Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from PJAK)

This article has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality.
Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page.

Party for Free Life in Kurdistan Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê, (PJAK)
Led by	Haji Ahmadi
Objectives	To establish semiautonomous regional entities or Kurdish federal states in Iran, Turkey and Syria similar to the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq.^[1]
Active region(s)	Iraq and Iran
Ideology	Apoism Kurdish nationalism Federal Democracy

The Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, PJAK) is a militant Kurdish nationalist group based in northern Iraq^[2] that has been carrying out attacks in the Kurdistan Province of Iran and other Kurdish-inhabited areas.^[3]

PJAK is a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Confederation (Koma Civakên Kurdistan or KCK), which is an alliance of outlawed Kurdish groups and divisions lead by an elected Executive Council. The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization internationally by a number of states and organizations, including the USA, NATO and the EU,^[4]^[5] is also a member of KCK.^[6] More than 37,000 people have been killed in the Turkey-PKK conflict since 1984. ^[7] A recent New York Times article stated that PJAK and PKK "appear to a large extent to be one and the same, and share the same goal: fighting campaigns to win new autonomy and rights for Kurds in Iran and Turkey. They share leadership, logistics and allegiance to Abdullah Ocalan, the P.K.K. leader imprisoned in Turkey."^[8]

1 Policies and structure
2 Armed conflict and arrests
3 Relation to United States government and military structures
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Policies and structure

The present leader of the organisation is Haji Ahmadi. According to the Washington Times, half the members of PJAK 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.^[2] This is due primarily to the fact that PJAK is strongly supportive of women's rights. PJAK believes that women must have a strong role in government and must be on an equal level with men in leadership positions.^[9]

PJAK is a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Confederation (KCK). A number of Kurdish groups and divisions fall under the KCK umbrella, which is lead by an elected executive committee. The KCK is in charge of a number of decisions under the movement, and often, release press statements on behalf of its members. PJAK also has sub-divisions. PJAK's armed-wing has been named by the organization as the Eastern Kurdistan Forces (Hêzên Rojhilata Kurdistan or HRK). PJAK also has a women's branch, dedicated to serving women's interests within the group and women interests in general, called Yerjerika.^[10]

Like the present PKK goals in Turkey, PJAK leaders say their long-term goals are to establish a federal Kurdish state within Iran.^[11] It is mainly focused on replacing Iran's theocracy with a democratic and federal government, where self-rule is granted to all ethnic minorities of Iran, including Arabs, Azeris, and Kurds.^[12]

[edit] Armed conflict and arrests

PJAK killed 24 members of Iranian security forces on April 3, 2006 in retaliation for the killing of 10 Kurds demonstrating in Maku by Iranian security forces.^[2] On April 10, 2006, seven PJAK members were arrested in Iran, on suspicion that they had killed three Iranian security force personnel. Cihan News Agency claims that over 120 members of Iranian security forces were killed by PJAK during 2005.^[13]

PJAK set off a bomb on 8 May 2006 in Kermanshah, wounding five people at a government building.^[14]

As early as mid-2006, the Iranian security forces have confronted PJAK guerillas in many different occasions along the border inside Iran. Since then, the Iranian military has begun bombardments of Kurdish villages in Iraq along the Iranian border while claiming that their primary targets have been PJAK militants. A number of civilians have died. ^[15] PJAK claims its guerillas fight inside Iran, and in August of 2007, managed to destroy an Iranian military helicopter that was conducting a forward operation of bombardment by Iranian forces.^[16]

[edit] Relation to United States government and military structures

PJAK is considered close to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK, also called KADEK , Kongra-Gel and KCK), which is listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States State Department.

Wikinews has related news:

Kucinich asks Bush about alleged US support for armed insurgency in Iran

On April 18, 2006, US congressman Dennis Kucinich sent a letter to US president George W. Bush in which he expressed his judgment that the US is likely to be supporting and coordinating PJAK, since PJAK is based in Iraqi territory, which is in practice under the control of US military forces.^[17]

In November 2006, journalist Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker supported this claim, stating that the US military and the Israelis are giving the group equipment, training, and targeting information in order to create internal pressures in Iran.^[18]

Contrary evidence includes an interview with Slate magazine in June 2006, when PJAK spokesman Ihsan Warya was paraphrased as stating that he "nevertheless points out that PJAK really does wish it were an agent of the United States, and that [PJAK is] disappointed that Washington hasn't made contact." The Slate article continues stating that the PJAK wishes to be supported by and work with the United States in overthrowing the government of Iran in a similar way that Kurdish organisations in Iraq cooperated with the United States in overthrowing the government of Iraq in the Iraq war.^[19]

However, in August of 2007, the leader of PJAK was permitted to visit Washington DC in order to seek support from the U.S. both politically and militarily^[20] but it was later said that he only made limited contacts with officials in Washington.^[21] One of the top officials in the PKK made a statement in late 2006, that "If the US is interested in PJAK, then it has to be interested in the PKK as well" referring to the alliance between the two groups and their memberships in the Kurdistan Democratic Confederation (KCK).^[22]