SUMMARY
KDPI (Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran) was a Kurdish organization formed on 16 August 1945 that sought autonomy for the Kurdish area within Iran. Its roots lay in the earlier Kurdish political Komala JK movement but the KDPI emerged in response to the need to create an association in Iran that was capable of handling a large group of people for the Kurdish cause. It became a pan-Kurdish, nationalist, left-wing organization that originally drew its members from both Iraq and Iran, before the Iraqi members soon splintered to form their own Kurdish group, the KDP.
The goal of KDPI was initially to create an autonomous Kurdistan within the borders of Iran. However, a secondary goal was introduced after the Iranian monarchy was overthrown in 1979 and replaced with religious theocratic regime that refused to accept the KDPI, which led to armed conflict breaking out (see Iran: Government conflict for more information). The KDPI secondary objective sought to replace the Tehran government regime with a democratically-elected alternative.
Since its formation, armed conflict has resulted in the KDPI losing and regaining Kurdish areas in the north-west of Iran multiple times (see Government of Iran – KDPI for more information). On the first occasion, the KDPI declared its authority over the self-proclaimed Kurdish Republic of Mahabad on 22 January 1946. This small territory was located in north-western Iran and included the towns of Bokan, Naqadeh and Ushnuieh, whilst Mahabad functioned like a territorial capital with most Kurdish groups having headquarters there. However, the Mahabad Republic’s existence survived less than a year and on 15 December 1946, Iranian government troops recaptured control of the territory. After this, KDPI regained control over Iranian Kurdistan on two other main occasions: during the 1979 Iranian revolution, when the KDPI controlled the greater part of Iranian Kurdistan; and during the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, when Iranian forces were distracted by battles in the south.
Most members of the KDPI belonged to the Iranian urban middle classes, whose professional occupations included roles such as teachers, officials and business merchants. Nonetheless, a few members had tribal backgrounds or came from the elite landowning classes. The KDPI made efforts to avoid class becoming an alienating issue.
The KDPI was structured around a Central Committee and its leader was elected at regular congresses. Its headquarters was located in Koya, northern Iraq. During the year that the Mahabad Republic existed, the KDPI also established a formal administration system with a governing cabinet, ministries and local administration levels. It was reported that the group had possibly 1000 to 1500 armed troops. However, this should be considered as a speculative estimate or average at best as official sources were lacking.
Qazi Mohammad was the main founder of KDPI and served as President of the short-lived Mahabad Republic until it collapsed and he was executed by the Tehran government on 31 March 1947. Prior to KDPI, Mohamad had been a religious leader and hereditary judge for the Mahabad and he came from the most respected family in the city. After his execution and the fall of the republic, KDPI was forced underground. Although it set up a Revolutionary Committee to continue its struggle in 1967, these KDPI leaders were caught and executed by the Iraqi Kurdish group KDP the following year because they feared the effect that KDPI actions may have on the regional balance of power and the Kurdish struggle for liberation within Iraq. The KDPI elected a new central committee at its third congress in 1971 but it was only a few years later that it elected Dr Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou as Secretary-General at another secret PDKI conference in Iraq in 1973. Dr Ghassemlou was an academic professor in Europe, who had been politically active from a young age and had co-founded the Democratic Youth Union of Iranian Kurdistan when he was 15 years old. However, Dr Ghassemlou was assassinated by the Government of Iran while in Austria to participate in negotiations on 12 July 1989. Therefore, Deputy Secretary-General Dr Sadegh Sharafkandi, also known as Dr Said, became the group’s leader. Before joining the KDPI and rising up its ranks, Sharafkandi had specialized in chemistry. However, similar to his predecessor, Dr Sharafkandi was assassinated by the Government of Iran whilst in Germany on 17 September 1992. Mustafa Hijri, who had been a secondary school teacher prior to joining KDPI, took over as interim and then deputy leader. Mr Hijri was elected Secretary General of the PDKI in 2006 and remained its leader as of 2019.
The KDP and the KDPI were always very closely related, at times collaborating or working under each other’s leadership and at other times operating directly against each other. The KDP was originally created as the Iraqi branch of the KDPI by Iraqi members, who were inspired by the KDPI’s establishment of the Mahabad Republic earlier in 1946. However, the KDP quickly separated from the KDPI and developed its own separate agenda. The KDPI joined the National Resistance Council in 1982, which was formed by Kurdish exiles in Paris. However, this political group never became a formidable force and the KDPI left it in 1985 after engaging in negotiations with the Iranian government, which the other members objected to.
The Iraqi Kurdish group, PUK aided KDPI in fighting against Iranian attacks by providing access to military or intelligence infrastructure between 1981 and 1983 (see (Government of Iran – KDPI)[/#statebased/406] for more information). Its motivation was mostly linked with PUK's opposition to its parent group, the KDP, and the possibility a successful KDPI providing reciprocal support for PUK in its own fight against the Government of Iraq and KDP. However, the Government of Iraq also supported the KDPI during 1981 to fuel an internal destabilizing force against the Government of Iran during the early stages of the Iran-Iraq war (see Iran – Iraq conflict for more information). After 1981 however, as Iranian forces gained ground inside Iraq, the KDPI significantly weakened, and the Kurdish problem became significant for the Iraqi government. Consequently, its support for the KDPI was minimized.
