22
March 2007
1. "Öcalan, northern Iraq dominate Diyarbakir’s Newroz celebrations", Leyla Zana: Talabani, Barzani, Öcalan comrades of Kurds
2. "Unrest mars Kurdish festival in Turkey", tens of thousands of Kurds marked their biggest festival, Newroz, on Wednesday with celebrations across Turkey marred by sporadic violence and clashes between police and militants.
3. "Thousands of Kurds in Turkey celebrate spring festival", tens of thousands of Kurds gathered on Wednesday to celebrate a spring festival traditionally used by Kurdish activists as an occasion to assert their demands.
4. "Landmine blast injures two Turkish soldiers", two Turkish soldiers were wounded after a landmine exploded during a security operation in a southeastern province, a local official said on Tuesday.
5. "Turkey keeps cross-border operation on hold", as the snow started melting in the mountainous border region in southeast Turkey, local media have reported that the Turkish military has reinforced its troop strength in the area with armored vehicles and tanks to deter any Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) infiltration into Turkey from northern Iraq.
6. "PJAK and the Kurdish struggle in Iranian Kurdistan", resolving the Kurdish issue in all parts of Kurdistan is of strategic importance for the prospects of democracy and stability in the future of the Middle East.
1. - Today's Zaman - "Öcalan, northern Iraq dominate Diyarbakir’s Nevruz celebrations":
22 March 2007
The early hours of the morning. Thousands of people are moving in processions to the fair area, 15 kilometers away from the city center of Diyarbakir.
Participants of Nevruz celebrations in Diyarbakir chanted
slogans in support of the jailed PKK leader, Abdullah Öcalan, and
raised flags of the outlawed group.
People, young or old, packed into pickup trucks, buses or private cars
are flowing in convoys. Many people are traveling on foot hastily, but
with joy. The women wearing traditional colorful clothing, the elderly
waving the party flags of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) and young
women carrying their children on their backs...
Police checkpoints have been set up at several intervals to ensure a controlled migration. At a certain points, the vehicles are not allowed to go on any further. The drivers who are reluctant to pay heed to this prohibition are warned politely, yet with determination.
The enthusiasm is increasing at an unexpected rate though there are still hours for the ceremony to start. In the front rows, women from all walks of life are dancing halay -- an Anatolian folk dance -- and accompanying the dances with songs, mostly in Kurdish. An old woman in traditional clothing opens a huge umbrella decorated with scraps of fabric in green, red and yellow -- the colors of the flag of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). To have a better view of the stage she climbs onto someone's shoulders.
The biggest placard reads: "Either true or no democracy." This is the main slogan for this year's Nevruz. Another slogan is "Turkish unity requires Kurdish unity." There are also other striking placards: "This spring is the closest to freedom" or "Nevruz is the dawn of freedom of the Middle East peoples."
Some other placards have been banned: "The only solution in the Middle East is democratic confederalism." "Your health is our health," says another, referring to Abdullah Öcalan, jailed leader of the PKK. This one relates to the current debates on Kirkuk: "We are all from Amed -- Diyarbakir in Kurdish language -- and we are all from Kirkuk."
Security measures are not restricted to police checkpoints, searches and prohibition of certain placards. The police are continuously monitoring the area with moving cameras fixed to five points.
The number of people dancing halay increases, so do the announcements calling people to comply with warnings from officials as well as helicopter flights over the fair area.
The Nevruz legend, as believed by Kurds, is a freedom-related one. Its roots can be found in the legend of Kawa, a courageous blacksmith who lived 2,500 years ago under the tyranny of King Zuhak, a monster with two serpents growing from his shoulder who fed on the brains of small children. He was so evil that spring no longer came to the Kurdish homeland.
Kawa, asked to send his seventh and last child to Zuhak, hid his son in the mountains with other fleeing children. Over time, Kawa turned the children into an army and, on March 20, marched on the castle and smote the king dead with his hammer. Fires were lit on the hillsides to celebrate the victory, so the story goes, and spring at last returned the next day. The Kurdish Nevruz bonfires are considered to be the fire that Kawa lit.
