Washington Kurdish Institute
September 15, 2020
The past few decades have seen the Kurds rise to unprecedented levels of prominence on an international scale. In 2015, the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) became the 3rd largest party in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Since 2012, The Kurds of Syria have carved out their own autonomous region, comprising the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (AANES). In Iraq, the Kurds have had their autonomy enshrined in the new Constitution of Iraq, and now have their own military and government. Despite the gains made by the Kurds of Syria, Turkey, and Iraq, the Iranian Kurds have remained on the sidelines, both in terms of the attention they have received from the media and the international community, and have not made the same political or territorial gains as their counterparts in the other areas of Kurdistan.
The Kurds of Iran, like all other Kurds, have faced historical discrimination from the central government of the country they find themselves in. Rojhelat (Iranian Kurdistan) is amongst the most underdeveloped regions in Iran, and the Kurds of Iran do not receive equal access to state benefits compared to the rest of the population. Both unemployment and poverty is exceptionally high in the region, even compared to the rest of the sanctions-hit country. Any political activity that is not supportive of the ruling theocratic regime in the country is cracked down upon severely by the Revolutionary Guard Corps, (IRGC) which has no tolerance for any dissent.
The first attempt at a Kurdish nation-state took place in Iran, in the early 1920s, following the end of the First World War. However, this was brutally suppressed by Reza Pahlavi, then the leader of the Iranian Army, in cooperation with the Azeris. In 1941, the Allied powers took control of Iran, putting Mohammad Reza Shah, the son of the now-exiled Emperor Reza Shah, in power. The country was divided into spheres of influence, with the Soviets largely influencing the north, including the Kurdish-majority parts, where in 1946, an independent Kurdish state was established, known as the Republic of Mahabad. It was backed by the Soviets and led by the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI). It lasted only 11 months, when the Americans and British supported the central government in Tehran’s efforts to overthrow this entity.
Throughout Mohammad Reza Shah’s rule, the Kurds were treated harshly. Pro-royalist elements were always imposed upon them (although Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh was friendly towards the Kurdish population until his overthrow in a CIA-sponsored coup in 1953). The Iranian Revolution of 1979 seemed to be another opportunity for Iran’s Kurds to achieve self-rule, and the revolutionary government claimed it would support minority rights. However, Ayatollah Khomeini saw Kurdish aspirations as a threat to the integrity of his new Islamic Republic, and when a Kurdish uprising began in 1979, the Revolutionary Guards cracked down with executions and arrests on a massive scale. The war between Iran and Iraq that followed would be devastating for the Kurds, who were caught in the crossfire between two governments that resented their Kurdish minorities. The leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou was assassinated by the Iranian regime in 1989. His successor was also assassinated in 1992. Both assassinations took place in Europe by the Iranina regime’s assassins who were never brought to justice.
Since then, Iranian Kurdish political aspirations have largely been unsuccessful due to a combination of brutal suppression by the regime in Tehran, and internal disagreement between Iranian Kurds on how to approach their situation, which has materialized in the form of different Iranian Kurdish political parties with extremely different visions for the future of Rojhelat.
Iran has one of the highest rates of “brain drain” out of any “developing” countries. In 2006, an estimated 180,000 Iranians were estimated to be leaving or fleeing the country every year, due to poverty, discrimination, and oppression. The Iranian Kurds have suffered even more than their ethnic Persian counterparts, and likewise leave the country, often with virtually no possessions, usually to neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey. Like other refugees of the Middle East, the Kurds aim to reach European countries such as Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Austria, and the UK, which have proven friendly to Kurdish refugees.
Many Kurdish refugees that flee to Iraq’s Kurdish region and Turkey end up in refugee camps. While Iraqi Kurdistan is hosting tens of thousands of refugees, millions settle in Turkey. However, as has been revealed through its treatment of its own Kurds, as well as those of Syria and Iraq, Turkey views Kurds that embrace their Kurdish identity on a political level as a threat. This goes for Iranian Kurds as well, many of whom flee Iran due to political activism, as the Iranian regime does not tolerate any such activities, in particular from minorities. Awat Pouri, an Iranian Kurd who is living in Turkey, specifically referred to the examples of Adel Bahrami and Adel Mukarram, Iranian Kurdish political asylum seekers who were deported back to Iran from Turkey in December 2019. According to Mr. Pouri, “political asylum seekers affiliated with the Iran opposition, often face police and security crackdowns.”
There are further examples that are more recent as well that Pouri mentioned. Ebrahim Khaledi, another Iranian political asylum seeker, was deported in April 2020 back to Iran. Furthermore, in January of 2017, two Iranian Kurds that were visiting Turkey, Sajjad Jahanfard and Hassan Baladeh, travelled to Mardin University in the Kurdish-majority part of Turkey for the purposes of cultural talks. They were there not as asylum seekers, but as writers and cultural activists. As a result, Turkey deported them to Iran and there they were interrogated and imprisoned.
Overall, Turkey’s treatment of Iranian Kurdish political and cultural activists is consistent with its treatment of those in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. It is no longer illegal to refer to oneself as a Kurd, however, any political or cultural activism is not tolerated whatsoever. In this regard, Turkey and Iran have common ground. Speaking to the WKI, another prominent Iranian Kurdish activist, who wished to remain anonymous, said “People who leave Iran as refugees tend to be politically active, and the Iranian government has zero tolerance for any Kurdish political activity. They know that the only group that can shake them up are the Kurds.”
Turkey’s deportation of Kurdish activists to Iran is in full violation of United Nations law, under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, which protects asylum seekers and refugees from being returned to countries that persecute them. Nonetheless, this issue is not present in the media in a major way, and other countries do not pressure Iran or Turkey to take different stances. The Iranian regime forbids western journalists from going to the Kurdish region in Iran to cover the situation there, and as such the Kurds do not have as much of an opportunity to put a spotlight on their situation as their counterparts in other parts of Kurdistan. Turkey is home to millions of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc, and the Kurds of Iran are overlooked both as refugees and asylum seekers.
Iran’s Kurds have long faced major discrimination and oppression from the Iranian theocratic government whenever expressing themselves through politics and culture, and also historically from the previous regime under the Shah. This has not only continued to the present day, but also increased as the Iranian regime has found new partners in its quest to dominate the Kurdish people in Turkey, and also in the government in Baghdad, and Assad’s regime in Damascus. Despite clashing in Syria, the Iranian and Turkish militaries have begun to coordinate military operations against Kurdish opposition parties. This combined with Turkey’s deportation of Iranian Kurdish activists back to Iran, as well as their combined efforts to stifle Iraqi Kurdistan both economically and politically following the 2017 independence referendum, shows that the Kurdish people will continue to face intolerance of their desires for self-determination and freedom.