Ebdulrehman Qasimlo
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Abdul Rahman Qasimlo in Kurdish Ebdul Rehman Qasimlû (22 December 1930 – 13 July 1989) was an Iranian Kurdish politician.
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[edit] Life of A.R. Qasimlo
Dr.Abdul Rahman Qasimlo, the Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), was born on 22 December 1930 in Ûrmiyeh, West Azerbaijan. He went to primary school in Ûrmiyeh and continued his Secondary school in Tehran. Dr.Qasimlo attended university in Paris, and later in Prague. He earned a Ph.D. Degree in Economics and was an Associate Professor in both Paris and Prague. He was teaching World Economics at the Vysoká škola ekonomická ("Prague School of Economics").
He had many books written about politics and economics and they have been translated into a number of different languages. His book Kurdistan and the Kurds 1965. Paradoxically, the Czech-language original was at first refused for publication in Prague on grounds of "not being interesting sufficiently for broader readership". A friend of Qasimlo was, however, successful to persuade other publishers in the Slovak metropolis Bratislava.[1] After their agreement, the title was published in the Slovak language and, shortly after, printed in Prague already in its English translation. Moreover, this internationally known version has been until present days consensually recognized as a valuable quotation source, especially regarding the traditional socio-economic relations in Kurdistan.[2]
Apart from his political activities, Dr.Qasimlo was a very well known diplomatic figure outside Kurdistan, especially in Europe. [3] He meets his wife Helen Krulich in Czechoslovakia which he later married. They have two daughters together, Mina (1953) and Hiwa (1955).
[edit] Words of A.R. Qasimlo
- We are Kurds, we belong to a people that the vicissitudes of history have scattered over five states. A bond of brotherhood binds us, and will continue to bind us, to all other Kurds, wherever they live. - We are the descendants of one of the oldest Indo-European civilisations. Our identity is defined by the fact that we have our own language and our own culture. - We are the citizens of a country called Iran - on the same basis of the other peoples living on the Iranian territory : the Baluchs, Persians, Azeris, Arabs, Turkmens and so on. - We are ardent defenders of the Declaration of Human Rights and the right of peoples as defined by the United Nations. - We are for the freedom of worship and we respect all religions practiced by our co-citizens. Faith is an inviolable right. However, being resolutely modern in our outlook, we feel that a separation between the religious institutions and the state is desirable. A lay state is not, on that account, opposed to the faith or to those that serve it. - For the living conditions of all to be improved, and customs from long ages past condemning women to a state of inferiority to be ended. - To accelerate development in our country, it is necessary to establish a system providing free education of uniform quality throughout the country. A special effort should be made in the peripheral areas (Kurdistan, for example) that are clearly a long way behind. - No attempt to leave poverty behind will succeed without the active participation of the people themselves. To feel concerned - so we believe - they have to feel free. Freedom of movement for goods and persons, freedom of association and freedom to form political parties or unions and to belong to such organisations are the indispensable preconditions for economic and cultural development. - For there to be trust between the population and the central authority, large-scale decentralisation is necessary. - In Kurdistan's case, that decentralisation has to comprise a charter of autonomy for the region whose boundaries would need to be precisely defined. Within this Kurdish space, the administrative languages should be Kurdish and Persian, which would both be official languages of the regional and local authorities. Primary education should be in Kurdish whereas the two official languages should be routine practice in secondary school. Lastly, after so many years of violence, the Kurdish people could not accept a police force that was not manned by Kurds. It is only on these conditions that there would be any chance of lasting peace in Iranian Kurdistan. - Lastly, the "kurdification" of the administrative and 'production structures would demand major investment in the training of senior officials and staff and also - it goes without saying - a multidisciplinary university on Kurdish land.
[edit] Political life
In 1941, the Allies invaded Iran in a 'bridge of victory" operation that inevitably brought about the downfall of Reza Shah because of his relations with the Axis powers. A major political change was to take shape in the country. In Iranian Kurdistan the national movement came back to life and the PDKI founded on 16 August 1945, attracted young people in its masses. One of them was Dr.Abdul Rahman Qasimlo - not yet 15 years old. On 22 January 1946 the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad came into existence by proclamation, but in December of the same year the imperial army with the help of the Western forces entered the city. The Republic had fallen; its President, Qazi Mohammad, and his close followers were taken prisoner, and then put to death on 30 March 1947. Back from Europe in 1952, Dr.Qasimlo devoted his energies to these clandestine activities for several years. In the next decade, he split his time between Europe and Kurdistan working in double harness: his university career and his repeated missions to Kurdistan.[4]
PDKI steeled itself to renew the struggle. In 1968-69, the armed conflict was rife in Iranian Kurdistan and the period ended in a bath of blood with the massacre of the Kurdish leaders - and yet, even then, Kurdish resistance managed to raise its head again.The vice-like grip in which the Shah's armies were trying to hold it had to be broken. At the third Congress of the PDKI (1973), Dr.Qasimlo was elected Secretary-general and at those that followed he was invariably returned to office.
