The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan’s Endeavours Aimed at Finding Peaceful Solutions for Resolving the Kurdish Issue in Iran
Preliminary Stage: 1945-79
Founded in 1945, Democratic Party of Kurdistan held its first congress in December of that year, in which its political platform and programme were adopted. Following the congress, and under the free, political circumstances which had arisen after the collapse of the despotic rule of Reza Shah, the Party’s political activities made an auspicious beginning under the motto of autonomy for Kurdistan within the framework of Iran. Accordingly, all its members and advocates ardently embarked on the task of expanding democracy, promoting cultural and administration rights, as well as fighting against illiteracy – a set of important steps aimed at eradicating the last remnants of absolute dictatorship of monarchy. Thus, an autonomous administration was established in the Iranian Kurdistan.
In response to a question put to him concerning PDK’s political activities, Ghazi Muhammad, the Party leader and the President of the Republic of Kurdistan, said:
The Iranian Kurds are entitled to enjoy the right to administer their own internal affairs through an autonomous government, with the Kurdish language used in official correspondence and taught at all the levels of education in the region, and the local administration staff locally appointed as well. Besides, in compliance with the Constitution of Iran, the provincial council of Kurdistan should be established with the members freely elected from among the Kurdish people, an establishment which will supervise the affairs of the region.(1)
Stressing the aforesaid points, Ghazi Muhammad made it quite clear that whatever he intended to achieve for his people were to be attained in conformity with the Constitution.
Following the publication of his statements in an interview conducted by the Iranian journalists, die-hard enemies of freedom and democracy went all the lengths to stir up public agitation against the views expressed by Democratic Party of Kurdistan and those reflected in its Programme concerning the way Kurdistan was to be administered. The misleading propaganda reached a point where The Majlis (Parliament) and the Central Government launched out against the Party accusing it of having severed Kurdistan from the rest of Iran, turning it into an independent state, and thus “playing into the enemy’s hand”! (2)
Trying to invigorate the peace process in cooperation with the Central Government, Ghazi Muhammad took a trip to Tehran on June 26, 1946, where he was the official guest of the government. His meeting with then the Prime Minister, and the matters discussed in the sessions held, took place in – apparently – a friendly spirit, with the results of the negotiations summarized as: The whole region of Iranian Kurdistan, including Sanandaj, should be integrated as a single geographical unit and made to a province, with Ghazi Muhammad appointed as its governor general.(3)
Irane-ma newspaper referring to Ghazi Muhammad’s mission to Tehran reported as follow: Kurdish people believe that the leader of Kurdistan is intrinsically a peace-loving man trying to solve the Kurdish issue in Iran in such a way as to strengthen freedom and democracy in Iran and Kurdistan.(4)
In answering to a question asked by the editor of Rahbar newspaper concerning the outcome of his negotiations with the Prime Minister, Ghazi Muhammad had a good appraisal, saying: “I found the Prime-minister well-intended. That is why I can expect an auspicious future. I hope the Central Government will succeed to establish democracy throughout Iran.”(5)
In his endeavours to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Iran, Ghazi Muhammad was really bound and determined; however, just at the start of negotiations, the army commanders in Tehran were busy making arrangements for a military aggression against the de facto autonomous region of Kurdistan, he did not distance himself from his non-violent position, strongly believing in peaceful procedures to remove obstacles existing in the way of accommodating the demands of the Kurds in Iran.(6)
The Shah and the ruling body of his regime, though, had got used to dictatorship to such an extent that they had defied any attempt made by the Iranian people towards freedom and democracy, and suppressed any move in that direction; consequently, no one could expect that freedom and democracy could be established in Iran solely by the empty statements made by Ghawamul-saltaneh, the Prime-Minister then. Besides, the puppet show performed under the cloak of negotiations was entirely to mislead the Kurdish people, with none of the authorities believing in the national rights of diverse peoples in Iran. Accordingly, when the internal and international circumstances were made favourable enough for the central government, the Iranian army launched offenses against the Republic in December 1946.
