Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan
The Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan ( Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê , PJAK) is a militant Kurdish underground organization in Iran with bases in northern Iraq . The PJAK is a sister organization of the PKK . She is waging an armed struggle for more autonomy for the Kurds in Iran. The PJAK is managed by the Cologne resident Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi, known as Haji Ahmadi. The organization first attracted nationwide attention in June 2007, when it became known through a report on the television program Monitor that the PJAK was also recruiting guerrilla fighters in Germany. The PJAK's retreat areas are the Kandil Mountains .
organization structure
The PJAK was officially founded on April 4, 2004 through its founding congress. The second congress took place in January 2006. Organizationally, it is to be regarded as a sister organization of the PKK. The PKK has sister organizations in all parts of Kurdistan: in Syria the “ Democratic Union Party ” (PYD), in Iraq the “ Party for a Political Solution in Kurdistan ” (PCDK) and in Iran the PJAK. For its part, the PJAK consists of the following sub-organizations:
- "Union of Young People of Eastern Kurdistan" ( Yekitîya Ciwanên Rojhilatê Kurdistan , YCRK) - this is the party's youth organization;
- "Union of Women of Eastern Kurdistan" ( Yekitîya Jinên Rojhilatê Kurdistan , YJRK) - this is the women's organization of the PJAK;
- "East Kurdistan Forces " ( Hezên Rojhilatê Kurdistan , HRK) - the HRK are the military arm of the movement and maintain around 1,000 fighters. Around 400 of them are women. According to Akif Zagros, the PJAK was not designed to defeat the Iranian army. Mainly guerrilla techniques would be used. The fighters would also be used against reprisals or to protect political activists in East Kurdistan;
- "Union of the Democratic Press" ( Yekitîya Ragihandina Demokratîk , YRD).
- There is also an unspecified “political arm” of the organization.
PKK and PJAK
The PJAK insists that it is different from the PKK. However, both parties share Abdullah Öcalan's ideology of democratic confederalism and pursue the same goals using similar methods. There is also an overlap in terms of personnel in terms of management and members. The central figure in both organizations is the former PKK leader, Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned on İmralı . PJAK leader Haji Ahmadi called him in an interview as the one who defines the struggle of the PJAK. Leading functionaries and former PKK members include Ihsan Varya, head of the coordination committee, and Gulistan Doğan, leader of the women's organization. The leading member of the PJAK, Xizir Xiringe (alias: Akif Zagros), who died in May 2006, was also a leading member of the PKK. Esmer Demir (code name Xane), who was killed in May 2008, was also active in both organizations. Furthermore, the operational areas or areas of retreat of both organizations overlap.
In contrast to the PKK, the US does not directly classify the PJAK as a terrorist organization; according to the PJAK, it is even supported by the US. Seymour Hersh , a well-known Muckraker , wrote in The New Yorker that the PJAK is supported financially by the USA and Israel as well as with arms deliveries. His sources included Dennis Kucinich . In 2009 the US Treasury listed the organization as a terrorist organization.
ideology
The main component of the ideology is the so-called democratic confederalism , a theoretically grassroots democratic confederal association of all Kurds in the four parts of Kurdistan. This confederation is supposed to take place without the formation of a separate state. The organization also attaches great importance to the emancipation of women.
Armed conflict
Since 2007 the fighting has increased in intensity. Both sides reported increased casualties on the part of the enemy. An Iranian helicopter was also shot down. In August 2007, the Iranian armed forces launched a major offensive against the PJAK presence in northern Iraq and artillery fire on PJAK camps and Kurdish villages. Iran has not made an official statement about operations in Iraq. Protest came from the Kurdish regional government of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan . The Iranian government wants to keep the PJAK out of Iran by building a barrier at the border crossing to Iraq. The Federal Intelligence Service should be in contact with the PJAK.
In January 2009 the PJAK guerrilla command center confessed to the murder of the public prosecutor Hajgholizadeh in Choy in retaliation against death sentences against party members, which he had obtained.
armistice
On September 4, 2011, the PJAK declared a ceasefire (effective the following day) vis-à-vis Iran. This statement was made before Masud Barzani's visit to Iran, according to sources close to PJAK, to strengthen Barzani's negotiating position.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Iran police: Dead PJAK rebels not Iranian (English) , Press TV . April 29, 2009.
- ↑ Monitor broadcast about the recruitment of PJAK fighters
- ^ German-language part of the PYD homepage
- ^ Homepage of the PCDK on Sorani
- ↑ cf. Article by Zjir Rashaan ( Memento of the original from October 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ cf. Article by Graeme Wood
- ↑ cf. Article by Zjir Rashaan ( Memento of the original from October 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Washington Institute: The PKK, PJAK, and Iran: Implications for US-Turkish Relations , June 13, 2007 (accessed December 10, 2013)
- ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung : We are natural allies of the USA , 24. August 2006 (accessed December 10, 2013)
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/world/middleeast/23kurds.html?_r=1&oref=slogin New York Times: In Iraq, Conflict Simmers on a 2nd Kurdish Front.
- ↑ https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Doppelter-Massstab-3415841.html Telepolis: Double scale?
- ^ The New Yorker: The Next Act
- ↑ Announcement of the PJAK homepage ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Reuters report Feb. 07
- ↑ Report of the Financial Times Deutschland of August 21, 2007 ( Memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Monitor June 21, 2007
- ↑ BEGINNING September 5, 2011: PJAK announces armistice (tr) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ ANF September 10, 2011 (tr) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
