March 25, 2011
BERLIN, Germany, — The leader of the
Iranian Kurdish rebel group, Party for the Free Life
of Kurdistan (PJAK), whose militants are based in
the mountains of Iraq's northern Kurdistan region,
says that the Iranian and Syrian regimes will
inevitably fall due to revolutions like those in
Egypt and Tunisia, and that the United States of
America supports the recent wave of revolutions in
the Middle East and North Africa.
The PJAK is an offshoot of the rebel Turkish-based
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and is led by Abdul
Rahman Haji Ahmadi, who lives in exile in Germany.
The PJAK states it is striving for democratic
confederalism within the state boundaries of Iran.
Haji Ahmadi spoke to Rudaw by email about the
possible implications of the ongoing revolutions in
the Middle East for the Kurds in general, and
specifically for those under the Syrian and Iranian
governments.
Revolutions are inevitable
|
Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi, PJAK leader, says
anti-government protests sweeping the Middle East
and North Africa will reach Iran as well. Photo:
Rudaw |
|
Haji Ahmadi says the recent revolutions originating
in North Africa will inevitably have a profound
impact on all the dictatorships in the Middle East,
and they “are not against the USA, but the USA
supports them.”
“Those peoples are revolting against dictators,
lawlessness, poverty, greed and corruption,” he said
in the email.
The PJAK leader says he is convinced the various
ethnic groups living in Iran and Syria will also be
freed from the totalitarian regimes that govern
them.
“This is the end of the era of the dictators,” he
said. “With their speeches, [Iranian President
Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and [Syrian President Bashar]
Assad cannot change the path that the peoples in
Iran and Syria are on.”
Although Haji Ahmadi says the Iranian regime will
eventually fall, he argues that cooperation is
needed to make this happen.
“The Iranian government will not fall just by the
Kurdish people revolting,” he said. “But, if all the
nations in Iran start a revolution together, then
they will be able to bring the Iranian government
down.”
Kurdistan region in Iraq
Reflecting the recent allegations by Iraqi
Kurdistan’s government-controlled media that Iran is
supporting the ongoing anti-government protests in
Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaimaniyah city,www.ekurd.netHaji
Ahmadi says neighboring Iran could play a role in
destabilizing the semiautonomous Kurdistan region.
“The Iranian government is a big enemy of the
Kurdish nation,” he said. “It is trying to undermine
the prosperity and stability of the Kurds in the
south of Kurdistan [Iraqi Kurdistan] by every means
possible.”
But, Haji Ahmadi says the Iraqi Kurdistan government
bares an important responsibility to make sure it
stays free from any unwanted meddling by other
countries or powers.
“If the Kurdistan Regional Government considers its
responsibility as a patriotic one, and they create a
state of law, provide justice for the people, work
for the people and fight corruption, then Iran or
any other enemy of the Kurds will not be able to
make our country [greater Kurdistan] an unsafe one,”
he said.
Talks between the PJAK and Iran
Asked if it would be possible for the PJAK to
conduct unofficial secret dialogue with the Iranian
regime, as the outlawed PKK had previously done with
the Turkish government, Haji Ahmadi said he did not
have any hope this could ever be possible, given the
current political system in Iran.
“The political systems in Iran and Turkey are two
totally different systems,” he said. “Turkey is a
semi-democratic country, and for such a country…it
is not impossible to have dialogue and
correspondence and even to acknowledge the rights of
other nations. But for a government that is a
totalitarian dictatorship I can say that it is
virtually impossible.”
Jundallah and its executed leader
Jundallah is a militant group based in the part of
greater Baluchistan that lies within the borders of
the Islamic Republic of Iran. Its founder and
leader, Abdolmalek Rigi, was captured and executed
in Iran in 2010.
“We have no connection whatsoever with Jundallah,”
said Haji Ahmadi, when asked about the possible ties
between the PJAK and Jundallah, and if Rigi’s
execution had made the Baluchi group powerless.
“Until the Baluchi people achieve their right of
self-determination, and while injustice and
oppression is still being imposed on the Baluchi
people, the Baluchi people will support Jundallah,
and Jundallah will retain its strength.”
Iranian nuclear scientists
In November 2010, a series of assassination attempts
in the Iranian capital Teheran resulted in the
injuring and killing of several Iranian nuclear
scientists. Iranian authorities blamed agents of
Israel and the US, and the PJAK is often accused by
Iran of being such an agent, yet Haji Ahmadi denies
any involvement.
“The PJAK is not involved in this and does not know
who is involved in this matter,” he said.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency,
rudaw.net
Top |
®
