The following is an edited transcript of Rudaw’s interview with Raza Kaabi, deputy head of the opposition Iranian-Kurdish Komala Party.
Rudaw: As an Iranian opposition group what do you think of Iran saying it would provide the Kurdistan Region with political and security assistance?
Raza Kaabi: I think from its establishment the Islamic Republic has played a very destructive role against Kurdish freedom movements. It has done its best to exploit every situation in the region to its interest, and I think Iran has played a destructive role among Kurdish political groups.
Rudaw: But in the 1990s, and even before that, Iran always opened its borders to Kurdish refugees, without which thousands of people could have died of cold and starvation.
Raza Kaabi: I think any other country or regime would have done for Kurdish refugees what Iran did. It wasn’t the Iranian government that helped the refugees, but the Kurdish people of Iran who helped along the borders and fed and housed Kurdish refugees in their homes, schools and mosques.
Rudaw: Is Iran giving any genuine help to the Kurdistan Region?
Raza Kaabi: I think that Iran is only trying to advance its own interests and get a foothold. As much as possible, Iran has created different armed groups to protect the interests of the Islamic Republic. Often, it has helped Islamic groups to destroy things. The interests of the Kurdistan Region and Iran are never the same.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) are and have been two major parties in the history of Kurdish politics, and therefore Iran or Turkey or any other neighboring country cannot afford not to take these two parties into account. The PUK and KDP are running a country of six million and they share borders with Iran and Turkey and other countries.
Rudaw: Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif recently said Tehran will offer political and security help to Kurdistan. Do you believe that?
Raza Kaabi: Iran’s former President (Hashemi) Rafsanjani once said that Iran will fight its wars outside its borders. That is what they are doing now: they are fighting the Islamic State outside their borders.
Rudaw: What do you think of the optimism of Kurdish leaders here who say that Kurdistan benefits from relations with Iran and Turkey?
Raza Kaabi: Turkey is a little different from Iran. Its political structure is different and it is more open than Iran. The Islamic Republic is a merciless theological dictatorship. But in order to preserve the political and economic stability of their region, Kurdish leaders here have to deal with their neighboring countries.
Rudaw: But can you really deal with your neighboring country and build relations with them by compromising your land and integrity?
Raza Kaabi: I rather speak as an opposition group against Iran. We believe Iran is an occupying regime and we believe it should get out of Iranian Kurdistan.
Kurdish groups across the borders need to strengthen their relations -- as they were years ago when they were based in the mountains. In the past month-and-a-half, because all groups joined hands to fight the Islamic State, their relations improved once again, regardless of what Turkey or Iran think. That makes me optimistic.
Rudaw: Have you and Iran somehow come an understanding?
Raza Kaabi: I don’t think we and Iran have come together. In this war, as in any other situation, Iran is only pursuing its own agenda. Iran is trying to keep the war away from its borders.
Rudaw: Do you think Iran helps IS fighters from Pakistan and Afghanistan to come through the country and join the IS?
Raza Kaabi: It certainly does. In the past three or four decades Iran has sheltered all those groups. Therefore, what we do cannot be counted as coordination with Iran against the IS. What we do is to protect the achievements of the Kurdistan Region, Kurdish land and preserve Kurdish freedom movements in the Middle East.
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