Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan

Coordinates: 36°03′52″N 44°36′13″E / 36.0644°N 44.6036°E / 36.0644; 44.6036
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Kurdistan Democratic Party (Iran).

36°03′52″N 44°36′13″E / 36.0644°N 44.6036°E / 36.0644; 44.6036

Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
Hîzbî Dêmokiratî Kurdistanî Êran
Secretary-GeneralMustafa Hijri
FounderQazi Muhammad
Founded16 August 1945; 78 years ago (1945-08-16)
Split fromTudeh Party of Iran[1]
Headquarters
Membership (2008)1,200–1,800
Left-wing[9]
National affiliation
International affiliationSocialist International (Consultative member)
Progressive Alliance
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
Slogan"Democracy for Iran, Autonomy for Kurdistan"[12]
Website
pdki.org
LeadersMustafa Barzani (1940s)[13]
Dates of operation
  • 1945–1946
  • 1966–1967
  • 1977–1978[14]
  • 1979–1996
  • 2016–present
Active regions
West Azerbaijan Provinces in Iran
Size
  • 12,750 infantry and cavalry (1946 estimate)[13]
  • 10,000–25,000 (1979–1983 estimate)[15]
  • 7,000–10,000 regulars plus 14,000–20,000 part-time guerillas (1980 estimate)[16]
  • 12,000 Peshmergas along with 60,000 armed peasants (1982 estimate)[17]
  • 1,500 (1996 estimate)[14]
  • 1,200–1,800 (2008 estimate)[3]
Allies
Opponents

The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI; Kurdish: حیزبی دێموکراتی کوردستانی ئێران, romanized: Hîzbî Dêmukratî Kurdistanî Êran, HDKA; Persian: حزب دموکرات کردستان ایران, romanized: Ḥezb-e Demokrāt-e Kordestān-e Īrān), also known as the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), is an armed leftist ethnic party of Kurds in Iran, exiled in northern Iraq.[27] It is banned in Iran and thus not able to operate openly.[28] The group calls for self-determination of Kurdish people,[12] and has been described as seeking either separatism[29][30][17] or autonomy within a federal system.[27][31]

Since 1979, KDPI has waged a persistent guerrilla war against the

terrorist organization.[32] Hyeran Jo of Texas A&M University classifies KDPI as "compliant rebels", i.e. rebels that kill fewer than 100 and refrain from killing for more than half of their operating years. According to Jo, in order to gain domestic and international legitimacy, the KDPI denounces violence against civilians, claiming commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Geneva Convention Article 3, and as of 2007 is one of the signatories to the Geneva Call's ban on anti-personnel mines.[33]

History

Early years

Republic of Kurdistan, of which he formally became president. The Republic lasted less than a year: after the USSR retreated from the area, the Imperial Iranian army first reclaimed Iranian Azerbaijan, followed by Mahabad on 15 December 1946.[35] After the fall of the Republic, many of the PDKI leaders were arrested and executed, effectively ending the party.[36]

Against the Shah

The PDKI cooperated with the

Tudeh party and saw a short revival under the anti-Shah administration of Mohammad Mosaddegh (1951–53), but this ended after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi took full control again in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état. In 1958, the PDKI was on the verge of unifying with the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), but was then dismantled by the SAVAK secret police. The remains of the PDKI continued to support the KDP, but this changed as the Shah started aiding the KDP, which fought against the Iraqi regime that had overthrown the royal Hashemite dynasty. In return for the Shah's aid, the KDP decreased its support for the PDKI.[37]

The PDKI reorganised itself, marginalising its pro-KDP leader Abd-Allah Ishaqi (also known as Ahmad Tawfiq), adding new communist and nationalist members, and forming the Revolutionary Committee to continue the struggle against the Iranian regime. The Committee began an unsuccessful revolution in March 1967, ending after 18 months.[34][36][37]

After reforms by a new leader,

Khomeini's new Islamic Republic, however, refused the Kurdish demands, suppressing the PDKI and other Kurdish parties. The PDKI continued its activities in exile, hoping to achieve "Kurdish national rights within a democratic federal republic of Iran".[36]

Against the Islamic Republic

In January 1981, Iraq supported the party in the Iranian cities of

Nowdesheh and Qasr-e Shirin and provided weapons supplies to the PKDI.[39] This move was made so as the party stops Tehran from using the Tehran-Baghdad highway. The PKDI hoped as well to establish a level of autonomy in the area. However, the Iranian forces staged a series of debilitating attacks against the KDPI, leaving them a "marginal military factor during much of the Iran–Iraq War".[39]

In 1997, the party's call for abstaining the

Kurdistan Province, a large number voted for Mohammad Khatami.[40]

In 2016, the organization announced it was reviving its armed struggle following death of Farinaz Khosravani and subsequent Mahabad riots.[41]

Mykonos restaurant assassinations

Ayatollah Rafsanjani.[44]

Vienna assassination

On 13 July 1989, the then PDKI leader Abdul Ghassemlou arrived in Vienna with his delegation to have talks with Iranian diplomats regarding the terms of reconciliation between the central government in Tehran and the Kurds. Those were not the only talks with Iran held in Vienna. After they entered the conference hall and the talks started, the Iranian "diplomats" took out automatic weapons and murdered all of the members of the Kurdish delegation, including Abdul Ghassemlou.[45]

PDKI congresses

The PDKI has held fifteen congresses. These occurred in 1945, 1964, 1973, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2018.[46]

During the 20th Congress of the Socialist International, held at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City (9–11 September 1996), the PDKI was given the status of observer member. In 2005, the PDKI's membership was elevated to consultative status.

