Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, PJAK) is an Iranian Kurdish nationalist armed organisation based in northern Iraq[1] that is involved in armed opposition to the government of Iran. They are mainly involved in attacking the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and attempting to force the IRGC out of the Kurdistan Province of Iran and other Kurdish-inhabited areas.
Contents |
[edit] Policies and structure
The present leader of the organisation is Haji Ahmadi. According to the Washington Times, half the members of PJAK are women, many of them still in their teens, and one of the female members of the leadership council is Gulistan Dugan, a psychology graduate from the University of Tehran.[1] This is due primarily to the fact that PJAK is strongly supportive of women's rights. PJAK believes that women must have a strong role in government and must be on an equal level with men in leadership positions.[2]
PJAK's ideology is democratic liberalism and traces its origin to non-violent student movements. Its nationalism is less radical than PKK and it does not promote the creation of an independent Kurdish state. It is mainly focused on replacing Iran's theocracy with a democratic and federal government, where self-rule is granted to all ethnic minorities of Iran, including Arabs, Azeris, and Kurds.[3]
[edit] Armed conflict and arrests
PEJAK killed 24 members of Iranian security forces on April 3, 2006 in retaliation for the killing of 10 Kurds demonstrating in Maku by Iranian security forces.[1] On April 10, 2006, seven PEJAK members were arrested in Iran, on suspicion that they had killed three Iranian security force personnel. Cihan News Agency claims that over 120 members of Iranian security forces were killed by PEJAK during 2005.[4]
[edit] Relation to United States government and military structures
PJAK is considered close to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK, a.k.a. KADEK, a.k.a. KONGRA/GEL), which is listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States State Department.
On April 18, 2006, US congressman Dennis Kucinich sent a letter to US president George W. Bush in which he expressed his judgment that the US is likely to be supporting and coordinating PJAK, since PJAK is based in Iraqi territory, which is in practice under the control of US military forces.[5]
In November 2006, journalist Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker supported this claim, stating that the US military and the Israelis are giving the group equipment, training, and targeting information in order to create internal pressures in Iran.[6]
Contrary evidence includes an interview with Slate magazine in June 2006, when PJAK spokesman Ihsan Warya was paraphrased as stating that he "nevertheless points out that PJAK really does wish it were an agent of the United States, and that [PJAK is] disappointed that Washington hasn't made contact." The Slate article continues stating that the PJAK wishes to be supported by and work with the United States in overthrowing the government of Iran in a similar way that Kurdish organisations in Iraq cooperated with the United States in overthrowing the government of Iraq in the Iraq war.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Tehran faces growing Kurdish opposition, James Brandon, The Washington Times, April 3, 2006
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ Iran Arrests 7 PKK Terrorists, April 10, 2006, Cihan News Agency/zaman.com
- ^ Kucinich Questions The President On US Trained Insurgents In Iran: Sends Letter To President Bush, Dennis Kucinich, April 18, 2006
- ^ Hersh, Seymour M. "The Next Act", The New Yorker, November 20, 2006. Retrieved November 19, 2006.
- ^ Wood, Graeme. "Iran Bombs Iraq: Meet the Kurdish guerrillas who want to topple the Tehran regime", Microsoft, June 12, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