Kurdistan, the official organ of PDK, referring to the fruitless negotiations in Tehran and the army’s aggression, wrote in its 57 issue:
The failure of negotiations in Tehran demonstrated beyond any doubt that the real power is still in the hands of ruble-rousers defending the interests of Imperialists. While on one hand our delegation was striving to negotiate with the authorities in Tehran, and all freedom-loving strata of Iranian peoples were anticipating a peaceful solution on the other, the Iranian troops deployed between Saqiz and the provincial centre of Kurdistan Province embarked on their wicked end… We, the Kurdish people, raise our voice to inform all our compatriots and the nations across the world that we resolutely abhor fratricide and bloodshed.
Having recaptured Mahabad on December 17, 1947, theShah’s army abolished one and all democratic achievements of the autonomous Kurdistan in cultural, social and administrative fields; sinister despotic rule was once again imposed on Kurdistan; the president of the autonomous region and his close associates were imprisoned and hanged shortly afterwards. Had there been in Iran a democratic regime in power at the time, no doubt, Kurdistan would have been regarded as a model for reviving national cultures of the Iranian peoples; thus, the sovereignty of a multi-national country consolidated, with Democratic Party of Kurdistan and Ghazi Muhammad entitled to have been honoured rather than being banned or executed.
When the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan’s (PDKI) endeavours aimed at securing national rights for the Kurdish people in Iran through peaceful avenues came to a dead-end, and the both Republics of Azarbaijan and Kurdistan “gave their lives” for that cause, our Party was forced to abandon its open activities, but clandestinely continuing its political struggle.
After the Second World War, the Shah was given the go-ahead to reinforce the precarious bases of the monarchy of the Pahlavi dynasty, thus re-establishing a totalitarian regime in Iran step by step. Exercising the rule of such a despotic regime was by far more ruthless in Kurdistan, with the army and gendarmerie dominating every aspects of the people’s lives, and the police checking on every activity of liberals and freedom-loving activists; consequently, no one could raise a finger!
After the 19 August 1953 coup d`eta, when the popular government of Dr. Mosaddegh was overthrown, national-democratic movement of the Iranian people suffered a severe set-back, followed by a most perilous situation prevailing in Kurdistan. The forces of gendarmerie and the police vehemently began off to hunt down advocates and members of our Party in urban and suburban centres, in which a great number were arrested, brutally tortured and condemned to long-term sentences, as well as some having to flee the country.
In 1959, the regime of the Shah made an extensive raid on the clandestine organs of the Party in towns and countryside arresting hundreds of democratic activists and handing them over to the regime’s headsmen who savagely tortured them. They were “tried” at made-to-order courts where they were sentenced to long-term imprisonments. Once again, a great number had to flee their motherland seeking asylum in other countries.
Armed insurrection of valiant democrats in 1967-8 was, in fact, a reaction to fascist policies adopted by the Shah’s regime, a stalwart resistance which rendered the Shah’s “Peaceful Island” null and void. In this insurrection also dozens of democrat combatants fighting for their national rights in the Iranian Kurdistan lost their lives, with hundreds more arrested and brutally tortured.