Secretaries-General

Military wing

PDKI fighters (2013)

The military wing of the PDKI is named PDKI Pershmerga.

Reunity

Both wings of PDKI and PDK reunited on August 21, 2022 and build again Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan.

New leading team

The leading team until the joint Congress calls Executive Board. This board has 12 members leading by Mustafa Hijri. The leading team abroad or Executive Board Abroad has 6 members who are: Kwestan Gadani, Azad Azizi, Mohammad Rasoul Karimi, Aso Saleh, Kaveh Abdali and Rahim Mohammad Zadeh.

References

  1. ISBN 0-691-10134-5
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  3. ^ a b Iran Defence and Security Report, Including 5-Year Industry Forecasts, Business Monitor International, 2008 [Q1], archived from the original on 2017-02-28, retrieved 2017-02-27
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-292-75813-1
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  5. ISBN 978-0-313-34163-2
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  6. ISBN 978-1-873194-30-0
    . The KDPI (which had moved to the left in the meantime) adopted an anti-imperialist position, declaring their opposition to the Shah's regime...
  7. ISBN 978-1-78076-823-6
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  8. ^ Abdulla Hawez (7 July 2016). "Iranian Kurds Are Rising Up Against the Mullahs". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  9. ISBN 978-1-349-25014-1
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    ISBN 978-1-317-04590-8
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  11. ISBN 978-0-691-10134-7
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  12. ^ a b Martin Van Bruinessen (20 July 1986). "Major Kurdish Organizations in Iran". Middle East Research and Information Project. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  13. ^ a b Michael G. Lortz (2005). "The Kurdish Warrior Tradition and the Importance of the Peshmerga". Willing to Face Death: A History of Kurdish Military Forces - the Peshmerga - from the Ottoman Empire to Present-day Iraq (M.A.). Florida State University Libraries. p. 27.
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-1-62371-033-0
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  15. ^
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  16. ISBN 978-0-674-91571-8
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  17. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4128-0469-1
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  18. ISBN 978-0-19-025090-4
    . For example, the Soviet Union supported the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), first against the shah's regime in Iran and then against the religious revolutionary regime. Throughout the Cold War period, the Soviet funds were regularly channeled to the KDPI.
  19. OCLC 430736528
    . Throughout much of the 1980s, the KDPI received aid from the Ba'thi regime of Saddam Hussein, but Ghassemlou broke with Baghdad in 1988 after Iraq used chemical weapons against Kurds in Halabja and then forced Kurdish villagers to...
  20. ISBN 978-0-521-68426-2
    . The Iraqi PUK and Iranian KDPI have often assisted each other, and roughly 5,000 Kurdish volunteers from Turkey went to Iran to fight Khomeini's government forces in 1979.
  21. ISBN 978-0-7509-2171-8
    . The KDPI and Komala agreed to cooperate in late 1982 and enjoyed two years of military success, but when they split...
  22. ISBN 978-1-61069-553-4
    . Moreover, in August 2012, the KDPI and the Komala, now led by Abdullah Mohtadi, reached a strategic agreement calling for federalism in Iran to undo the national oppression suffered by the Kurds.
  23. ISBN 978-1-136-83300-7
    .
  24. ISBN 978-0-8108-7507-4
    . During the late 1940s and the early 1950s, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) cooperated closely with the Tudeh, or Iranian Communist Party.
  25. ISBN 978-1-56859-193-3
    . Between 1984 and 1991, the KDPI and Komala fought each other vigorously.
  26. ^ It is banned in Iran and thus not able to operate openly.Hajir Sharifi. "PKK- PDKI clash exposes decades of cold war". Rudaw. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  27. ^
    ISBN 978-0-944029-39-8
  28. ^ United Kingdom: Home Office, Country Information and Guidance - Iran: Kurds and Kurdish political groups, July 2016, Version 2.0, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/578f67c34.html [accessed 18 March 2017]
  29. ^ "Iranian Kurds Return to Arms". Stratfor. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  30. ISBN 978-1-4422-0996-1
  31. ^ Prunhuber, Carol (February 18, 2012). "QĀSEMLU, ʿABD-AL-RAḤMĀN". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica. Bibliotheca Persica Press. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  32. ^ Golnaz Esfandiari (29 June 2016). "Explainer: What's Behind Sudden Clashes In Northwestern Iran?". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
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  36. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4985-0757-8
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  37. ^
    ISBN 978-1-85043-416-0
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  38. ^ "Praguer Ghassemlou". Yekta Uzunoglu. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  39. ^ a b Entessar, Nader. "The Kurdish Factor in Iran-Iraq Relations". The Middle East Institute. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  40. ISBN 978-1-84277-475-5
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  41. ^ Return to Arms: Hadaka. 26 Apr 2017. Al Jazeera. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  42. ^ "Hostage - 1". Yekta Uzunoglu. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  43. ^ Melman, Yossi (2008-04-02). "Israel fails to prevent Germany freeing Iranian". Haaretz.com. Archived from the original on 2009-04-01. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  44. ^ Hakakian, Roya (4 October 2007). "The End of the Dispensable Iranian". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  45. ^ "Hostage - 4". Yekta Uzunoglu. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  46. ^ "About". Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan. 2017-08-19. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
  47. ISBN 978-0-8108-7507-4
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External links
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