Two-thousand party officials are trying to maintain public order in the ceremony area; there are also 20 lawyers ready to intervene in case of any incident.
Resistance: A cure for all
I wonder why there are a lot of balloon sellers among peddlers that are typical ingredients of such gatherings. Soon I find out the reason: Yellow, red or green balloons are tied to posters of Öcalan and let go to the sky. Some people produce a placard in the front row: "The antidote of poison is resistance."
Last week the DTP expressed doubt about a recent announcement from Turkey that tests on Öcalan's hair, urine and skin samples showed no signs of poisoning, despite allegations by his lawyers.
"From now on, nobody should go after such lies," Justice Minister Cemil Çiçek, who also serves as the government spokesman, said earlier. "No one should take such games seriously. Turkey is a state of law and Turkey has nothing to hide."
However a statement from the DTP demanded that an international delegation of experts look into the claims, saying Çiçek's announcement was not convincing. The statement accused the justice minister of pressuring the team of doctors from the Forensic Medicine Institution. Öcalan's lawyers in Italy had earlier claimed that an analysis of his hair showed high levels of strontium and chromium, both of which are toxic in large doses.
A group of young people are seen on the roof of a tall building facing the fair area; they cover their faces. Moving quickly they hang up a PKK flag and an Öcalan poster. Then they make signs of victory with their hands: the crowd responds with applause and whispers.
‘Anthropologists’ discover Diyarbakir
There are also some people who are apparently foreigners. As reported by DTP officials, representatives of nongovernmental organizations from Italy, Spain and northern Europe. They may easily be mistaken as anthropologists due to their attitude while taking photos of the old people and children dancing halay accompanied of Kurdish rock music from Roj Amed, a popular Kurdish band.
An announcement in Kurdish invites people to stand to attention to show respect to the martyrs. DTP chairman Ahmet Türk, Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir and some other people in the protocol collectively light the Nevruz fire. While songs are sung the message of Asrin Legal Counseling Office, which defended Öcalan, is read. However the message has been written in the first person singular: "Everybody should know that I am a special hostage. It does not matter whether I live or die. I will continue to resist as long as I can." The message also requests an independent medical team.
The organization committee's attempts at preventing the crowd from shouting slogans supporting Öcalan or waving Öcalan's posters are all in vain.
Outside of the fair area is as crowded as inside. Some people are having a picnic by the side of the puddle road. A boy selling sunflower seeds tells us that he sold five kilograms by noon. Seeing the heaps of wastes from the consumption of sunflower seeds, I can tell the boy is telling the truth. The entertainment outside the fair area continues uninterruptedly. There are people eating the foodstuffs they have brought, children playing football and even some people riding horses. Peddlers selling simit, fruit, mobile phone credit, tobacco, kebabs and candy find the Nevruz celebrations most lucrative. Interestingly the police tape reading, "Accident scene, do not trespass," is used to delineate the fair area.
Not only songs, but also announcements were mostly in Kurdish. On the press cards given by the DTP are written both "Basin" in Turkish and "Çapemeni" in Kurdish.
Zana: Talabani, Barzani, Öcalan comrades of Kurds
Having long preserved her silence, Leyla Zana attended the Nevruz celebrations in Diyarbakir to deliver a speech. Speaking in Kurdish, Zana said: "The Kurds have three comrades. All of them are very precious. They occupy a significant space in Kurdish hearts," and continued: "First of these is Uncle Jalal [Jalal Talabani], the president of Iraq. He is a Kurdish leader and a believer in brotherhood, he accepts all of us. The second one is Uncle Masood [Massoud Barzani], the leader of the Kurdistan region. The third one is the one you call the guide, the leader: he is the will of the Kurdish people as we all know in our hearts, Öcalan. All three are our pride, ears, hearts and brains. They are etched in our hearts."
