
in north-western Iran, ambushing troops as they seek
Western backing to secure an ethnic homeland.
In retaliation, the Iranian army has carried out a
series of counter-attacks in the mountains, which
span the border with Iraq.
Murat Karayilan, a Kurdish guerilla commander, told
The Daily Telegraph that Teheran had originally
tried to recruit the outlawed groups to fight
coalition troops in Iraq.
"The US and Britain came to Iraq to establish a
democratic system, but this scared the Iranians, so
they negotiated with us and offered many things to
attack the coalition," he said under a canopy of
trees near his headquarters on Iraqi territory in
the Qandil mountains.
"But we told the Iranians that the US and Britain
were going to solve the Kurdish problem and we will
be with them."
Iranian newspapers have reported the deaths of seven
soldiers in recent clashes with Kurdish guerrillas.
Last month, the rebels claimed responsibility for
shooting down an Iranian helicopter.
A loose alliance of guerrillas, styling itself the
Kurdistan Democratic Federation, is fighting for an
independent state which would cover the
Kurdish-majority areas of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and
Syria. |
PEJAK Kurdish woman fighter, (PEJAK - Party for a
Free Life in Kurdistan), PEJAK fights against the
Iran regime for self-rule in the country's
mainly Kurdistan province northwestern of Iran AP |
Mr Karayilan, who is from the PKK guerilla group,
said that Iran and Turkey were acting in tandem to
repress their Kurdish regions. But, he added, the
Kurds have been inspired by the autonomous Kurdish
region in northern Iraq, which has been relatively
secure since Saddam Hussein's downfall in 2003.
"The regional government in Iraqi Kurdistan has
increased the national feeling of Kurds everywhere,"
he said.
Iran believes that the US and Britain are now arming
and training the Kurdish guerrillas to strike its
territory from bases inside Iraq.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National
Security Council, accused the US of supporting
terrorism inside the Islamic Republic.
"America wants to carry out actions such as blowing
up the country's oil pipelines by supporting bandits
and small groups of Kurdish rebels," he told the
Iranian press.
In the Qandil mountains, signs of a conflict
gathering momentum are easily found.
US army helicopters are reportedly used to shuttle
officers to regular meetings with Kurdish fighters.
There is a landing pad complete with spotlights near
Mr Karayilan's headquarters, while four-wheel-drive
vehicles belonging to a US private security
contractor, are easily seen.
PKK officials say privately that its fighters have
left in recent months to join cells inside Iran.
But Mr Karayilan, an apparently jovial figure who
delights in the literal translation of his surname,
Black Snake, suggests that the US has so far done
too little for the Kurds.
"We are defending the developments in the region
since 2003," he said. "In this we are ready to be on
the right side and have the benefits of that.
"So far we keep our stance apart because American
and Britain are not doing enough to help us."
Meanwhile, artillery shells are reportedly fired
into this region almost every day and families have
been forced to abandon summer farmsteads.
"Every day it gets worse," said Abdullah Hamid, 52.
"I have crops still in the ground but I can't take
it any more."
Iran has denied responsibility for the shelling. Yet
Abdulwahid Gwany, the mayor of nearby Chomin,
recalls a telling encounter with his counterpart on
the other side of the border.
"I was showing him some photos on my desk when he
saw one of Tony Blair with our Kurdish president. He
was so startled he left immediately."
telegraph co.uk
Iranian Kurdistan
**
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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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