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Erbil to Tehran: Containment or mutual
relations
23.10.2008
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October 23, 2008
Iraq's Kurdistan region president Massoud Barzani
traveled to Tehran, the capital city of Iran, upon
an official invitation of President Mahmoud
Ahmedinejad.
Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani traveled to
Tehran, the capital city of Iran, upon an official
invitation of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Unlike
Turkey,www.ekurd.net
Iran officially
recognizes the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
and has a consulate in Erbil, the capital city of
Kurdistan Region.
There are a number of crucial issues that are on the
agenda between the two presidents, including the
strategic agreement that is negotiated between Iraq
and the U.S.; the activities of * PJAK (the Free
Life Party in Kurdistan) in Iran and their military
camps in Iraqi Kurdistan, and the status of the
arrested Iranian officials in Erbil by the U.S. last
year.
Iran is aware of the strategic importance of any
strategic agreement between Iraq and the U.S. with
its possible implications on Iran. Despite the fact
that the agreement has yet to be finalized and
signed between the two sides,www.ekurd.net
Iran fears that its
influence in Iraq would be diminished and the soil
of Iraq may be used as a launch pad by the U.S. in a
possible military confrontation with Iran. |
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, (L), welcomes
President of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region in
northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani, for their meeting in
Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008 |
Kurdistan Region has a
lengthy border with Iranian Kurdistan and the
position of the KRG in the eventuality of a
U.S.-Iran military conflict would be decisive not
only due to Kurdistan's border with Iranian
Kurdistan but also due to the fact that the KRG and
political Kurdish parties have considerable leverage
over the Kurds in Iran. Iran has long relations with
Iraqi Kurds, but perhaps the bitterest memory of
Iraqi Kurds with Iran is the infamous Algeria
agreement between Iran and Iraq in 1975, which
brought disaster to the Kurdish national movement in
Iraqi Kurdistan led by legendary Kurdish national
leader Mustafa Barzani, the father of Massoud
Barzani.
Iran, unlike other neighboring countries of the KRG,
has a kind of mild but cunning policy toward Iraqi
Kurdistan and its own Kurdish community. Iran has
never denied the existence of the Kurdish identity
and a small region within Iranian Kurdistan
officially called Kurdistan, whereas use of
"Kurdistan" still is taboo in Turkey. Iran, however,
has not been too happy to see full-fledged Kurdish
nationalism either in Iraqi, Turkish, or Iranian
Kurdistan. The difference between Iran and Turkey
with respect to their approach to the Kurdish
national movement is that Iran mostly resorts to
containment policy whereas Turkey aims to destroy it
from its root.
Iran's interests in Iraqi Kurdistan at this
particular period is mainly oriented to its own
national security as it perceives the KRG as a
strong partner of the U.S. in Iraq and thus it is
exerting pressure on Kurds at least to make them
remain indifferent in the eventuality of any
military conflict with the U.S. However, prior to
the meeting with Ahmedinejad Thursday,www.ekurd.net
Barzani in a press
conference on Wednesday with Iranian Foreign
Ministry, Manuchehr Mutaki, in Tehran stated that
the strategic agreement between Iraq and US is the
best agreement that Iraq is going to sign. With this
statement Barzani sent his message to top Iranian
officials his stance on the issue of US-Iraq
strategic agreement.
Iran has also been anxious about the activities of
PJAK and the rumors that the U.S. provides
logistical and military support to it despite the
fact that there is no concrete evidence to support
the claim.
Recent tension between the KRG and the Iraqi central
government led by al-Maliki on the issue of troop
deployment in Khanaqin and other disputed areas is
attributed by some commentators to Iran to corner
and pressure the KRG through Iran's Shiite
supporters in Iraq. It is not a big secret that Iran
has great influence on Shiites in Iraq.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, Globe
Chronicle
*
Since
2004 the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdistan province northwestern of
Iran (Iranian Kurdistan, Eastern Kurdistan). Half the members of PJAK
are women.
In a report released in July 2008, the human rights
organisation, Amnesty International
expressed concern
about the increased repression of Kurdish Iranians,
particularly human rights defenders.
The report cited examples of religious and cultural
discrimination against the estimated 12 million
Kurds who live in Iran.
“We urge the Iranian authorities to take concrete
measures to end any discrimination and associated
human rights violations that Kurds, indeed all
minorities in Iran, face,” Amnesty said in its
report.
“Kurds and all other members of minority communities
in Iran, men, women and children, are entitled to
enjoy their full range of human rights.”
Iranian Kurdistan
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Îranę or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatę
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan)) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 12 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
More about Iranian Kurdistan
PJAK
The present leader of the organisation is Haji
Ahmadi. According to the Washington Times, half the
members of PEJAK 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. This is due
primarily to the fact that PEJAK is strongly
supportive of women's rights. PEJAK believes that
women must have a strong role in government and must
be on an equal level with men in leadership
positions.
More about PEJAK- Party for a
Free Life in Kurdistan
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