In her speech, Zana also said, this time in Turkish: "Kurds have proven themselves in the Dardanelles and Cyprus wars. They did not betray Turks. Kurds must pay respect to the values of other people while embracing their own values." Calling the government to conduct a survey in which Kurdish people are asked whether they want to live together with or separately from Turks, she maintained: "I am sure they would choose to live together with Turks."
In an apparent reference to the dominancy of Öcalan over Turkey's ethnic Kurdish population, she added: "Nobody's will is supreme over the will of the Kurdish people. Our will must be freed."
Türk calls on state for dialogue with Iraqi Kurds, Turkmens
While highlighting that the DTP is a staunch supporter of Turkey's unity, DTP leader Ahmet Türk, in his speech, also emphasized strongly that Turkey's approach toward Iraqi Kurds does matter for Turkey's Kurds.
"We are on the side of Turkey's unity. The fact that we've been supporting our Iraqi Kurdish brothers is something else. We haven't turned or back on the democrats of this country," Türk said, describing the Kurdish issue as "an issue for both the Middle East and the world."
"We want Kurds living in northern Iraq to be free and happy," Türk added, as he called on the Turkish state to establish a dialogue with both Kurds and Turkmens living in northern Iraq. "Turkey should build a policy for gaining the trust of both Turkmens and Kurds, you can't obtain a result through threats," he said.
Türk also said that Öcalan is not an ordinary prisoner and should be treated accordingly. "An independent medical team should go there and doubts about Öcalan's health should be removed."
During Baydemir's speech there was commotion and several
people were detained. 
2. - AFP - "Unrest mars Kurdish festival in Turkey":
MERSIN / 21 March 2007
Tens of thousands of Kurds marked their biggest festival, Newroz, on Wednesday with celebrations across Turkey marred by sporadic violence and clashes between police and militants.
The authorities beefed up security for the event, which has been mired in bloodshed in the past. Several dozen people were detained for displaying support for Kurdish fighting the government.
In the Mediterranean port of Mersin, home to a particularly militant community of migrant Kurds, police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse some 1,000 youths who demonstrated support for jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.
"Without Ocalan we will bring the world down on your head," they chanted, in a reference to allegations that the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is being poisoned in prison.
At least 20 protestors were detained and several people injured, an AFP photographer said.
Late in the evening, Kurdish militants hurled a Molotov cocktail at a bus in the western city of Izmir, setting the vehicle ablaze, Anatolia news agency reported. The police responded with pepper gas and detained 22 people.
Two buses were pelted with sticks and stones in Istanbul and several passengers were injured by broken glass, Anatolia said.
Newroz Day, which marks the arrival of spring and the Kurdish New Year, has become a platform for Turkey's Kurdish minority to demand greater freedoms or voice support for the PKK.
The largest crowd -- about 100,000 people -- gathered in Diyarbakir, the main city of the southeast, where militant revellers chanted pro-PKK slogans. Three women were slightly injured when demonstrators stoned the police and the security forces fired warning shots in the air, Anatolia said.
In Istanbul, 50,000 people attended the festivities, lighting traditional bonfires and dancing to Kurdish folk music.
"Real democracy or nothing," they shouted, while a group of youths unfurled a giant portrait of Ocalan before police intervened to take it down.
The festivities were organised by Turkey's main Kurdish political movement, the Democratic Society Party, whose members have in recent weeks become increasingly targeted by judicial action over charges of backing the PKK.
In Ankara, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed for peace and unity at official Newroz ceremonies, held in a bid to prevent the day from being monopolised by Kurdish militants.
Newroz is also celebrated in Iran and other Muslim communities in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
The run-up to the festival was also marred by accusations by Ocalan's lawyers that the PKK leader, whom many Kurds see as a freedom fighter, is being gradually poisoned with toxic substances in the prison island of Imrali, where he is the sole inmate. Ankara has denied the claims.
In 1992, in the bloodiest Newroz so far, about 50 people were killed by the security forces during clashes across the southeast.
More recently, in 2002, two men were crushed to death during a police crackdown on violent Newroz demonstrations in Mersin.
