In an interview with BBC Persian, aired in full Tuesday afternoon, Mustafa Hijri, the secretary general of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), said it was time for his party to take a new approach, including returning troops back to Iran from border bases in Iraq.
“After the passing of two decades during which our Peshmerga were absent among the people (in Iran), we are doing this again, that our Peshmerga make a presence among our people,” Hijri told BBC Persian.
“This means, if our Peshmerga make a presence in Iran and the Islamic Republic of Iran does not initiate attacks on them, we would not attack them, either.” he said
He explained the objective behind the new approach is for his party to have its “Peshmerga among the people, encourage and organize them and do political work with the people.”
The new approach, he claimed, had already been implemented last year, but “because the Islamic Republic (of Iran) did not attack our Peshmerga forces, there was no confrontation.”
With some 2,000 Peshmerga forces based in remote bordering areas, mainly in the Kurdistan Region, the PDKI is historically considered the most formidable Kurdish military organization opposing the Islamic Republic in Tehran.
Hijri said the Kurdish officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) this year asked the Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, including his party, “to stop armed attacks inside Iran, to avoid giving the Islamic Republic of Iran excuses to create problems for the Kurdistan Region.”
But he said “We rejected their demand. We said ‘we will carry on with our programs. We can no longer confine ourselves to a very limited number of political activities which unfortunately have achieved no results’ ”
Asked about the possibility of being pressured further by the KRG to change tactics, he said “Day after day we are planning to decrease the number of fighters we are sending to Iran from the Kurdistan Region, and we are starting to organize people from within Iran. We have this plan that Peshmerga will no longer cross the border. We hope we will reach this stage in the very near future.”
Hassan Sharafi, second-in-command of the PDKI, told Rudaw TV last July that his forces had silenced its guns against Iran for the sake of the Kurdistan Region. But he noted it “is not fair for one part of Kurdistan to sacrifice the interest of all other parts of Kurdistan for its own sake.”
Last May and June, there were clashes between armed groups from the PDKI and the Iranian security forces that resulted in tens dead or wounded on both sides. The Iranian government responded by shelling the border areas inside the Kurdistan Region.
On Saturday, Iran’s artillery attacked the Kurdistan Region’s northeastern border, which led to the displacement of at least 70 Kurdish families. The PDKI first said on its twitter account that its bases were the target, alongside civilians and agricultural lands, but in subsequent tweets it made no reference to the PDKI bases.
As to why Iranian Kurds need a military presence in Iran, Hijri said that the 20-year ceasefire “did not result in less militarization by Iran.” In fact, he argued, the absence of armed Peshmerga played into the hands of the Iranian narrative and weakened the Kurdish struggle.
He added that Iran, through its military approach, has proved it is very sensitive towards his party and other parties in Iran’s Kurdistan, often jailing its members and prosecuting them and that the presence of armed groups provides reassurance for the people.
“The presence of our armed Peshmerga is a strong and open support for our people,” he said.
He admitted that not all the people of (Iranian) Kurdistan support his party’s approach, but that “the majority of people demand it.”
In light of the resumed clashes, Hijri told Israel’s Jerusalem Post in late July that Israel should support opposition groups which are against Iran -- a controversial statement that yet again had Iranian authorities accusing the group of being a proxy for regional countries.
Hijri had told the Israeli newspaper Iran already supports groups like the Palestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah, who oppose Israel. Therefore, “Israel should be providing help to opposition groups standing against Iran.”
And just recently, a member of Hijri’s party appeared on Arabic media in Saudi Arabia attending the Hajj pilgrimage. His presence was interpreted by the Iranian media as PDKI and Saudi Arabia having some agreements.
Asked about this particular incident, he said the man who attended the Hajj was and is an ordinary member of the PDKI who has never held a senior position in the party.
Hijri denied they have any agreements with Saudi Arabia, or any other country.
“We have never had any meeting with the officials from Saudi Arabia, neither in Iraqi Kurdistan nor anywhere else in the world. We do not have any contract with any neighboring country or any other country regarding our struggle,” he said.
Hijri however maintained that they are open to receive military and financial help from any country, including Saudi Arabia, provided that it does not affect the “independence” of the party.
He said in the past they have asked the United States and other countries for help, but there has not been any response yet. For now, he said, “We are relying on the help we receive from our people in Iran and outside Iran.”
