Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan

Komala
Komełey Şorrişgêrrî Zehmetkêşanî Kurdistanî Êran (KŞZK)
كۆمه‌ڵه‌ی شۆڕشگێڕی زه‌حمه‌تكێشانی كوردستانی ئێران
Leader Abdullah Mohtadi
Founder Foad Mostafa Soltani, Hama Hussain Karimi, Abdullah Mohtadi
Founded 1967 (1967)
Headquarters Slemani, Iraqi Kurdistan
Ideology Secularism
Kurdish nationalism
(Left-wing nationalism)
Feminism
Democratic socialism
Social democracy
Marxism
Maoism
Revolutionary socialism

Left-wing populism
Political position Left-wing
National affiliation Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran
International affiliation Socialist International (Observer)
Progressive Alliance
UNPO
Colors Red
Party flag
Website
Komala

Komalah (Komełe), also known as KŞZK (Komełey Şorrişgêrrî Zehmetkêşanî Kurdistan) or its full name Komełey Şorrişgêrrî Zehmetkêşanî Kurdistanî Êran (Society of Revolutionary Toilers of Iranian Kurdistan) is a left-wing Kurdish nationalist political party based in Iranian and Iraqi Kurdistan. Komala has their own guerrilla force who's called "Peshmerga" and they've been active as most in the 80s and 90s until they were forced to lay down arms after suffering from heavy resistance from Iraqi Kurdish forces. Komala has been in the terrorist list of Iran since the formation of the new regime.

Komala was founded in Tehran, Iran by a group of Kurdish university students led by Foad Mostafa Soltani (Kak Foad). The Kurdish university students started to arrange secret meetings and discussed marxist and socialist ideas who led to the formation of a clandestine Kurdish organization called Komala

History

During the end of the WW2, Russia had a strong influence within the Kurdistan region of Iran. The Kurds were able to start their own republic at the end of WW2, which was called the Republic of Mahabad. The Republic of Mahabad was very short lived and lasted for 11 months, because the Russians no longer expressed their support and the Shah of Iran invaded the area. Foad Mostafa Soltani (also known as Kak Foad) graduated from high school in Sanandaj and went on to study Electrical Engineering in Irans capital city, Tehran. Kak Foad went to Aryamehr University and met many Kurdish students who later inspired him with their leftist ideas and thinking. During these years, Kak Foad spent most of the times studying different Marxist books and learning himself about the leftist ideas. Foad started to organize top secret meetings with the Kurdish students and started to discuss communism who later led to the formation of the leftist, Kurdish nationalist organisation called Komala, now a socialist political party.

Kak Foad was appointed as technical supervisor in Sanadaj’s Institute and High School after completing his studies in Tehran. Kak Foad was arrested by SAVAK—the Shah’s secret police and jailed him in a prison in the capital. Kak Foad was tortured very harshly in effort to exctract information about Komala's secret activities but he withstood any kind of torture unlike other leaders who've been extracting information directly because of the torture. The torture could not break his determination to safeguard the nascent organisation’s secrets. Kak Foad later went on hunger strike in protest to how they've been treating him. The authorities later transferred him from the ward for political prisoners to the ward housing the general prison population, including those convicted of rape and murder, in an attempt to break his spirit.

Pre-Iranian Revolution era

In 1979, after four years in jail and the advent of Iran’s revolution, kak Foad was released from prison. Thousands of Marivan residents celebrated his release. He immediately set upon organising activities during the revolution, this time as a leader. Moreover, after his release he played a crucial role in the reorganisation of Komala that made it one of the most popular parties in Kurdistan following Iran’s revolution. Because of these efforts and the credibility he acquired in leading the popular movement in Kurdistan for social and political rights, his leadership in Komala became indisputable

For the eleven months following his release, kak Foad worked incessantly to promote the participation of Kurdish men and women in politics in a post-revolutionary climate. Between June and August 1979 a series of unprecedented events occurred under his leadership that are remembered as the proudest and most well-known historic events in the history of Kurdistan following the Iranian Revolution. Kak Foad tried to solve the Kurdish question as peacefully as possible and tried to solve the Kurdish problems by negotiation but the Iranian government ignored his negotiations and tried to break him and his party since they were seen as a threat to Iran, mainly because of his ability to lead people. In 1979, Khomeini declared a Jihad on the Kurds and forced Kak Foad to take up arms against him.