Under pressure from the European Union, which it is seeking to join, Ankara has in recent years broadened Kurdish cultural freedoms.
But Kurdish activists say the reforms are inadequate and
have called on the government for a general amnesty for PKK militants
to encourage them to end their armed campaign, which has resulted in
more than 37,000 deaths.
3. - AP - "Thousands of Kurds in Turkey celebrate spring festival":
DIYARBAKIR / 22 March 2007
Tens of thousands of Kurds gathered on Wednesday to celebrate a spring festival traditionally used by Kurdish activists as an occasion to assert their demands.
Turkish authorities braced for possible trouble during the Nowruz festival. They have said, they would not tolerate illegal demonstrations during the events and stepped up security around the country.
The festival is celebrated largely by the country's Kurdish population, and past celebrations have ended in riots that claimed dozens of lives. Tensions are particularly high this year because of the arrests and prosecutions of dozens of pro-Kurdish politicians on charges of ties to rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
Kurdish rebel activity tapered off in the late 1990s under heavy pressure from Turkish security forces, and particularly after the capture of rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan in 1999 and his subsequent call for a peace initiative.
Since then, many Kurds have increasingly tried to win more rights through politics, with limited success.
This year, however, Kurdish leaders plan to field independent candidates to circumvent a law requiring parties to win a minimum 10 percent of votes to be represented in the Parliament. They claim arrests and prosecutions in the past weeks are part of Government efforts to undermine their election plans.
Tens of thousands of Kurds gathered in front of a giant stage set up along a highway on the outskirts of Diyarbakir, the largest city in the Kurdish-dominated southeast and the focus of Nowruz celebrations.
Police stopped buses and trucks carrying celebrants several kilometers (miles) from the site, and participants walked the rest of the way. People lined up to be searched, and officers stood by armored vehicles. Agents filmed the crowd and one surveyed the scene with high-powered binoculars from a nearby rooftop.
The gathering had the feel of a village festival. Women ululated and men banged drums.
But there were clear political influences. Some women in traditional costume shawls and colorful, sequined dresses danced and waved yellow flags of a Kurdish party. A banner on the side of a building read: ``Either true democracy or nothing.'' Many men raised their fingers in a ``v'' for victory sign.
Some in the crowd hoisted pictures of Ocalan, who remains a source of political inspiration for many Kurds. Several stood with the Ocalan images on the shoulders of comrades, their faces obscured by scarves to prevent identification by the authorities. Some attached Ocalan photos to balloons that sailed into the sky. A few raised PKK flags. A military helicopter circled in the distance.
Authorities expected a turnout of about 1,00,000 people in Diyarbakir. Organizers said, they hoped the event would be peaceful. Police in Diyarbakir were planning to deploy 2,500 officers, while Kurdish organizers were planning to field an equal number of security guards.
Kurds celebrate Nowruz the Farsi word for new year on March 21, along with people in Iran and former Soviet Central Asian nations.
For Kurds, the festival is an occasion to highlight their cultural identity. They sing songs, dance and jump over the flames of burning car tires, symbolically burning away past impurities.
Similar Nowruz festivities were being held in other mainly Kurdish cities in southeast Turkey, and in other Turkish cities, like Istanbul, that have a large immigrant Kurdish population.
In Istanbul, a group of youths briefly scuffled and threw stones at the police who tried to detain one of their friends, the private Dogan news agency reported.
In the capital Ankara, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for peace and unity between Turks and Kurds. He lit a small fire and three of his Ministers hopped over the flames.
``May the seeds of hatred that aim at our brotherhood burn and disappear in the fires that are being lit,'' he said.
The PKK has been fighting for more than two decades for autonomy in Turkey's southeast in a war that has left some 37,000 people dead. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
Turkish authorities have detained and charged dozens of leaders of a pro-Kurdish party in recent weeks for alleged links to the PKK or for simply referring to Ocalan in an honorific way.
