Groups, Institutions, Organiza

Democratic Party

Written by: Leila Heidari Bateni Translated by: Hadi Qorbanyar
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The Democratic Party of Iran was founded in 1945 by Qazi Muhammad to secure autonomy for Kurdistan. When the Pahlavi regime consolidated power, the Party was dissolved. However, after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, it was revived and resorted to armed struggle against the Islamic Republic to seize power. During the Iran-Iraq War, the Democratic Party also had military cooperations with the Iraqi army against Iran.

The Democratic Party should be regarded as a product of the relatively open political atmosphere of 1941, formed by a group of dissatisfied Iranian Kurds and nationalist Iraqi officers.[1] Under the leadership of Qazi Muhammad, this movement turned into the Democratic Party of Kurdistan in 1945 and established the autonomous Republic of Mahabad.[2] Following the rise of the Pahlavi regime and the execution of Qazi Muhammad,[3] the Party was re-established in 1964 under the leadership of Khodoy Sharifzadeh and Abdul Rahman Qassemlou. In 1966, it launched an armed campaign to achieve Kurdish autonomy, but after two years, it was severely suppressed, forcing its members to flee to various countries.[4] In late 1978, amid the revolutionary developments in Iran, Qassemlou returned to the country and revived the Party on February 12, 1979. The Party seized the Mahabad Garrison and distributed its ammunition among leftist forces such as Komala and the Fadaiyan-e Khalq guerrillas.[5] It took control of Radio Mahabad and called on all anti-revolutionary elements to engage in armed struggle against the Islamic Republic.[6] On February 14, 1979, Imam Khomeini (ra) issued a message ordering the disarmament of all cities, but ignoring his directive, the Party occupied the Sanandaj Garrison and the Officers’ Club.[7] Through demonstrations and speeches, it consolidated its position, recruited members by stirring nationalist sentiments among the youth, and on March 2, 1979, held a rally in Mahabad to formally announce the resumption of its political activities.[8] The Democratic Party, divided into a political wing led by Ghani Bolourian and a military one centered around Qassemlou, received support from the Iraqi government and the United States.[9]

Among the political and military maneuvers undertaken by the Party in its struggle against the Islamic Republic were the March 1979 events in Sanandaj—later remembered as the Bloody Nowruz—the boycott of the referendum on March 30, 1979, the unrest in Naqadeh marked by Party elements opening fire on citizens and sparking clashes on April 20, 1979, the attack on the Marivan Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) base and the subsequent beheading of many of its members on July 14, 1979, and the siege of Paveh on August 11, 1979, among other incidents.[10] Having established strong ties with ministers of the fallen Pahlavi regime (Azizollah Palizban and Abdul Reza Ansari), and through them with NATO’s military organization, Iraq, and local feudal lords to secure funding and weapons, the Party disarmed and seized border posts and garrisons in Kurdistan.[11] The escalation of clashes prompted Imam Khomeini (ra) to dispatch representatives to investigate the situation and prevent further unrest. The goodwill delegation, headed by Dariush Forouhar—Minister of Labor in Mahdi Bazargan’s provisional government—held talks with the Democratic Party, Komala, the Fadaiyan-e Khalq, and others. The Party leaders presented an eight-point plan demanding autonomy for Kurdistan and non-interference by the central government in the region’s political, economic, cultural, and social affairs.[12] The Democratic Party also demanded that the provisional government refrain from establishing gendarmerie or police forces in Kurdistan, hand over those responsibilities to the local population, and dissolve the Army.[13] When the Islamic Republic refused to meet these demands, the Democrats intensified and expanded their armed struggle against the Islamic Republic.

The Democratic Party believed that overthrowing the Islamic Republic was impossible without joining forces with the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization. Therefore, on January 7, 1981, Qassemlou met in Paris with Massoud Rajavi, the Mojahedin-e Khalq leader who had secretly traveled to France, and they formed a joint campaign aimed at changing Iran’s political system.[14]

After the siege of Paveh on August 11, 1979, and the fall of the Mahabad Garrison, the Party launched what became known as the “three-month war”.[15] It took military officers and soldiers as prisoner, held captives and hostages in stables, tortured them, and executed them publicly. Also, the Party forces disarmed and seized garrisons and radio-television stations, turned people’s homes into bunkers, stole government vehicles, martyred many young people, extorted money from civilians and forced them into labor, and staged armed demonstrations in the Turkish-inhabited town of Naqadeh to display power.[16] Following the Paveh incident, Imam Khomeini (ra) called the Democratic Party the “Party of Satan”, declaring it dissolved and illegal.[17]

