| 1979 Iranian ethnic conflicts | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Aftermath of the Iranian Revolution | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Islamic Republic of Iran | Azerbaijani rebels Kurdish rebels Ahwazi rebels Turkmen rebels Qashqai rebels | ||||||
The 1979 Iranian ethnic conflicts were a wave of rebellions against the new Iranian government in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Some of the rebellions were fully separatist while others were autonomist or just demanded increased rights. The unrest was eventually quelled.
The KDPI, led by Abdulrahman Qasimlo, quickly fell out with Khomeini in March 1979 after its failure to gain autonomy, and revolted. There were also conflicts between Shia and Sunni Kurds, as well as Kurds and Azeris. The Kurdish rebels, who were well armed, captured Sanandaj, Paveh, Saqqez, and Mahabad, and successfully resisted several Iranian attempts to recapture the cities. By early September, Iran recaptured the cities, and the KDPI retreated to the mountains and continued waging attacks. In November, the KDPI attacked Mahabad and most major Kurdish cities, at the same time many Kurds began joining government forces. KDPI continued its attacks, and continued to fight consistently from January to August 1980. The KDPI was supported by the Iraqi government, which made several military incursions during the time which escalated to a full invasion of Iran on September 22. By December, Iraq and the KDPI launched major thrusts into western Iran. After the KDPI sided with the Iraqi invaders, many more Iranian Kurds stopped supporting it. Furthermore, Iran began supporting the Kurds in Iraq. With the support of Iranian Kurds, and Iraqi Kurds who cut off many Iraq-KDPI supply lines, Iran defeated KDPI. By 1983, the KDPI was limited to the mountains, capable of sporadic fighting at best. [1] Kurdish tribesmen and armed civilians also resisted the Iraqi invasion. [2] By October 1983, in Val-Fajr 4, Iranian forces and Iraqi Kurdish fighters cleared out the remaining Iraqi soldiers in Iranian Kurdistan. They finally severed the connection between KDPI and the Iraqi army. Iran also captured parts of Iraqi Kurdistan with the help of the Iraqi Kurdish fighters, despite its concerns over their secular nationalist ambitions. Iran established a foothold in Iraqi Kurdistan, causing some Iraqi units to leave southern Iraq and head northwards, providing some relief to the Iranian troops in southern Iraq. [3] [4]
Khuzestani Arabs had long complained of economic and political marginalization by the Persian-dominated government, which did not improve after the 1979 Islamic revolution despite promises. In late April 1979, Sunni Arab militants in Khuzestan revolted against the Iranian government. The navy and air force were already in Khorramshahr quelling the violence. More Khuzestani Arabs began protests, after which the government sent IRGC units. [5] [6] [7] After the revolt was suppressed, an Arab protest in Khorramshahr was violently suppressed on May 29. [5] After 100 had died in street fighting, Iran declared a state of emergency in Khuzestan on May 31. [8] During the Iran–Iraq War, Khuzestan was one of the main locations, and the official Iraqi goal was to annex Khuzestan and incite Arab revolts, although they failed to achieve it. [9] In 1980, the DRFLA attacked and sieged the Iranian Embassy in London. [10]
In the immediate aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, the Turkmen People's Cultural and Political Society was established, mobilizing Sunni Turkmen. [11] On March 26, 1979, Turkmen leaders in Gonbad e Kavus boycotted the constitutional referendum due to land grievances and fought against the IRGC until April 3, when a ceasefire was signed, and autonomy was increased. The IRGC was supported by the air force, while the Turkmen fighters were joined by leftist guerrillas. In February 1980, the ceasefire broke as the Turkmen revolted again, although the IRGC suppressed it. The brief clashes resulted in over 100 dead on both sides. [12] [13]
When anti-government protests began in 1978, Qashqai participated, although not in large numbers. However, towards the end of the year, Naser Khan and Khosrow Khan, the sons of Qashqai tribal chief Sawlat od-Dowla, who were in exile in Europe, were contacted by the Qashqai leadership in Iran, seeking advice. They cautiously visited Ayatollah Khomeini in Paris, who reminded them that their father embraced calls from the ulema for a jihad against the British in World War I, expressing hope that they would similarly embrace the call from the clergy if called upon. Although the Shah had personally attacked the exiled Qashqai leaders in one of the last speeches he delivered before fleeing Iran, Naser Khan returned to Iran before the Shah left. Naser Khan displaying a hesitance and reticence in his actions allowed him to be co-opted by the revolutionaries to act as a mediator between rival tribes, just as his father Sowlat-od-Dowla had acted for Reza Shah. Many Qashqai rearmed and sometimes forcibly captured land, particularly from non-tribal farmers, herders, and orchard owners. The optimism the Qashqai initially had about their place in a new Iran largely died in summer 1979, and the Qashqai leaders, who attempted to unite the tribal opposition in southern Iran, were shocked by the force used against the Kurdish revolt. Khomeini had only acknowledged the suffering of tribes under the Pahlavi government but never made solid assurances. When parliamentary elections took place in 1980, Khosrow Khan, who received 70% of the vote in the Eqlid district, west of Shiraz, was rejected by the Majlis who accused him of SAVAK and CIA ties and a family history of landlordism. He was arrested by the IRGC in Tehran, before being released, arrested again, and then escaping and returning to Fars. There, he gathered Qashqai, Boyerahmadi Luri, and Basseri tribesmen, and he and Naser Khan resisted the Iranian forces for two years from June 1980 to July 1982. They were considered the only group in Iran effectively offering credible resistance. After a sham amnesty, Khosrow Khan was captured in Shiraz, sent to Tehran, and sentenced to death by an Islamic Revolutionary Court and hanged on October 8, 1982, in Shiraz. [14]