Ocalan's lawyers recently claimed that he was poisoned
in prison, though Turkish authorities said last week that tests on samples
of his hair, urine and skin samples showed no signs of poisoning.
4. - AFP - "Landmine blast injures two Turkish soldiers":
ANKARA / 20 March 2007
Two Turkish soldiers were wounded after a landmine exploded during a security operation in a southeastern province, a local official said on Tuesday.
The incident occurred in the Bitlis region and is thought to be connected to the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Anatolia news agency citing the local governor, reported.
Mevlut Atbas, the governor of Bitlis, said the two soliders stepped on the mine during a security sweep in the countryside.
The PKK announced a unilateral ceasefire last October.
Ankara rejected it, but the fighting -- which has seen
more than 37,000 people killed since the PKK's armed campaign for self-rule
began in 1984 -- has largely subsided since then.
5. - Zaman - "Turkey keeps cross-border operation on hold":
22 March 2007
As the snow started melting in the mountainous border region in southeast Turkey, local media have reported that the Turkish military has reinforced its troop strength in the area with armored vehicles and tanks to deter any Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) infiltration into Turkey from northern Iraq.
The reports were coupled with reports coming from northern Iraq that Turkish troops had taken up positions there close to the Turkish border area. The latest report first came from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of two Kurdish groups in northern Iraq. But while the Turkish military has denied this report, Western sources have raised skepticism over the news from PUK, which is not in control of the region.
Instead another Kurdish group, the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) is in control of the region, recalled one Western diplomat, questioning the reliability of the PUK report. Since there is no border security on the Iraqi side of the border and the PKK terrorists are allegedly in full control of those areas, it would not be surprising that Turkish troops might occasionally enter northern Iraq, albeit in a very small area, to deter the PKK from infiltrating into Turkey, said one Western analyst.
But the liaison office based in Turkey’s Silopi township, near the Iraqi border where US and Turkish military officials coordinate contacts between the Turkish troops in Turkey and in northern Iraq, as well as between the Turkish and the US forces in Iraq, has reportedly observed no such Turkish troop crossing the border. Today’s Zaman has also learned that the TSK has also informed some NATO member countries about its reinforcements in the Southeast in the past two weeks.
Time not ripe for Turkish operation in Northern Iraq
Turkey has never ruled out a military option in the form of cross-border operation into northern Iraq to pursue the PKK rebels, although it is conscious that such an operation would only be a short-term solution in the struggle against the PKK.
But both Turkish and Western military sources have told Today’s Zaman that a Turkish cross-border operation into northern Iraq does not seem possible in the coming weeks, since several generals, including Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Ergin Saygun, will be in Washington next week to attend the annual meeting of the American-Turkish Council (ATC).
“It would not be wise for the Turkish military to send troops to northern Iraq while its generals are attending a meeting in Washington. The Turkish military will not like to look foolish,” stated one Western diplomatic source in Ankara.
Turkey has also been lobbying the US intensely, in particular the Democrats, who took control of the House of Representatives and the Senate during last year’s November by-elections, to convince them not to adopt a resolution terming the killings of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I as genocide. Crossing the border into northern Iraq at such a crucial time would not serve Turkish interests either, while Turkey has been pressing hard to convince the Democrats and the strong Jewish lobby to pull the resolution from the table, said another Western diplomat.
Cross-border threat to deter PKK and US
But Turkey does not rule out a possible cross-border operation into northern Iraq, although it knows that it will only serve Ankara’s interests in the short term. Ankara wants to keep this option on the table, partly because it seeks to deter the PKK from any intensified attacks, but also to give a message to its close NATO ally, the US, that it should take all necessary measures to finish off the PKK camps in northern Iraq and avoid endangering the fragile stability in the north of the war-torn country.
But neither Turkish officials, nor some Western analysts,
rule out the possibility of a Turkish cross-border operation at any
time, particularly if the PKK stages a big assault leading to the deaths
of hundreds of Turks.
