Iran’s Kurds: Ceasefire and diplomacy did not work, time for armed action
Erbil, Kurdistan region—Two decades after they silenced their guns in a unilateral ceasefire, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) under Mustafa Hejri resumed armed action against Iran last month, killing a number of revolutionary guards and losing at least eight of their Peshmerga in clashes in several border towns.
Loghman Ahmedi, head of KDPI foreign relations says that his party had not quit the struggle for the Kurds’ political and cultural rights in Iran in the last two decades, but had reduced armed actions out of consideration for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq where the KDPI maintains its main headquarters.
“The recent clashes are not new events,” he told Rudaw. “In the past years in order not to cause economic and security problems for the KRG we did not have any military actions, but for two years we have been working on the strategy that the KRG is now in good shape and world powers are supporting it,”
“The old threats are not there anymore; therefore we should not neglect the interests and fight of Iranian Kurdistan,” he added.
In a speech following days of confrontation with Iranian soldiers last month, KDPI leader Hejri called on his Peshmerga in the mountains and their supporters in the cities to join forces and move the struggle forward.
His call for armed action came in a Kurdish new year’s, Newroz, speech in March when he announced that the KDPI would dispatch some of its fighters into the cities to coordinate and work with their popular base.
Immediately following the resumption of fighting other Iranian Kurdish groups, mainly the Komala Party, expressed their support for the KDPI though they did not take part in any of the clashes.
“This is not the beginning of the military fight, there were always Peshmerga in Rojhelat,” deputy head of the Komala Party Raza Kaabi told Rudaw. “We have the right to defend ourselves,”
Kaabi said the recent clashes were part of a war that started more than three decades ago.
“Ayatollah Khomeini made a fatwa against the Kurds, and it’s been 38 years that the Islamic republic of Iran has been attacking the Kurds.” Kaabi added.
Hossein Yazdanpanah, deputy head of the Kurdistan Freedom Party known as (PAK) who shares the goal of achieving Kurdish rights in Iran through armed action, said that the timing of the resumption of the fight against Iran by the KDPI was right.
“In all other parts of Kurdistan the Kurdish movement is active and updating itself, but in Iranian Kurdistan we put on hold our activities out of respect for Iraqi Kurdistan,” he told Rudaw.
“Resuming the struggle inside Rojhelat (Iranian Kurdistan) is to bring back hope and the spirit of fight and defense to the people, also to support civil activities inside the cities of Iranian Kurdistan,” Yazdanpanah added.
Ahmedi, the KDPI foreign relations chief justified his party’s decision to renew their attacks against the Iranian army, saying that years of ceasefire and civil activities yielded no results with Tehran.
“Since it came to power the Islamic republic has imposed war on us,” he said. “For twenty years we wanted to fight for our rights in a different method, but Iran behaved worse against us,”
“Diplomatic and civil struggle cannot affect the Islamic republic,” he countered.
Though not all Kurdish groups crossed the border to clash with Iranian revolutionary guards as the KDPI did in the town of Shno and several villages, they all seem to agree that the time has come to renew the fight, especially as the Middle East is going through change.
“We have to be prepared for the post-ISIS era, as a new wave of change is on the way in the region,” Komala’s Kaabi explained. “Iran cannot go on interfering in Afghanistan and Middle East countries because this won’t be accepted.”
“And Iran is suffering from many internal crises and problems, there is a new social revolution on the way in Iran,” he argued.
Some commentators and analysts present a different argument. They question the timing of the fight while others doubt if such small skirmishes could achieve anything.
“They cannot continue activities from the Kurdistan Region due to the relations between the KRG and Iran,” said Zryan Rojhelati, a Kurdish analyst. “Also most Iranian Kurdish parties are based outside Iranian Kurdistan or on the borders, so they can’t do much in inside.”
Rojhelati believes that Iranian Kurdish groups are not united while the regime in Iran has gained much experience dealing with armed rebel groups through its fight with the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria.
“The organizational, military structure of the Kurdish parties is an issue,” he said. “Can they face the regime as Iran in the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq has got new experiences in how to fight armed groups?”
The KDPI attacks brought immediate reaction from Tehran. The army’s second-in-command Gen. Hossein Salami threatened to cross its western borders into the Kurdistan Region to crush the threat unless authorities in Erbil stopped such groups from using their territory for launching such attacks against Iran.
Michael Rubin, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute believes that the Iranian threats are more directed against Erbil than armed groups such as the KDPI, especially as the autonomous region is pursuing its quest for independence.
“They may be threatening Iranian groups inside Iraqi Kurdistan, but their real target is Erbil,” he told Rudaw. “Iraqi Kurdish secession is Iran's nightmare because they worry that not only Iranian Kurds, but also Baluchis and perhaps even Azeris would make similar demands for freedom” Rubin added.
Ahmedi echoed that Iran’s threats against the Kurdistan Region have nothing to do with his party’s actions.
“Often Iran has threatened the KRG that has had nothing to do with us,” he said. “Iran does not differentiate between the Iranian Kurdish parties and others, it will attack anyone, Iran sees the Kurds as one front.”
PAK leader Yazdanpanah stressed that Iranian Kurds should seize the chance to pursue their goals, advising the Kurdish government to not fear Iranian retaliation thanks to the international support Erbil enjoys today.
“Our expectation from the KRG is to support us,” said Yazdanpanah. “If they cannot then they should be neutral, southern Kurdistan is now supported by the big powers and it does not need Iran to sacrifice Rojhelat for.”
KDPI representative in Erbil Mohammed Salih Qadiri also made light of the Iranian saber-rattling, believing that any threat against Erbil would be a threat against western powers based in the region.
Following two days of confrontation between KDPI Peshmerga and Iranian soldiers in Shno, Iranian official statements accused Saudi Arabia of funding the armed group.
“The regional competition between Saudi Arabia and Iran, especially frequent statements from Saudi foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir, urging their allies to stop Iran’s influence in the region, encourages the idea of Saudi supporting Iranian oppositions in Baluchistan and Kurdistan to put pressure on Iran and restrain their influence in these regions,” said Dr. Reza Yeganehshakib, an Iran Expert at Corr Analytics in New York.
As far as the KDPI itself is concerned the fight against Iran is a just cause that will continue with or without international support. “Our movement and our fight is not linked to outside support,” Ahmedi, KDPI’s foreign relations chief said. “We were against the Shah when he was a main ally of the US, so no foreign policy can stop our struggle.”