The autonomy of Iranian Kurdistan would be utopian unless Iran made the change to democracy. Without democracy in Iran there could be no guarantee for autonomy in Kurdistan. [5] Dr.Qasimlo saw that these two concepts were inseparable and so they became the watchword of the PDKI: Democracy for Iran, autonomy for Kurdistan.
This policy statement in which chauvinism and sectarianism had no part won the PDKI the firm friendship of Third World countries and modern democracies alike. [6] During his many trips abroad, Dr.Qasimlo was always sure of a warm welcome. Many humanitarian organisations offered him help, eminent figures on the world stage in political and university life thought highly of him and human rights and religions militants encouraged him throughout his life. It was thanks to him that the Iranian Kurds were able to emerge from their isolation and make their voice heard in the international fora. [7] Some of these sympathisers were surprised that the Iranian Kurds had "such modest" demands after such a bitter struggle. "It is really autonomy you want - nothing more ?" was a not uncommon reaction.
One day in February 1979 Mohammed Reza Pahlavi finally gave up the throne. At that time the PDKI had a solid base and a real impact in Iranian Kurdistan. However, to run the territory properly and control its administration the police had to be removed and the army thrown out down to the very last man. This was the task of the "peshmergas" or partisans, who attacked army barracks and seized large stocks of arms and ammunition. Dr.Qasimlo was then able to claim that the Kurds controlled much of Iranian Kurdistan.
Dr.Abdul Rahman Qasimlo was elected to the Assembly of experts and made ready to carry to the capital the message of the Kurds: "there is room for all in this country where everything needs doing or re-doing". Imam Khomeini, saw things differently, labelled the newly elected representative of the Kurds an "enemy of God" [8] and declared a "holy war" on Kurdistan. This was in 1979.
The Iran-Iraq war broke out the following September. Perhaps these unsubdued Kurds would be forgotten during this conflict between Iran and Iraq (1980-88).
Iran came out of the war with Iraq exhausted and the Imam at death's door. The facts had to be faced and Tehran had to find a compromise in Kurdistan. For his part, Dr.Qasimlo had been saying for years that the fighting had been imposed on him, that neither side would ever lose or win and that, sooner or later, the Kurdish problem would have to be solved across the negotiating table. After flying a few kites, Tehran issued a concrete proposal for a meeting in Vienna on 28 December 1988 and the PDKI accepted. The talks lasted two days, 28 and 30 December and the results must have been promising because it was agreed to hold another meeting the following January. On 20 January, at the end of the first round of negotiations, the representatives of Tehran were fully acquainted with the Kurdish demands. The principle of autonomy seemed to have been agreed. The details of how it was to be put into effect had yet to be defined.
Six months later, Dr.Qasimlo returned to Europe to attend a congress of the Socialist International. Tehran tried to contact him again in order, he was told, to pursue the negotiations that had begun the previous winter. The PDKI accepted the offer sent to it. The meeting took place on 12 July 1989 in Vienna. The Tehran delegation was as before, namely Mohammed Jafar Sahraroudi and Hadji Moustafawi, except that this time there was also a third member : Amir Mansur Bozorgian whose function was that of bodyguard. The Kurds also had a three-man delegation : Abdul Rahman Qasimlo, his aide Abdullah Ghaderi-Azar (member of the PDKI Central Committee) and Fadhil Rassoul, an Iraqi university professor who had acted as a mediator.
The next day, 13 July 1989, in the very room where the negotiation took place Dr.Abdul Rahman Qasimlo was killed by three bullets fired at very close range. His assistant Abdullah Ghaderi-Azar was hit by eleven bullets and Fadhil Rassoul by five. Hadji Moustafawi succeeded in escaping. Mohammad Jafar Sahraroudi received minor injuries and was taken to hospital, questioned and allowed to go. Amir Mansur Bozorgian was released after 24 hours in police custody and took refuge in the Iranian Embassy.[9]
[edit] Assassination background
Three men make up the Iranian delegation 13 July 1989: Mohamed Jafar Sahraroudi, Hadji Mustafawi and Amir Mansur Bozorgian. The Kurdish delegation comprise also three persons : Abdullah Ghaderi Azar, Fadhil Rassul and Dr.Qasimlo. All three of them are killed that day. The three Iranian perpetrators are allowed to walk free. On July 19th the PDKÎ announces that then Deputy Secretary General, Sadegh Sharafkandi, becomes the new Secretary General (he will be assassinated too on September 17th, 1992. Abdullah Ghaderi Azar and Dr.Abdul Rahman Qasimlo are buried on July 20th in Paris.
The Austrian government has denounced Islamic Republic as the responsible for this crime.
Tehran denied all connection with this triple murder and told Austria to look for clues elsewhere besides Iranian involvement. But the findings of the ballistics experts were conclusive.
In late November, 1989, the Austrian courts issued a warrant for the arrest of the three Iranian representatives, and the Austrian Government expressly accused the Iranian Government as having instigated the attack.[10]
[edit] See also
- PDKI
- Qazi Muhammad
- Mahabad Republic
- Sadeq Sharafkandi
- Mustafa Hijri
- University of Economics, Prague
- List of socialists
[edit] References
Peyam, London-based Kurdish Paper, Issue Number 25-26, by Harem Jaff