6. - Kurdish Media - "PJAK and the Kurdish struggle in Iranian Kurdistan":
20 March 2007 / by Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi / translated by Kurdish Media
Resolving the Kurdish issue in all parts of Kurdistan is of strategic importance for the prospects of democracy and stability in the future of the Middle East. The people of Kurdistan deserve a fair settlement, which allows all of them to live together on a basis of freedom and equality. As it seems now, however, there is a contradiction in the policies of the USA and its allies towards Kurdish movements in the respective parts of Kurdistan; the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan are regarded as allies in the war on terror, whereas the political demands of the Kurds in Iranian Kurdistan are being ignored. And there is, furthermore, the attempt to de-legitimize the Kurdish movement in Turkey.
Nowhere in the world is peace more necessary than in our region. In particular, the Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iran want, finally, a basic resolution of the Kurdish conflict. Democratic rights for the Kurds could positively effect the peace process in the Middle East. Military aggression against the Kurds however would intensify the already unstable political and social situation.
The Kurdish area In Iran is the second largest part of the Kurdish region. About 12 million Kurds live in Iran deprived of the most basic rights, including the rights to cultural and political organizations.
The brutal repression, particularly against the Kurds, has escalated since the Iranian President Ahmedinejad came to power. The situation in the Kurdish region with all its ethnic and religious diversity has increasingly worsened. Meanwhile serious violations against human rights are carried out on a daily basis. Kurdistan and Balushistan, the Arabic dominated province southwest of Iran, has been militarized.
In parallel to the international discussions concerning the Iranian atomic program, serious and brutal attacks against Kurdish people are taking place. . In the last few days clashes with the Kurds in Iran have led to the death of many people.
On the occasion of the anniversary events of the kidnapping of Abdullah Öcalan, the Kurdish leader, peaceful demonstrations and mass meetings took place everywhere in Iranian Kurdistan on 15 February 2007. However, the police and the army fired at the crowds. Three deaths and hundreds of detentions have been reported so far.
The Kurds like other peoples and ethnic groups in Iran such as Persian, Azeris, Baluch, Arab and Turkmen are opposed to the Mullah regime and they want democracy in Iran.
However, not all of them want the intervention of outside powers. The Kurdish movement, the best organized opposition movement plays an important role in the domestic and foreign policy situation in Iran. The only group that actively fights against the Iranian government is our party: the PJAK (Free Life Party of Kurdistan).
The PJAK has proved to the people that it can successfully
organize itself and fight for its rights based on its own strength.
Unfortunately, the repression of the opposition in Iran has instilled
great fear of the regime among the people and it is only the Kurds who
are organized and ready to fight for the democratization of the country.
We strongly believe that democratization of Iran is the task of the
people in Iran. The PJAK is making every effort to approach all the
Kurdish parties, groups and Iranian opposition in order to start a dialogue
to establish a common political platform.
The current repression against Kurdish civilians requires a quick and effective international intervention. The killing of Kurds and other ethnic groups has to be stopped as soon as possible in order to prevent a possible blood bath by the regime. The strong presence of the Iranian army in the Kurdish areas is a serious reason of concern.
Iran should not only be criticized because of its atomic energy-program, but the United Nations should criticize Iran in particular for its violations of human rights.
Iran and the Kurds
Iran is a multi-national country of nearly 70 million population, where Persians, Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Baluchis, Turkmans and Arabs live together, each with their own distinctive traditions, customs, language and culture.
Successive Iranian governments have promoted the Persian language and culture as the official Iranian language and culture at the expense of other nationalities, while the latter's just demands for cultural recognition have often been met with brutality and repression.
The Kurds, who form around 17% of the Iranian population, already severely repressed under the previous regime, continue to suffer multiple violations of their most fundamental rights under the current regime. The Islamic Republic during its rule over Iran for more than two decades has implemented a series of discriminatory policies in the economic, political, cultural, social and religious fields that have brought about widespread unemployment, poverty and forced migration. Drug abuse (especially among the young) which was unheard off twenty years ago, has now reached endemic proportions.