Along with the oppressive policy followed by the regime in Iran, the Shah, pretending to be apprehensive about the integrity of Iran, added insult to the injury by militarizing all Kurdistan, ever more alienating the Kurdish people and setting them against the regime. PDKI, which until then believed in a political means of resolving the Kurdish issue in Iran, had to abandon its strategic motto in 1970, adopting the slogan of overthrowing the Shah’s regime, with its long-term political platform amended as:
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, as the vanguard of the Kurdish people in Iran, is – alongside of other progressive Iranian political forces – fighting against imperialism and the reactionary regime of the Shah, to emancipate Iran and secure the right of self-determination for the Kurdish people in this country.(7)
Through its realistic analysis, PDKI made it quite clear that the Iranian people could never be dissociated from each other in their struggle for liberty, and that the Shah’s despotic regime was the common enemy of all the people of Iran, and also it could only be ousted by the collective, combined struggle of all Iranians intending to found a democratic system in the framework of which the rights of all the people of Iran could be obtained.(8)
The so-called White Revolution of the Shah (1962- 78), instigated by his masters intending to keep him in power, was meant to divert the crisis further that was going to turn into a far-reaching revolution. Kurdistan, the official organ of PDKI referring to the precarious situation in Kurdistan wrote:
As a result of the Shah’s so-called revolution, Kurdistan has totally been placed under the hegemony of SAWAK [the Shah’s intelligence agency] and gendarmerie; laws are rendered quite meaningless and of no account in Kurdistan; there is no limit to national oppression, with the Kurdish people deprived of their most fundamental national rights; any demand for a minimal rights of the kind invokes the harshest reaction by the authorities.(9)
As reported to the 3rd Congress of PDKI held in September 1973:
While the monarchist regime denies the existence of the Kurdish people in Iran, the Shah himself puts on airs outside Iran as being an advocate of the Kurds in general. The Kurdish people are deprived of all of their just national rights, and oppressed far more bitterly than any other people and ethnic minorities in Iran, with Kurdistan turned into a vast prison for the Kurdish scions. The Kurds, abhorring the regime of the Shah, are well-prepared for a full-scale struggle against this blood-thirsty regime, as a result, Kurdistan has really turned into a most revolutionary segment of Iran, with the Kurdish people in cooperation with other Iranians, able to perform an important part in overthrowing the monarchy.(10)
But, as the Shah’s regime tolerated no political activity by any organization or party, the PDKI’s objectives materialized neither in connection with setting up a united political front, nor in relation to providing a political platform to lead the Iranian people’s uprising against the Shah, with the aim of replacing it with a national-democratic system.
As a result of the soaring pressure of the Shah’s dictatorship a vast social explosion occurred, which brought millions of Iranians on the streets, with the appalled people of Kurdistan playing a significant role in the overthrowing of the monarchy. Well-prepared, PDKI joined the uprising dealing with the developments along with an ample sense of responsibility, always showing restrain under the volatile political situation that had arisen. Consequently, the Party’s motto of “Democracy for Iran and Autonomy for Kurdistan” soon enjoyed general consent with the majority of the inhabitants of Kurdistan supporting it.
Second Stage: 1979-current
On 2 March 1979, PDKI’s political activism was officially declared by late Dr. A. R. Ghassemlou, the then Secretary-general of the Party, in a large meeting held in Mahabad in which more than 150 000 people had participated.(11)
Following the mass gathering, a high-ranking delegation of the Party headed by Dr. A. R. Ghassemlou made a trip to Qom and Tehran, where they met Ayetolla Khomeini and Bazargan, the then supreme leader and prime minister respectively, and discussed the Iranian Kurds’ just demands embodied in autonomy to be incorporated into the Constitution. “We have formed a commission composed of the Interior, Defense and Labour Ministers’’, said Bazargan, “in order to discuss the matter concerned with real representatives of the Kurdish people.”(12) But, unfortunately, the pledged commission never materialized!
On June 17, 1979, the Central Committee of PDKI sent a letter through the Governor-general of Kurdistan to the Prime-Minister, in which the state authorities had modestly been criticized for keeping silent in regards to the just demands of the Kurdish people, supporting at the same time, the government and the leader of the Islamic Revolution. Our Party had once again declared its readiness for resolving the matter in question through peaceful procedures with the central government, and demanding necessary steps to be taken by the government to that end. Once more, the Party had demonstrated its readiness for full-scale co-operation, but the government left the demands unanswered.(13)
Since the government turned out to be quite powerless to do anything in this connection, the Central Committee of PDKI issued an open letter on 11 August 1979 to Ayettolla Khomeini, a section of which included:
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan is a patriotic Iranian Party; therefore, accusing it of being a subject or a quisling should, no doubt, be counted as a treasonable offense. The Party openly declares, once again, that there is no secessionist political organization in Kurdistan, and now that there still exists the possibility of solving the problem through negotiation and peaceful procedures, those in charge must be oredered to put an end to their military operations in Kurdistan; authorities must be called to stop their pugnacious media propaganda against the Kurds; the government must be instructed to pay attention to this people’s just demands, and adopt peaceful approaches aimed at strengthening fraternal relations rather than trying to provoke violence among Iranians. (14)
Having failed in all its efforts to prevent bloodshed, and while a full-scale war imposed by the regime was incessantly going on in Kurdistan, on 10 October 1979 the Central Committee of PDKI issued an open letter addressed to the Iranian people in general, and the patriotic and/or religious parties, organizations and prominent individuals in particular. It included four major points appealing to the government to put an end to the armed operations in Kurdistan and recommence peace negotiations:
1 – Restoring the democratic rights of the people in Kurdistan and Iran, with PDKI’s freedom of activity accorded.
