ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s increasing pressure on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to take a stance against Kurdish opposition fighters stationed at the borders is concerning, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) told Rudaw on Tuesday following a merger with another Iranian Kurdish opposition party two days prior.
The KRG is being subjected to “demand under pressure” from Iran to eliminate the presence of the KDPI Peshmerga in the mountainous areas on the border, party leader Mustafa Hijri told Rudaw’s Nwenar Fatih, adding that the fighters remain stationed on the borders despite calls for their withdrawal.
The KDPI is a Kurdish party that has waged an on-and-off armed war against the Iranian government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It is based in the Kurdistan Region.
Hijri emphasized that his party takes the interests and “political and geographical situation” of the Region into consideration as it considers the KRG as its “own government” and does not want to create a hostile environment.
"Let us not create a situation where Iran can impose more pressure on the Kurdistan Region," he said.
Several armed Iranian Kurdish opposition parties based in the Region’s mountains are periodically shelled by Iran. They frequently clash with Iranian security forces in the Kurdish areas of western Iran, also known as Rojhelat.
The KDPI is “ready to stand up to the plans of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the best of our ability ... I think there is nothing that Iran has not done against us,” Hijri noted.
Founded in 1946 by Kurdish leader Qazi Muhammed in Mahabad, the KDPI is the oldest Iranian Kurdish party with its headquarters based in the Kurdistan Region’s Koya town.
In the 1980s, it waged war alongside other Kurdish parties against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other security forces in Iran's Kurdish region where larger opposition eventually forced them out. KDPI members have been based in the Kurdistan Region since then, prompting Iran to shell the Region in an effort to target the group.
However, a faction of the party split following its 13th congress in 2006 and formed the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDP-Iran) - both banned in Iran - due to internal disputes, but announced their reunification on Sunday following a series of talks.
The KDPI branded its reunification as a “new stage” in its struggle against the Islamic Republic.
Hijri said Kurdish political figures congratulated the KDPI for their reunion, but they have not received official congratulatory statements from actual political parties, including the Kurdistan Region’s giants - the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
"Although I feel their political position and the pressure and political problems they have, I do not think this is the right attitude, because congratulating the Kurds on a victory is bigger than paying attention to Iran," Hijri said.
The KDPI leadership and affairs will be run by a 12-person central committee for a maximum period of one year until all aspects of the KDP-Iran are merged with the party and a congress is held to finalize the leadership.
As part of the merger, Secretary-General Hijri will lead the party's administration while former KDP-Iran leader Khalid Azizi will become the party's spokesperson.
Azizi told Rudaw’s Ranja Jamal on Monday that the KDPI would be ready to sit down and negotiate with Iran but Tehran is "not ready for negotiations" and has not shown a serious will to address the Kurdish issues in its western Region.
Iran in July arrested a group of 10 Peshmerga fighters belonging to the leftist Iranian Kurdish party Komala.
Iran fired a dozen ballistic missiles at the headquarters of the KDPI and KDP-Iran in Koya in September 2018.
The two parties unified following reports from a rights organization that Tehran has stationed large numbers of heavily armed troops on the border areas between Iran and the Kurdistan Region in an attempt to “infiltrate” the Region’s borders.
