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Germany concerned about Kurdish PJAK
activities
15.4.2008
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April
15, 2008
A new Kurdish party, the PJAK, is causing Germany's
intelligence agencies concern. Public prosecutors
are investigating whether the group, whose leader
lives in Cologne, is a terrorist organization.
No one knows exactly when Umut C., an inconspicuous
building cleaner from the southern German state of
Baden-Württemberg, became a fanatic Kurdish fighter.
It must have some time in 2006 when the hip hop
posters disappeared from his bedroom, followed by
his dumb bells, and then finally himself. The last
that Umut's grandmother heard from him were a few
brief words over the telephone: "I have to go away
now."
It seems very likely that the 21-year-old
German-born Turk is now in the inhospitable
mountains along Iraq's border with Iran. The young
man from Göppingen is thought to be training as a
guerrilla to fight against the Iranian army -- sent
by the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK).
The group, which was only founded in 2004, has close
ties with the successor organization to the banned
Kurdish separatist group, the PKK, and now operates
a militia in northern Iraq. PJAK troops have
repeatedly launched operations inside Iranian
territory and, according to the Kurdish group, more
than 100 Iranian soldiers have been killed in
clashes.
In Germany, the previously unknown group is now
causing a considerable amount of disquiet -- amongst
politicians and intelligence agencies. Last July,
Tehran sent a verbal note to the German ambassador
to protest about the alleged indifference on the
part of the German government to the PJAK's
"terrorist activities." |
PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan), Since
2004 PJAK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdistan province northwestern of
Iran (Iranian Kurdistan, Eastern KURDISTAN). Half the members of PJAK
are women. |
The Iranians are
particularly annoyed by the fact that the political
leader of the PJAK is a man with a German passport:
Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi,www.ekurd.net
who was born in Iran in
1941 and now lives in Cologne. When Ahmadi, an
agricultural engineer by training, is not inspecting
the troops in Kurdistan, he lives in an
inconspicuous apartment in Germany whose walls are
covered with images of Kurdish martyrs. It is from
here that he coordinates what he calls the "freedom
campaign" of the Kurdish people for "political and
cultural human rights."
German security experts hold very different views of
the PJAK. While the domestic intelligence agency,
the Office for the Protection of the Constitution,
says the PJAK's activities in Germany are barely
worth mentioning, the Federal Prosecutor's Office
has already launched an investigation -- although
not against any specific individual. The
prosecutor's office is investigating whether
Ahmadi's PJAK is a "terrorist group," as defined by
German law, and is taking a close look at its
structure and members.
Ahmadi, however, rejects any terrorism allegations.
He told SPIEGEL the clashes with the Iranian
military were merely intended to aid the
"self-defence of Kurds", who were "constantly being
attacked" by Iran. He added that he hoped "democracy
would be introduced in Iran."
Ahmadi also admitted there were "dead on both sides"
and that it was "normal" for his followers to be
armed with pistols and Kalashnikovs. Asked about an
Iranian helicopter which is believed to have been
shot down by the PJAK, Ahmadi explained: "That could
also be done with a single shot." A uniformed
guerrilla from Germany told the German TV show
"Monitor" in detail about his Russian sniper-rifle
and remote-controlled booby-trap training.
The actions of the so-called freedom fighters could
have wider consequences for German politics than the
mere exchange of diplomatic notes. A German security
expert warned about the "nightmare scenario" of a
PJAK partisan with a German passport being locked up
in Iran. He says the German government would then
have to offer consular support for its imprisoned
citizen -- and would end up being dragged
inadvertently into the Iranian crisis.
The German government's position is already
complicated enough, as militias are of strategic use
-- especially now -- to the United States. On the
one hand they secure America's influence in northern
Iraq, while on the other hand they destabilize the
arch-enemy Iran and tie down its troops in
impassable border areas.
Robert Baer, a former CIA operative who worked for
many years in northern Iraq and who retains strong
ties to the Kurdish political scene, told SPIEGEL:
"I understand that the US provides intelligence to
PJAK so that they are better able to protect
themselves in any conflict with the Iranians. This
force protection intelligence is given to them
through the Delta Forces."
The German foreign intelligence agency, the
Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), is also interested in
the PJAK: one of its agents has already visited
Ahmadi.
But these kinds of associations are not much good
for the party's public reputation. Instead, the
party's members prefer to dream suitably
propagandistic dreams about "the sun of freedom" in
Persia. But when it comes to the fate of Umut C.,
the young Kurd from Göppingen, they are keeping
quiet.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, spiegel
de
Iranian Kurdistan
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Îranê or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatê
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
PJAK
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 PEJAK is strongly
supportive of women's rights. PEJAK 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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