2 – Keeping out from Kurdistan non-local revolutionary guards who are the main causes of sedition.
3 – Forbidding the army from interfering in the internal affairs of Iran – its sole duty being to defend the borders and safeguard the integrity of Iran.
4 – Setting free political prisoners and putting an end to the execution of freedom activists.(15)
Besides, the Party had earnestly asked those addressed in the letter to use their influence so as to persuade the authorities to find a political solution for the Kurdish issue in Iran.
Eventually, Ayetulla Khomeini’s message, broadcasted on 17 November 1979 inspired hope among all the Iranian Kurds in general, and PDKI in particular, thinking that a well-timed opportunity had arisen to resolve the problems through peaceful negotiations. In response to the message, our Party promptly “gave a nod of assent”.
By the end of 1979, when a government delegation was in Mahabad to find a way to stop the on-going war and discuss the case in question, Ayetulla Montazeri tilted at political leaders of Kurdistan in his friday sermon. Trying to prevent further deterioration of the states of affairs, PDKI sent a tele-message to Ayetulla Khomeini on 26November:
…Ayetulla Montazeri’s stormy outburst has led to widespread apprehension among the people who are kept on edge lest the rogues might attempt to lay a plot aimed at stirring up disturbances in the region, which – God forbid – might lead to some catastrophic results. We leave to the care of Emam’s own judgment and due decision on the remarks made by Ayetulla Montazeri as a high-ranking politico-religious authority in Iran.(16)
Trying to frustrate conspiracies indicative of a second cycle of bloodshed in Kurdistan, Dr. A. R. Ghassemlou wrote another letter on 15 January 1979 to Ayetulla Khomeini giving him fair warning about the state of affairs in the region. In the meantime, intending to better clarify the situation prevailing in Kurdistan, he dispatched Abdulla Hassanzaddeh, a member of the leadership council to meet Ayetulla Khomeini in Qom.(17)
Following a preliminary exchange of views with Abul-hassan Banisadr, the then presidentand with his assent, a five-member delegation of our Party were dispatched to Tehran on 27 February 1980, where they presented to the government representatives a six-point draft as a basis for autonomy. In the negotiations which followed, the President promptly accepted the draft, pledging to have its ratification broadcasted on the Islamic Republic’s media; nevertheless, not only was it not put on the air, but the authorities turned deaf to it for good.
As a result of the resumption of war at the beginning of the spring of 1980, with the army and gendarmerie forces making use of all modern, destructive weapons in their ruthless raids on the Kurds in their villages around Urumieh, Dr. A. R. Ghassemlou wrote once again a letter to Ayetulla Khomeini asking him to put an end to the fratricide which was going to be extended to all Kurdistan.
In the middle of April 1980, when military operations were in their height all over the northern region of Iranian Kurdistan, the PDKI’s Central Committee wrote yet another letter to Ayetulla Khomeini. A section of the letter read:
Unfortunately, all our endeavours and benevolent stance came to nothing. Should the raids against the Kurdish people by the Revolutionary Guards, army and gendarmerie forces not be stopped, and if the butchery of defenseless citizens goes on, it is quite natural for the Kurds and all other Iranians to put the blame for such a fratricide on the Central Government.