Historically, Iranian Kurdistan has been one of the most underdeveloped parts of the country. Farming still remains the main source of employment and income for the majority of the population. Lack of investment in modern methods of farming and in infrastructure have resulted in the farm produce perishing before reaching the market, and even when it reaches the market it is not able to compete in quality and price with produce from elsewhere. This economic stagnation forces Kurdish farmers (especially the young ones) to leave the region in search of job opportunities elsewhere. They abandon their farms and join the migrant communities living in shantytowns on the outskirts of major industrial cities. This mass migration of the young population in turn forces the region into a spiral of poverty and deprivation, which the regime seems to be either unwilling or unable to stop.
Centralized power, and the appointment of non-Kurdish administrators, who often come from the security establishment, at all levels of government in the Kurdish regions, have alienated the Kurdish population from the governing authorities, resulting in mass protests by the population at every available opportunity. The regime's response to protests is always brutal and results in imprisonment, terror, torture and killing of whoever dare to oppose its tyrannical policies. Even during the past few years when the reformist parliament and president tried to curb non-judicial imprisonment and executions elsewhere in Iran, in Kurdistan the ultimate power has always been in the hands of the security establishment. They have had a free hand to do as they wish with the population. In practice Kurdistan has been under undeclared martial law. The human rights abuses in Iran are well documented by the international human rights organizations.
In terms of land area and population, the second largest part of Kurdistan is in this country. The struggle for freedom that was waged in Turkey has encouraged and strengthened the Kurdish population in this country. The people in Eastern Kurdistan are enthusiastic supporters of Abdullah Ocalan, Leader of the KKK.
In this country, PJAK has been the most influential organization of the Kurdish population. PJAK supports the Democratic Confederal resolution. PJAK has the strongest popular support in Eastern Kurdistan and it is the most powerful opposition body in Iran. Two particular dynamic forces, the women and the young people, join the PJAK with a view to transform the society.
PJAK is in a state of conflict with the state forces of Iran and its influence has been on the increase. The State of Iran is persisting with its policy of non-resolution by the use of violence.
The regime of mullahs is an outdated regime that has long past its expiry date. This regime must go and be replaced by a democratic system in which all the people, including Kurds among others, will have their rights to exist on equal terms and have their own identity recognized. PJAK is a manifestation of the people’s well, anger and demands for their rights, and has its roots among the university students in Iran. The people were dissatisfied with the lack of progress made by the two Kurdish parties in Iran – the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and the Komala Party.
The foundation of PJAK
With the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, on February 16, 1999, uprisings began in all parts of Eastern Kurdistan. These uprisings were a point of renewal of the political struggle in Eastern Kurdistan and led people into a higher sense of awareness, determination, and also helped to structure a new democratic mind. The desire for equality and freedom of the Kurdish people in eastern Kurdistan-Iran needed new measures. Consequently these uprisings could gain from the experiences of previous revolts in other parts of Kurdistan. This brought forth a new page in the Kurdish history of revolts under the name of the Democratic Union Movement, the new movement went beyond all the former ideas of political activity in this region. The new elements continued re-structuring the Kurdish movement with ideological awareness, educating members and raising the limit of intellectual and political knowledge of the people of eastern Kurdistan.
By presenting the motives and goals of the political movement, this resistance movement achieved positive outcomes and it was soon acknowledged and supported throughout eastern Kurdistan.
With all the above-mentioned experiences, the movement was able on April 25, 2004, to set up the first congress under the name of PJAK- The Free Life Party of Kurdistan. Its main aims are to replace the religious system ruling Iran, to found the Federal Democratic Republic of Iran, to resolve the Kurdish question on the basis of free and democratic unity among peoples, the freedom of women and to put an end to their unequal status in the society, to deal with the effects of the feudal society and to pave the way for a free and democratic life in East Kurdistan (Iranian), to secure the basic rights and freedoms for all people of every social strata, and to establish free relationships among the peoples of Iran.
