Numbering 4 to 7 million (estimates vary, but the most likely figure is between 5 and 6 million), the Kurds are the second largest ethnic minority in Iran and represent 7% of the country's population (Iran - CIA World Factbook). Iranian Kurds are part of a geographically contiguous Kurdish population stretching across eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, northwestern Iran, and southern Caucasus and numbering 25-28 million (Gunter, 197). They’re predominantly Sunni Muslim, although 5-10% practices Shi’a Islam, the state religion of Iran. They predominate in northwestern provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan bordering Iraq and Turkey, and have a smaller presence along Iran-Turkmenistan border.
Iranian Kurds: The Rebellious Minority
Known for their strong sense of Kurdish nationalism, demands for political autonomy and even separation from Iran, and activities against the Iranian government, Iranian Kurds may be the most reliable proxy that US can utilize against the Islamic regime.
Like other non-Persian ethnic groups in Iran, Kurds faced severe repression under the Pahlavi dynasty (Reza Shah in 1926-1941 and his son Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1954-1979), and actively sought to lessen the regime's control over them. In 1946 Iranian Kurds established an autonomous state in Iranian Kurdistan (Atabaki, 153), which despite lasting only a year, illustrated the Kurds' desire to assert their cultural, ethnic, and political rights.
They actively supported the 1979 Islamic Revolution in hopes that a new government would grant them greater cultural rights and autonomy in their provinces, only to discover that the clerical regime was strongly opposed to the latter. Soon the dissatisfied Iranian Kurds began revolting against the Islamic government in an attempt to achieve the long desired autonomy. The rebellion and its brutal put down by Iran's central government ensured a distrustful relationship between the country's clerical regime and its ethnically conscious Kurdish population for decades to come.
The Plight of Iranian Kurds and PJAK
Today Kurds are among the most oppressed groups in the Iran. According to Amnesty International, "Their social, political and cultural rights have been repressed, as have their economic aspirations. Kurdish regions have been economically neglected, resulting in entrenched poverty". Such dire conditions have elevated Kurdish enmity towards the Iranian government, a sentiment the US could tap into as it tries to undermine the Islamic regime.
Iranian Kurds' anti-government activities are embodied by PJAK (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan), itself an offshoot of the Turkish based PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) whose demands have ranged from autonomy for Turkey's Kurds to the establishment of a free Kurdish state spanning all Kurdish populated territories. Demanding autonomy for Iranian Kurdistan, PJAK has routinely clashed with Iranian forces along the Iran-Iraq border, using Qandil Mountains in Iraq as their base.
PJAK was formed in 2004, a year after America's invasion of Iraq which has allowed Iraqi Kurds to establish a autonomous region whilst remaining part of the Iraqi state. The presence of a US- friendly and self-governing Kurdish population in northern Iraq could facilitate an establishment of a covert US-Kurdish partnership in northwestern Iran. By promising to help Iranian Kurds establish a long sought autonomy in Iran, the US could provide them with a strong incentive to intensify their struggle against the Islamic regime
Roadblocks: America's alliance with Turkey and PJAK's affiliation with PKK
Harboring strong nationalist sentiments and little empathy towards Islamic extremism, the Kurds may appear to be the most reliable Iranian minority for US to work with. However there is one major factor that undermines this relationship and that’s America’s vital alliance with Turkey. Turkey has the largest population of Kurds, who number between 12 and 15 million, representing 18% of the country's population (Thomas). The Turkish government has long marginalized Turkish Kurds and as a result has been engaged in an intense struggle with the Kurdish separatist group PKK since the late 1970s.
PJAK is widely viewed as a junior partner of the PKK and its operations are largely controlled by the latter. This was well illustrated when in early August the PKK decided to withdraw PJAK militants from Iran. This was likely a strategic move aimed at easing PKK's tensions with Iran and focusing its resources on Turkey. Such developments strongly undermine PJAK's status as a genuine, locally based Kurdish resistance movement in Iran. In March 2009, the US further reinforced the notion that it's closely affiliated with the PKK by adding PJAK to its list of terrorist organizations (US brands...).
According to scholars Saban Kardas and Nihad Ali Ozcan, "To give PJAK a local character, some Iranian Kurds were recruited to its leadership cadres. Despite PJAK’s claim to the contrary, it operated under the PKK umbrella and sought refuge in the Qandil Mountain region. As an indication of these organic ties, militants recruited from Turkey were sometimes deployed in Iran, while militants of Iranian origin sometimes took part in PKK operations inside Turkey".
Already wary about the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, Turkey could find itself under immense pressure with Iranian Kurds actively seeking autonomy and possibly emboldening more Turkish Kurds to act likewise. Until Turkey resolves its Kurdish issue, the US cannot effectively utilize Iranian Kurds as a proxy against Iran’s government. Since PJAK is an extension of the PKK in Iran, by strengthening them the US would indirectly strengthen the PKK in Turkey, thus underming its ally's battle against its most potent adversary. While destabilizing Iran may serve America's interests, destabilizing Turkey certainly doesn’t.
Sources
- Atabaki, T. (1993). Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and Struggle for Power in Iran. New York: I.B. Taurus.
- Gunter, M. (2004, Spring). The Kurdish Question in Perspective. World Affairs, 166(4), 197-205.
- Iran: Human Rights Abuses Against the Kurdish Minority. (2008). Amnesty International. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- Iran - People. CIA World Factbook. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
- Kardas S. & Ozcan N. A. (2009, March 26). PJAK, Iran and the United States: Kurdish Militants Designated Terrorists by the United States. Terrorism Monitor, 7(7). Retrieved August 10, 2011.
- PKK decides to withdraw PJAK militants from Iran. (2011, August 9). Today’s Zaman. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
- Thomas, L. (2011, April 21). Kurds Renew Their Movement for Rights and Respect in Turkey. The New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- U.S. brands anti-Iran Kurdish group terrorist. (2009, February 4). Reuters. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
Enver Guseynov - I majored in International Affairs with emphasis on Middle East and have written several research papers and articles on the region.
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