Thus the incessant endeavours made by PDKI to ward off eruption of war in Kurdistan fizzled out, and the government making use of its strained relations with Iraq as an excuse, embarked on a full-scale land and air invasion across Kurdistan. Accordingly, Dr. A. R. Ghassemlou wrote, on 25 April 1980, an open letter(18) addressed to all democratic organizations and freedom-loving personalities as well as international humanitarian foundations worldwide, informing them of the unwanted, pointless war imposed on the Kurdish people by the Islamic Republic, asking the people to raise their voice against the atrocities committed by the Islamic rulers, trying to ruthlessly trample before their eyes the just rights and freedom of a nation.
In order to keep the Iranian society, consisting of democratic organizations as well as freedom-loving individuals and prominent personalities, informed of the situation in Kurdistan, the Central Committee issued a statement in December 1980, a section of which read:
Despite the fact that over the past twelve months our Party has incessantly been trying to find a peaceful, political approach to resolve the Kurdish question in Iranian Kurdistan, many times dispatching delegations to Tehran and Qom, the reaction of the regime has been nothing other than sending ever so many armed-to-teeth forces of the Revolutionary Guards, gendarmerie and army to Kurdistan so as to suppress the national movement of our people. Not only has the resumption of war led to the destruction of towns, with numerous defenseless citizens displaced, but the hitherto sanctions imposed on Kurdistan as a whole has intensified as well. Mahabad was so ferociously shelled with heavy artillery that more than 150 people lost their lives with the survivors having to bury their victims in the courtyards of their houses, and all the residents so much pressured that they could hardly get the most needed subsistence.
From among the seven divisions of the army assigned to the defense of the borders four divisions have been deployed in Kurdistan to crush the national movement of this people. The Iranian authorities, making use of their war and armed hostilities with Iraq as a pretext to suppress our people’s movement, has tried to keep the Iranian peoples uninformed of the atrocities committed against the Kurds.(19)
Furthermore, the Central Committee of the Party in a section of its declaration of 1st January 1981 informed the Iranians: Over the past two years, while our Party exerting itself to peacefully resolve the Kurdish issue so that fratricide might be avoided, the authorities of the regime have answered such endeavours by intensifying armed operations in Kurdistan.(20)
The Central Committee in pursuance of its non-violent policy issued a declaration on the occasion of the first anniversary of the victory of Iranian peoples’ uprising, in a section of which indicated:
PDKI has always been of the opinion that the Kurdish issue can never be resolved through military option. Accordingly, If the just demands of the Kurdish people are officially recognized, and the Party is confident enough that it might not be stabbed in the back by the Revolutionary Guards and / or by the army that have hypocritically turned into defenders of Islam, it will do all in its power to defend the borders against any external threat.
If the ruling authorities in Tehran really want to resolve numerous problems in Iran, including Kurdish question, through democratic means, it is incumbent on them not to delay the matter any longer. They should refrain from standing in the way of democratic rights and freedoms to make way for the national forces’ participation in the state administration, with the six-point project for autonomy of Kurdistan suggested by PDKI. Consequently, the Iranians and all the people across the world will see how the Kurdish scions would valiantly defend the revolution, the independence and the integrity of Iran.(21)
Laying emphasis on its peaceful way to resolve the Kurdish issue, the Central Committee of our Party in a section of its message addressed to the Iranians in the New Year (spring) of 1982 stated:
Over the past two years after the revolution, our Party has been – and still is – of the opinion that the Kurdish question has no military option; as a result, it has never slacked off its efforts to restore peace and stability in Kurdistan. Once again, we put emphasis on the logical, well-founded and peaceful policies adopted by our Party, reiterating our immutable viewpoints in these two phrases: “ Rendering honour to peace without being negligent of democracy and the right to autonomy; resolute resistance against invasion(22)
Unfortunately, not only the PDKI’s peaceful efforts did not have any positive effects on the hostile, reactionary stance adopted by the rulers of the Islamic Republic, but emboldened them to such a degree that they started pouring oil on the fire of fratricide in Kurdistan.