Throughout the Iran-Iraq War, the Party fully cooperated with the Iraqi army to keep the Iranian Army and IRGC units tied down. Iraq, in turn, supported the Party elements with air strikes and artillery fire. One example of this cooperation was the bombing of the “Dowlatu Prison” in a village of the same name near Sardasht (West Azerbaijan Province) by Iraq. This attack, which took place on May 7, 1981, in cooperation between Iraq and the Democratic Party, resulted in the killing of more than one hundred Iranians—including members of the Jahad-e Sazandegi Organization, the IRGC, the Army, and Kurdish peshmerga—who had been imprisoned by the Democratic Party and other anti-revolutionary groups.[18] The wounded were handed over to Iraq as prisoners of war.[19]

In 1982, the establishment of the Hamzeh Seyyed al-Shuhada Headquarters in Urmia improved coordination against anti-revolutionary forces, including the Democratic Party. Cities, connecting roads, and shared borders with Iraq in the Kurdish areas were placed under unified control. Within two years, the headquarters brought cities, main and secondary roads, intermediate areas, and border regions under its control,[20] and by 1983 forced the Party into guerrilla warfare.[21]

In early 1984, the Democratic Party rejected negotiations proposed by Islamic Republic representatives aimed at ending hostilities, as Qassemlou believed the offer did not serve the Party’s interests.[22] In early 1985, Iranian forces confronted elements of the Democratic Party through irregular and guerrilla operations. Also, the IRGC established the Ramazan Headquarters to change its approach towards Iraq, and started negotiating cooperation agreements with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.[23]

From 1985 onward, the Democratic Party steadily lost its influence in the region.[24] Operations conducted by the Hamzeh Seyyed al-Shuhada Headquarters accelerated the decline of Party control in Kurdish areas and forced many of its members to flee into Iraq.[25] Although in 1986 the Party returned to Saqqez from Iraq with a new organizational structure called “Malband”, it could not carry out successful operations.

Overall, the methods employed by the Democratic Party in its campaign against the Islamic Republic between 1981 and 1985 can be summarized as follows: threats and assassinations targeting revolutionary forces; psychological operations; hostage-taking and torture of IRGC members; public executions; concealment of ammunition; attacks on and seizure of military bases and garrisons; recruitment through intimidation and appeals to nationalist sentiment; ambushes and mine-laying; destruction of electricity pylons, radio and television stations, telecommunications facilities, and key bridges; as well as joint sabotage operations with Komala against Iranian forces.

Cooperation between the Democratic Party and the Iraqi army included a wide range of activities: assisting Iraqi troops in advancing into Iranian territory through sabotage and diversionary operations; gathering intelligence for Iraq; collecting bodies and rescuing downed Iraqi pilots; transporting bomb-rigged vehicles into Iranian cities; capturing and handing over Iranian prisoners to Iraq; facilitating Iraqi border crossings and conducting joint operations; repairing border roads to ease Iraqi movement;[26] transferring weapons, equipment, and ammunition from Iraq into Iran; receiving Iraqi political and economic support; establishing a coordinated intelligence network between the Party and Iraqi intelligence; securing promises of assistance in forming an independent government in Iran; and hosting the Party’s radio station as well as its political and military headquarters in Iraq, among other measures.[27]

In exchange for receiving weapons and ammunition from Iraq, Abdul Rahman Qassemlou, the Party’s secretary-general, accepted the oversight of two Iraqi officers over Party affairs.[28] Countries such as the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and the Israeli regime also provided the Democratic Party with support—psychological, propaganda, technical, training, military, and logistical.[29]

In addition to assassinations and military operations against the Islamic Republic, the Democratic Party was at odds with other opposition groups. Between 1984 and 1988—especially in 1985— the Party engaged in armed conflict with Komala to gain more power and military influence in the region.[30] After the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, the Democratic Party sought negotiations to return to Iran. However, during the talks, Qassemlou and his companions were assassinated in Vienna on July 13, 1989.[31] No group or political faction claimed responsibility for the assassination.[32]

Qassemlou’s successor, Sadeq Sharafkandi, was also killed in Berlin, Germany, on September 18, 1992.[33] Internal conflicts within the Democratic Party, stemming from splits and intra-group purges, were behind these events.[34]

In 2002, the Party’s secretary-general, Mullah Abdullah Hassanzadeh, signed a letter of commitment to the Islamic Republic of Iran and ostensibly halted military operations.[35] It marked a shift from the policy of “autonomy” to “federalism”. However, in 2011, the Party resumed military activities and operations along Iran’s western borders.[36]