The organisational structure of PJAK
1- The Congress
2- The Head of the Party
3- The Assembly
4- The General Coordination
The Party bodies and branches:
1- The Union of the Women of Eastern Kurdistan:
The Union of the Women of East Kurdistan (YJRK) with its own special
program and charter, is aiming at and acting to develop special organizations
for women in East Kurdistan (and other parts of Iran)
2- The Union of the Youth of Eastern Kurdistan:
The Union of East Kurdistan Youth (YCR) which, based on the real potential
of young people, is trying to develop democratic and non-governmental
organizations for this dynamic social group
3- The Democratic Press Union:
Democratic Press Union (YRD) carries out informative and educational
activities to raise the democratic awareness of the different social
groups
4- Self-Defense Forces: HRK
The military forces of Eastern Kurdistan, Hezi Rojhelati Kurdistan –
HRK (Forces of Eastern Kurdistan) is working in an autonomous way and
parallel with the political goals of PJAK. As the present system is
suppressing the democratic demands of the Kurds and other peoples in
Iran through its oppressive and aggressive policies, it is necessary
to put into practice the strategy of self-defense in the political,
social, cultural, economic, environmental and, if needed, military fields.
We will use the right of self-defense until the democratic aims and
interests of the people are met. For this reason our military forces
have taken up positions in many of the Kurdish regions and some important
parts of Iran.
PJAK’s analysis and aims for Iran:
1- The state power in Iran is exceptionally powerful and
the government is allowing it to spread to different parts of society,
which has become a great obstacle to development into a society of civil
action. Theocracy is the core center of the Iranian government. It is
of great importance that the substance of ideology and the very essence
of the government in Iran are forced to make fundamental changes. These
changes should come from the development of a radical form of democracy
for the people. It is therefore important that the theocratic government
of Iran changes the very basis of their governmental structure. To be
able to achieve this, democracy should be introduced to the people of
Iran. Furthermore the duties of the government ought to be changed from
what it is today to becoming a simple body to perform the duties of
a state, which are to defend and maintain security and also to carry
out social developments.
2- In Iran, there is on one hand a firm belief in Omat which is a system
of sects with roots in the Shii´a religion, and also on the other
hand there is a system of state power which functions on the principles
of a state-nation perspective. The mixture of these two systems of state
is a vast obstacle for the natural development of new forms of society
and also new forms of state. Any movement within a mono-colored and
single discourse structure encourages the growth of a closed, unnatural
system where conflicts of national identity and belonging - as well
as religious belonging - are deepened. It is a growth point for radical
opinions starts and breeds. With this negligence of the people's true
identities, new groups are created in society. It is for this reason
that reforms in the structure and form of the Islamic Omat as well as
the achievement of a state must be connected to democracy.
3- By implementing the progression process of democracy in the country the potential of self-governance will also increase. Furthermore, the differences of religion, ethnicity and culture that are connected strongly to freedom and history are given an opportunity to grow and develop.
4- In a social political system based on Democracy, there is no room for the abuse of people or for the undermining of their rights. Also, tribute to the higher groups in power is considered an illness of an old age which cannot co-exist with democracy. It is important that resistance to a democratic society in which the mechanism that motivates individuals to join political and organizational associations should be overcome.
5- Nation states do exist with a one-discourse system in which ethnicity, culture, language, religion and sex are unified. In Iran the citizens who are of a different religion than Shii´a, and who come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, as well as women, are not part of macro politics or any kind of leadership. These groups do not have the right to participate in the government or political life in any way. The right to hold a high position has only been given to the religious leaders, the Mullahs are the leaders of a single male-concentrated system. The regime has to stop describing citizenship on the basis of individual qualities and instead needs to re-describe the citizens of Iran by a new category which includes the capacity for acceptance of all different cultural, religious differences for all groups of society, as well as acceptance of women especially. This new standard should provide for acceptance and unity instead of prejudice and discrimination. The international community humanistic standard must be taken as a foundation of decision-making whether it concerns economics, politics, culture or social issues.
* Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi is the President of the
Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK)