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Iran prosecutor assassinated in tense
Kurdish region
19.1.2010
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January
19, 2010
KHOY,
Iranian Kurdistan,— Gunmen assassinated on Monday
the prosecutor of a northwestern region of Iran
where security forces have been battling Kurdish
separatists for years, local media reported.
"Vali Haji-Gholizadeh was shot dead at his door
step" in the town of Khoy, on the border with
Turkey, Fars news agency said.
The agency said the attackers fled the scene and
apparently left behind no traces, but added the
slain prosecutor had been "threatened in the past
few days."
"He had a brilliant record in battling
counter-revolutionaries, land-grabbing and moral
corruption," Fars reported. |
Former Khoy Prosecutor Vali Haji-Gholizadeh. Photo:
payvand com |
Northwestern Iran (Eastern Kurdistan), which has a
sizeable Kurdish population, has seen deadly
fighting in recent years between Iranian security
forces and members of the Iranian Party of Free Life
of Kurdistan (PJAK) as well as other Kurdish rebels
operating from bases in neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan
region (Southern Kurdistan).
PJAK is a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Confederation (Koma Civaken
Kurdistan or KCK),www.ekurd.netwhich is an alliance of outlawed Kurdish groups and divisions
led by an elected Executive Council.
Led by Haji Ahmadi, the PJAK’s objective is to establish a semi-autonomous
regional entities or Kurdish federal states in Iran, Turkey and Syria similar to
the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq.
Since
2004 the PJAK took up arms for self-rule in Kurdistan province northwestern of
Iran (Iranian Kurdistan, Eastern Kurdistan). Half the members of PJAK
are women. The PJAK has about 3,000 armed
militiamen.
The United States on February 4, 2009 added the Iranian Kurdish PJAK militant group
opposed to Iran
to its list of terrorist
organizations.
The group is closely allied with the Turkish Kurdish
rebel group, the Turkey Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK).
Since 1984 PKK took up
arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast
of Turkey (Turkey-Kurdistan) which has claimed
around 45,000 lives of Turkish soldiers and Kurdish
PKK guerrillas.
The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its
political wing on the European Union's terror list.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas,www.ekurd.net
the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey all have significant
ethnic Kurdish minorities. Estimate to 12 million
Kurds live in Iran.
Copyright,
respective author or news agency, AFP | Agencies
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