„After almost two decades of silenced guns, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) decided earlier this year to resume its decades-long campaign for self-rule in the country. ‚We want to be closer to our people and we want the Islamic Republic to listen to our demands,‘ said Khalid Azizi, the leader for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP-Iran) in an interview with Rudaw earlier this month. Azizi has since shown support for the recent KDPI operations in Iran. Since the early 1990s the KDPI, which is considered the main Kurdish political armed group in Iran, has ended all its military campaigns against the Iranian army largely due to new arrangements between Tehran and Kurdistan region, which basically prohibit attacks on Iran from the Kurdish-controlled territories in Iraq. The new arrangements meant that the Islamic Republic would intervene in Kurdistan region’s internal affairs far less than it has in the rest of Iraq where it is considered a key player with considerable influence in Baghdad.
But things seem to have fundamentally changed for these relations to continue intact. Iran’s larger role in Iraqi affairs after the ISIS offensive also led to Tehran’s increased tendency to influence politics in Kurdistan region as well. Political pundits in the region have over the past month pointed out Tehran as the architect behind the recent strategic pact between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Change Movement (Gorran) to face Ankara’s growing role in the economy of the Kurdistan region which is privileged by decade-long oil and gas deals. Seen in this light, the KDPI’s resumption of military campaign is a response to Tehran’s effective break of the old arrangements with the Kurdistan region.“
(Bericht auf RUDAW: „The quiet uprising; how far will the Kurds go in Iran?“)
Mehr dazu auf Mena Watch: Kurdische Peshmerga-Einheiten liefern sich Gefechte mit Revolutionsgarden im Iran