In 2018, Iranian security dynamics in the northwest part of the country intensified. The IRGC announced that it would confront anti-revolutionary groups who were sending armed teams across the border from Iraqi Kurdistan into Iran, carrying out sabotage operations targeting infrastructure and local security forces, and creating insecurity in West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Kermanshah provinces. On September 8, 2018, the IRGC targeted the Party’s base, training center, and leadership meeting in the village of Koy Sanjaq in Iraq’s Erbil Governorate by surface-to-surface missiles. In addition to destroying the center, dozens of the Party’s leaders and key operational members were killed.[37]

 

[1] Amir Nezami Afshar, Manouchehr; Hajilu, Esfandiar, Tarikh-e Moaser-e Azerbaijan, Vol. 1: Nafy-e Padeshahi, Mashq-e Jomhuri (Contemporary History of Azerbaijan Vol. 1: Negation of Monarchy, Practice of Republicanism), Tehran: Soreh Sabz, 1395, p. 20; Sadeqi, Reza, Atlas-e Rahnama 12: Azerbaijan-e Gharbi dar Jang ba Zed-e Enqelab va Defa Muqaddas (Atlas No. 12: West Azerbaijan in the War against Anti-revolutionary Elements and the Sacred Defense), Tehran: Markaz-e Asnad va Tahqiqat-e Defa Muqaddas, 1391, p. 28.

[2] Sadeqi, Reza, Atlas-e Rahnama 12 (Atlas No. 12), p. 28.

[3] Daerat al-Maaref-e Enqelab-e Eslami (Encyclopedia of the Islamic Revolution), Vol. 2, Tehran: Soreh Mehr, 1389, p. 93.

[4] Sadeqi Goya, Ali, Gardaneh-ye Khan ta Qolleh-ye Arbaba (From Khan Pass to Arbaba Peak), Tehran: Iran Sabz, 1381, p. 40.

[5] Amir Nezami Afshar, Manouchehr; Hajilu, Esfandiar, Tarikh-e Moaser-e Azerbaijan (Contemporary History of Azerbaijan), Vol. 1, p. 13.

[6] Daerat al-Maaref-e Enqelab-e Eslami (Encyclopedia of the Islamic Revolution), Vol. 2, p. 93.

[7] Amir Nezami Afshar, Manouchehr; Hajilu, Esfandiar, Tarikh-e Moaser-e Azerbaijan (Contemporary History of Azerbaijan), Vol. 1, p. 13.

[8] Sabeti, Rokhsareh, Kamin-e Komoleh (The Ambush of Komala), Tehran: Fatehan, 1393, p. 55; Naderi, Mahmoud, Hezb-e Demokrat-e Kordestan-e Iran (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), Tehran: Moasseseh-ye Motaleat va Pazhuhesh-ha-ye Siasi, 1394, p. 215.

[9] Kordestan, Emperyalism va Goruh-haye Vabasteh (Kurdistan, Imperialism and Affiliated Groups), Tehran: Daftar-e Siasi-ye Sepah-e Pasdaran, 1359, Pp. 37–40.

[10] Naderi, Mahmoud, Hezb-e Demokrat-e Kordestan-e Iran (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), Pp. 218–249; Sadeqi, Reza, Atlas-e Rahnama 9: Kordestan dar Jang-e Zed-e Shureshgari va Defa Muqaddas (Atlas No. 9: Kurdistan in the Counterinsurgency War and the Sacred Defense), Tehran: Markaz-e Asnad va Tahqiqat-e Defa Muqaddas, 1390, p. 54.

[11] Kordestan, Emperyalism va Goruh-haye Vabasteh (Kurdistan, Imperialism and Affiliated Groups), Pp. 33–34.

[12] Naderi, Mahmoud, Hezb-e Demokrat-e Kordestan-e Iran (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), p. 214.

[13] Amir Nezami Afshar, Manouchehr; Hajilu, Esfandiar, Tarikh-e Moaser-e Azerbaijan (Contemporary History of Azerbaijan), Vol. 1, p. 40.

[14] Naderi, Mahmoud, Hezb-e Demokrat-e Kordestan-e Iran (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), Pp. 470–471; Esmaili, Hamid-Reza, Terrorism dar Iran-e Moaser (Terrorism in Contemporary Iran), Tehran: Moasseseh-ye Motaleat va Pazhuhesh-ha-ye Siasi, 1390, p. 131.

[15] Chamran, Mostafa, Kordestan (Kurdistan), Tehran: Farhang-e Eslami, 9th ed., 1385, p. 53; Naderi, Mahmoud, Hezb-e Demokrat-e Kordestan-e Iran (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), Pp. 285, 470.

