ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an Iran-based armed group widely believed to be an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), on Monday said it will continue its armed struggle against Tehran despite PKK’s decision to dissolve itself and end its decades-long armed struggle against Ankara.
“We, as PJAK, will neither lay down arms nor dissolve ourselves,” Amir Karimi, PJAK co-chair, told Aryen TV, a Sweden-based channel affiliated with Iran-based Kurdish political parties.
The comments come as last week the PKK announced its dissolution, responding to a call from its jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, to end the armed struggle and pursue a political and democratic struggle.
PJAK, which was founded in 2003, said Ocalan’s call did not apply to them.
“The decision to dissolve the PKK is their own decision as a party; PJAK's decision on this matter is different and does not include us,” Karimi said. However, he described Ocalan’s call as “significant and positive for resolving the Kurdish issue throughout the Middle East.”
Karimi emphasized that PJAK supports bringing the Kurdish issue into the political arena in all parts of the region. “The weapons we have are for self-defence, not for fighting,” he said, adding that PJAK declared a ceasefire in 2011 and has no plans to attack unless provoked.
“PJAK's strategic foundation is not classical national armed struggle; it is for legitimate self-defence,” he said.
PJAK operates from bases in the Kurdistan Region’s Mount Qandil, where the PKK is also headquartered. The group has clashed with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is banned in Iran, which designates PJAK and similar groups as terrorist organizations.
Several Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups, including PJAK, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), Komala, and the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), have been relocated away from the Iran-Kurdistan Region border as part of a 2023 security agreement between Baghdad and Tehran. Iran has frequently targeted these groups with cross-border strikes, accusing them of inciting unrest inside its borders.