Guerilla force

In 21 June 1978, a guerrilla group was formed within Komala in order to fight for the rights and the freedom of the Kurdish people after Komala's first martyr, Said Moini also known as Xane was killed in an ambush by Iraq close to the village of Drri. Xane was originally sent by Komala to PUK to get educated about the guerilla life and then later bring back the knowledge in order to form a guerilla group but Xane along with other PUK officials were ambushed while they were making their way to PUK headquarters in the mountains of south Kurdistan to meet the top PUK leader, Jalal Talabani.

Xane's death came as a major blow to Komala since they had not expected him to get ambushed along the way and die. After Xane's death, Komala's plans for a guerilla group was not as expected and they formed the group as soon as they received the news of his death. Xane died on 21 June and he is honored to this day by Komala and his day is called 31-î Jozerdan after the Iranian calendar. His day is also known as "The day of Komala's Peshmerga" to honor the first martyr of Komala and the day the guerilla group was formed.

Komala's group is called "Peshmerga" and their Peshmerga are made out of both men and women, since Komala was the first Kurdish party to include female fighters. The female fighters played a crucial role in fighting against the Iranian regime.

As of late 1990, Komala has stopped any armed activities within Iran. Abdullah Mohtadi however sent Komala fighters to the frontlines of Kirkuk in order to fight ISIS from 2015 onwards. They stayed in the front for several months but were later sent back by PDK after PDK was criticized by Iran for allowing terrorist organization in their territory.

In 21 June 2016 during Komala's ceremony of 31th of Jozerdan Abdullah Mohtadi commented that armed struggle is an important part of the struggle for the Kurdish people's rights and that every Iranian Kurdish party should sit down together and discuss it. Since Komala has stopped their armed struggle against the Iranian regime, their guerilla force has strongly decreased from thousands of guerillas to about 900 guerillas.

Armed struggle

Fighters of the Komala Party in late 2014.

Kak Foad played a crucial role in preparation for an armed resistance against the Iranian regime in Kurdistan after the declaration of a Jihad against them. The armed resistance began but in September the same year, the Iranian regime organized a large scale attack on Kak Foads hometown Marivan and broke the Komala guerrillas after a while. The attack led to execution of several residents and political activists, including Kak Foads two brothers Hossain and Amin. At the time of the executions, Kak Foad was in Baneh where he was attending meetings with other Kurdish leaders such as Sheikh Ezzedin Hosseini, Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou (Leader of PDKI) and Jalal Talabani (Leader of PUK) and when he heard about the death of his brothers, he went back to Mariwan to reorganize Komala. After the reorganization, Kak Foad went back to Baneh with several other members of Komalah. But they were surrounded by an extremely large convoy of Pasdaran soldiers in the road between Mariwan-Saqqez and Kak Foad and another man from Mariwan were martyred after a fierce battle while the other members of Komala managed to escape. The martyrdom of Kak Foad came as a shock to the Kurdish people and were considered as one of the greatest loss in Kurdish history. Iranian media stopped every scheduled news channels on both radio and TV to announce the "Happy" news about the death of Kak Foad. But not even the death of Kak Foad could stop Komala from advancing and Komala together with the people of rojhelat were able to paralyze the Iranian regime from the Kurdish areas for three months. After the paralyzing of the regime, Khomeini finally decided to negotiate with the people of Kurdistan. In truth, the negotiation was not intended for reaching an agreement with the people of Kurdistan, rather it was to buy time to refuel and reorganize the regime’s troops in order to crush the people again. During that time, the cities were in the hands of the people and the armed parties. They formed city councils to govern the cities. At that time, Kurdistan was the stronghold for freedom for all of Iran. And people from other parts of Iran came there. After a while, Khomeini bought enough time for himself to refuel and reorganize his army and the regime launched a large scale attack on the Kurdish areas who led to the crushing of the Kurdish people and the downfall of the Kurdish region. Komala continued the armed struggle against the regime and were successful in many battles. But they unfortunately laid down arms after getting attacked by Iraqi Kurdish parties.

Notable members

References

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