EAST KURDISTAN (IRAN) – Iranian Kurdish Group Shifts Policy, Seeking Democratic Autonomy

By RUDAW 6-5-2014 – ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Leaders of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) said recently that they pursue a new approach in their struggle for Kurdish rights in Iran, by making changes to the leadership system and their political agenda.The group is to form the Democratic Community and a Free Rojhelat (KODAR), adopt a system of co-chairmanship and a special focus on women’s rights and democratic autonomy for Iranian Kurds.

Massoud Manaf, an Iranian Kurdish journalist says that given PJAK’s close connections with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), changing the leadership system isn’t surprising. “All the PKK organizations have the co-leader system,” said Manaf. “PJAK’s is an attempt towards giving women more participation in the decision making processes.”

According to Manaf, who closely follows PJAK affairs, the group will appoint a woman co-leader.

In a statement, PJAK said that these moves are a response to changes taking place in the region and a way to prepare for future challenges facing the party.

“Taking into account changes on the regional and global level and particularly in Kurdistan, and the sensitive stage the Kurdish people are going through, we need change in the internal system of our party and the approach of our struggle in Eastern (Iranian) Kurdistan,” read the statement.PJAK was founded a decade ago by a group of Iranian Kurds under the leadership of Abdulrahman Haji Ahmadi. It is believed that PJAK has close ties with the PKK and both groups are based in the Qandil Mountains along the Iran-Turkish border.

Kurdish analyst Mamand Roje believes that PJAK leaders have realized that they wouldn’t be able to maintain the party in Eastern Kurdistan through armed struggle alone. “PJAK knows it cannot control Eastern Kurdistan through arms, so it seeks to make an active political atmosphere,” said Roje. “For this they need a process, they started from Europe by holding a conference and now they take the second step by holding a conference in Qandil to reshuffle the leadership of PJAK,” he added.

Despite a ceasefire reached between PJAK and Iran in 2011, both sides have clashed along the border in the past few years and PJAK fighters have claimed responsibility for killing a number of Iranian border guards.

PJAK leaders urge the Iranian government to reciprocate the group’s initiative and address the plight of the country’s Kurdish population.

“KODAR calls on Iran to engage in dialogue for the solution of the Kurdish question, other democratic issues in Iran and announce its preparation for opening to democracy,” read the statement. Roje believes that PKK’s hand can be seen behind these changes within the PJAK, saying that the PKK is interested in creating a system of self-rule in Iranian Kurdistan modeled after what it has already achieved in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava). “But the PKK cannot copy and paste the model of Rojava in Eastern Kurdistan, because eastern Kurdistan has its own parties and leaders,” Roje told Rudaw. Roje said that PJAK is an influential party in Iranian Kurdistan and it boasts many followers, but that other Kurdish groups wouldn’t accept a new system imposed on them.

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