SUMMARY

APCO (Arab Political and Cultural Organization) was an umbrella group of multiple political and cultural organizations that was established in Iran on 26 April 1979. The group primarily sought greater autonomy for the Khuzestan province in Iran. This included cultural rights and representation in the Government of Iran for its local Arab inhabitants, a greater share in oil revenues and the official revision of the province’s name to its pre-Iranian title, Arabistan.

These objectives were driven by the fact that Arabistan was populated by a minority population of Arabs within the majority-Persian population of Iran, and it was rich in oil, yet socio-economic problems and poverty were widespread in the province. The local inhabitants complained of ethnic and cultural discrimination from the Iranian government.

APCO’s members comprised ethnic Arabs from the Arabistan area, who were ethnically and culturally closer to the Arab population in Iraq, which it had been a part of prior to becoming part of Iran under the Algiers Agreement of 1975 (for more information, see Iraq – Iran conflict). The Arabistani population spoke an Arabic dialect that included a Farsi influence, which reflected the Iranian connection to the area.

APCO was based in the Iranian province of Khuzestan, which lay at the southern part of the Iranian border with Iraq and Shaikh Mohammed Taher Shobeir Khaghani was its leader.

Prior to the Algiers agreement between Iran and Iraq in 1975, Arabistan had been a part of Iraq. Yet, amid continuing tensions between the two countries, APCO was believed to receive weapons from Iraq and the dispute over the local population and status of Arabistan was one of the triggers for the relapse of the Iraq – Iran conflict in 1980.