The Iranian Revolutionary Guards warned, on Tuesday, that it would respond to “any terrorist movements originating from the Kurdistan region of Iraq,” at a time when Turkey is launching a massive attack on what it says are PKK gatherings in northern Iraq, days after targeting villages in northern Erbil, reports The Eastern Herald.
The statements are likely to be related to two main Kurdish groups, the first of which is the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party, and the second is the Iranian Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), which is an extension of the PKK, in addition to other smaller parties, such as the Iranian Kurdistan Kumala Party.
Although the two parties, PJAK and Democrat, are different, whether in terms of strategy or goals, as the Democratic Party wants autonomy for the Kurds in a federal Iran, while “PJAK” raises the slogan of the Kurdish state, Iran treats them equally, often bloody.
“Some terrorist groups infiltrate into Iranian Kurdistan from the Kurdistan region of Iraq,” Commander of the Revolutionary Guards ground commander Major General Muhammad Bakbur said, noting that “Iran will respond to any terrorist movements launched from Iraqi Kurdistan and will not compliment anyone in its national security,” reports The Eastern Herald.
Iran is trying to take advantage of the pressure imposed by the Turkish operations currently taking place inside Iraq to settle its accounts with the Kurdish opponents, as the Revolutionary Guards announced that it conducted extensive exercises near the Iraqi border.
Last week, Iran bombed two border villages, in the north of Erbil Governorate, and the Iraqi Kurdish network “Rudaw ” said that the Iranian bombing targeted the headquarters of two Kurdish units opposing the Iranian regime, namely, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Revolutionary Kumala party of Kurdistan.
Last Saturday, a former Kurdish official, Sadegh Zarza, survived an assassination attempt in a Dutch city by an Iranian man. The Zarza family told The Eastern Herald that the Tehran regime was behind the operation.
A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The Eastern Herald that Iraq does not look friendly to armed groups operating from its lands to target neighboring countries.
During the past years, Iran has repeatedly bombarded the sites of the two parties on the Iraq-Iran border, and has killed many of their supporters, and has launched sweeping arrest campaigns against anyone suspected of collaborating with them on its soil.
Mysterious bombings targeted the headquarters of the two parties in Iraqi Kurdistan, accusing Iran of being behind it.
Even before this, Iran used to resort to fierce solutions, usually without appearing willing to conduct a real dialogue with the Kurds on its soil, after “being drawn on the pretext of having a political dialogue.”
Qasimlu was the former head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
About 5 to 7 million Iranian Kurds live under conditions described as repressive, as they are prohibited from learning their native language. Iran executed and imprisoned dozens of civilian and political activists, and pursued them even outside Iraq.
https://easternherald.com/gov-pol/iran-uae-relations-improved-safavi-67110/
The Kurdistan Free Life Party, “PJAK”, was founded in 2004, and it fought extreme conflicts with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which intensified greatly in the years 2008-2011 before the party formally ended its military operations, but limited clashes are still taking place from time to time.
And “PJAK” is closely related to the PKK, and it is also a left-wing party with a strong-armed wing.