On 2 June 1983, 59 Kurdish youth were executed by fire-squads in Mahabad, their sole “offence” being their devotion to democracy, freedom and the Kurdish people’s just aspirations. Following this horrible action, not only the regime did not refrain from protracting its harsh policy in Kurdistan but intensified it as well.
On 13 July 1989, Dr. A. R. Ghassemlou, the Secretary-general of our Party, and Abdulla Ghadderi, a member of the Central Committee and the Party representative in Europe, were assassinated at the negotiation table in Vienna, Austria, by diplomat-terrorists of the Islamic Republic. The repercussions of the crime reverberated across the world, with a great number of organizations, eminent foreign and Iranian personalities expressing disgust at the crime and commiserating with the Party by sending letters and telegrams of condolence.
On 31st October 1989, the Community of the Kurdish People’s Advocates in Austria recommended late Dr. A. R. Ghassemlou as a candidate to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in 1990 – a move in due course to honour a man who had dedicated all his life to the just national rights of the Kurdish people in Kurdistan and the establishment of freedom and democracy in Iran, for the rightful mission he eventually sacrificed his life.
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan has, in all its Congresses, stressed on resolving the Kurdish issue in Iran through non-violent procedures. In the XIIth Congress, held on 24-26 of November 2000, too, it declared once again:
Negotiations are regarded by us as a mode of struggle. Accordingly, if at any time the Central Government makes an overture to negotiate with our Party aiming at resolving the Kurdish question in Iran through peaceful ways, we will promptly accept it. To actually start negotiations, though, some immutable preconditions should have been materialized: Negotiations must focus on the demands of the inhabitants of Kurdistan, i.e. the national rights of the Kurdish people in Iran; it ought to be done openly and declared beforehand so that the Kurdish people can be quite aware of the procedures; it has to be carried on with the government in its entirety and the most high-ranking, authorized officials representing the state. Besides, such negotiations, if any, should be performed under the supervision of a non-biased international body accepted by both sides.
PDKI’s International Efforts
It was in fact the PDKI’s unwavering belief in democracy, human rights, peace and social justice which convinced Socialist International (SI) to accept it as an observer-member at its XXth Congress held on 9-11 of September 1996, in which a PDKI delegation headed by the Secretary-general had participated.(24)
Following that event, another delegation of our Party participated in SI Council convened on 21–22 of January 1997. In that session, PDKI was chosen as a member of the Middle East Committee as well. Besides, on the suggestion of our Party, 2 paragraphs relating to human rights were added to the final resolution of the session in Rome. The proposals clearly demonstrated once more that PDKI remains – under any circumstances – devoted to its principles.(25)
Sources:
(1) – Kurdistan, No 1, Thursday January 1945, p 1.
(2) – Kuhestan newspaper, No 1.
(3) – Biography of Ghawamul-Saltanneh, A Meeting in Tehran. By Ja`far Mehdi-niya, pp 518-19
(4) – Kurdistan No 65, July 3, 1946.
(5) – ————–, No 69, July 21, 1946.
(6) – The Republic of Kurdistan`s Government, Letters & Documents, by M. Mulla Ezzat, 1st vol., p. 193
(7) – PDKI’s Programme, 1st Article, adopted at the 3rd Congress.
(8) – Kurdistan, No.2, March 1971 p 2.
(9) – Kurdistan, No. 23, February 1973, p 2.
(10) – ————, No. 30, December 1973, p 2.
(11) – ———— , No 54, March 1975, p 1.
(12) – PDKI`s Archive : Endeavours Towards an Agreement.
(13) – ————,
(14) – Kurdistan, No. 59, August 11, 1979 .
(15) – PDKI’s Archieve: Endeavours Towards an Agreement, 2nd volume, p 10.
(16) – ————, p 29.
(17) – ————, p 33.
(18) – ————, p 62.
(19) – Kurdistan, No 71, December 1980.
(20) – ————, No 73, December 1980.
(21) - ————, No 74 , January 1981.
(22) - ———— , No 158, February 1990.
(24) - ————, No 237, September.1996 & 238, October 1996.
(25) – ————, No 242, February 1997.