[16] Kordestan, Emperyalism va Goruh-haye Vabasteh (Kurdistan, Imperialism and Affiliated Groups), Pp. 34–35.

[17] Izadi, Mostafa; Estaki, Javad; Yaran, Masoud, Tarikh-e Bist-Saleh-ye Pasdari az Enqelab-e Eslami dar Gharb-e Keshvar, Vol. 3: Zed-e Enqelab va Ashrar (Twenty-Year History of Guarding the Islamic Revolution in Western Iran, Vol. 3: Anti-revolutionary Elements and Insurgents), Tehran: Daneshgah-e Imam Hossain (as), 1386, p. 9.

[18] Ahmadi, Batool, Moammaye Dowlatu (The Mystery of Dowlatu), Esfahan: Setaregan-e Derakhshan, 1392, Pp. 8–9.

[19] Daerat al-Maaref-e Enqelab-e Eslami (Encyclopedia of the Islamic Revolution), Vol. 2, p. 94.

[20] Sadeqi, Reza, Atlas-e Rahnama 12: Azerbaijan-e Gharbi dar Jang ba Zed-e Enqelab va Defa Muqaddas (Atlas No. 12: West Azerbaijan in the War against Anti-revolutionary Elements and the Sacred Defense), p. 45.

[21] Izadi, Mostafa; Estaki, Javad; Yaran, Masoud, Tarikh-e Bist-Saleh-ye Pasdari az Enqelab-e Eslami dar Gharb-e Keshvar (Twenty-Year History of Guarding the Islamic Revolution in Western Iran), Vol. 3, p. 11.

[22] Naderi, Mahmoud, Hezb-e Demokrat-e Kordestan-e Iran (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), p. 44.

[23] Sabeti, Rokhsareh, Kamin-e Komoleh (The Ambush of Komala), p. 125.

[24] Sadeqi, Reza, Atlas-e Rahnama 12: Azerbaijan-e Gharbi dar Jang ba Zed-e Enqelab va Defa-e Muqaddas (Atlas No. 12: West Azerbaijan in the War against Anti-revolutionary Elements and the Sacred Defense), p. 45.

[25] Esmaili, Hamid-Reza, Terrorism dar Iran-e Moaser (Terrorism in Contemporary Iran), p. 199.

[26] Izadi, Mostafa; Estaki, Javad; Yaran, Masoud, Tarikh-e Bist-Saleh-ye Pasdari az Enqelab-e Eslami dar Gharb-e Keshvar (Twenty-Year History of Guarding the Islamic Revolution in Western Iran), Vol. 3, Pp. 50–77.

[27] Sadeqi, Reza, Atlas-e Rahnama 9 (Atlas No. 9), p. 120; Naderi, Mahmoud, Hezb-e Demokrat-e Kordestan-e Iran (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), p. 462; Esmaili, Hamid-Reza, Terrorism dar Iran-e Moaser (Terrorism in Contemporary Iran), Pp. 205–206.

[28] Esmaili, Hamid-Reza, Terrorism dar Iran-e Moaser (Terrorism in Contemporary Iran), p. 207.

[29] Izadi, Mostafa; Estaki, Javad; Yaran, Masoud, Tarikh-e Bist-Saleh-ye Pasdari az Enqelab-e Eslami dar Gharb-e Keshvar (Twenty-Year History of Guarding the Islamic Revolution in Western Iran), Vol. 3, Pp. 75–77.

[30] Naderi, Mahmoud, Hezb-e Demokrat-e Kordestan-e Iran (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), Pp. 217, 542.

[31] Daerat al-Maaref-e Enqelab-e Eslami (Encyclopedia of the Islamic Revolution), Vol. 2, p. 94; Ruznameh-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslami (Jomhuri-ye Eslami Newspaper), No. 2935, 27 Tir 1368, p. 1.

[32] Naderi, Mahmoud, Hezb-e Demokrat-e Kordestan-e Iran (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), p. 546.

[33] Daerat al-Maaref-e Enqelab-e Eslami (Encyclopedia of the Islamic Revolution), Vol. 2, p. 94.

[34] Naderi, Mahmoud, Hezb-e Demokrat-e Kordestan-e Iran (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), Pp. 549–554.

[35] Daerat al-Maaref-e Enqelab-e Eslami (Encyclopedia of the Islamic Revolution), Vol. 2, p 94.

[36] Naderi, Mahmoud, Hezb-e Demokrat-e Kordestan-e Iran (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), Pp. 619–652.

[37] Ruznameh-ye Ettelaat (Ettelaat Newspaper), No. 27095, 19 Shahrivar 1397, p. 13.