The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK describes its goals as self-determination, human rights, democracy and peace for the Kurdish people of Kurdistan and Iraq. The PUK is currently under the leadership of Bafel Talabani. The PUK was founded in 1975 by Jalal Talabani, Nawshirwan Mustafa, Fuad Masum, Adel Murad, Ali Askari and Abdul Razaq Feyli. All presidents of Iraq under the 2005 constitution have been from this party.
The Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, commonly shortened to Komalah, is a social-democratic ethnic party of Kurds in Iran. Formerly with Marxist-Leninist and communist ties, the Komalah is a well established party with a history of more than five decades. The Komala party's headquarters are presently in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. They have an armed wing that has a history of leading the Kurdish resistance. The Komalah was advocated for anti-imperialism and Kurdish self-determination.
The Communist Party of Iran is an Iranian communist party founded on 2 September 1983. It has an armed wing and its membership is predominantly Kurdish. The CPI is active throughout the industrialized areas of Iran.
The Khabat Organization of Iranian Kurdistan, usually called Khabat, is an armed ethnic party of Kurds in Iran, currently exiled in northern Iraq. The group currently does cross-border attacks against Iranian forces.
The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, also known as the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), is an armed leftist ethnic party of Kurds in Iran, exiled in northern Iraq. It is banned in Iran and thus not able to operate openly. The group calls for self-determination of Kurdish people, and has been described as seeking either separatism or autonomy within a federal system.
Kurds in Iran constitute a large minority in the country with a population of around 9 and 10 million people.
Several left-wing guerrilla groups attempting to overthrow the pro-Western regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi were notable and active in Iran from 1971 to 1979. The groups shared a commitment to armed struggle, but differed in ideology. Most were Marxist in orientation. The largest group — People's Mujahedin of Iran — was founded as a left wing movement with the aim to overthrow Iran's cleric rule.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party was an ethnic party of Kurds in Iran, which split from Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) in 2006 after a dispute over choosing its next leader in the latter's 13th convention. The KDPI and Iran’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP-Iran) have been engaged in several rounds of reunification talks over the years. On August 21, 2022, the two parties announced that they would finally reunite.
The Republic of Mahabad, also referred to as the Republic of Kurdistan, was a short-lived Kurdish self-governing unrecognized state in present-day Iran, from 22 January to 15 December 1946. The Republic of Mahabad, a puppet state of the Soviet Union, arose alongside the Azerbaijan People's Government, a similarly short-lived unrecognized Soviet puppet state.
Kurdish separatism in Iran or the Kurdish–Iranian conflict is an ongoing, long-running, separatist dispute between the Kurdish opposition in Western Iran and the governments of Iran, lasting since the emergence of Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1918.
The 1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran was one of the largest nationwide uprisings in the country against the new state following the Iranian Revolution. The Kurdish rebellion began in mid-March, just two months after the Revolution ended, and was one of the most intense Kurdish rebellions in modern Iran.
The insurgency by the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran surged in 1989, lasting until 1996, as part of the Kurdish separatism struggle. The eruption of the conflict in July 1989 was caused by the assassination of KDPI leader Abdul Rahman Qassemlou by suspected Iranian government agents. The most violent episodes took place in 1990 and 1991, when Kurdish soldiers launched massive attacks on Iranian military bases in Kurdish areas of Iran. This brought heavy retaliation from the Iranian government, aiming to eradicate the KDPI leadership by assassinating Sadegh Sharafkandi and other KDPI leaders in 1992 in order to disable the Kurdish party's ability to function. The conflict faded with the effective targeted assassination policy of Iran and by 1996 KDPI was no longer able to function militarily and announced a unilateral ceasefire. The conflict claimed hundreds of lives, mostly Iranian government troops and Kurdish militants.
The 1967 Kurdish revolt in Iran erupted in March 1967, as part of the long-running Iranian-Kurdish conflict. Abrahamian describes the revolt as a Marxist insurgency with the aim of establishing autonomy for Kurds in Iran, modeled as a federal republic. The revolt, consolidating several tribal uprisings which had begun in 1966, was inspired by the First Iraqi–Kurdish War in neighboring Iraq and enjoyed the support of the recovering Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, previously crushed during the 1946 Iran crisis. The 1967 revolt, coordinated into a semi-organized campaign in the Mahabad-Urumiya region by the revived KDPI party, was entirely subdued by the central Iranian government.
2016–present clashes in West Iran refers to the ongoing military clashes between Kurdish insurgent party Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which began in April 2016. Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) and Komalah expressed their support to the Kurdish cause of PDKI as well, with both clashing with Iranian security forces in 2016 and 2017 respectively. In parallel, a leftist Iranian Kurdish rebel group PJAK resumed military activities against Iran in 2016, following a long period of stalemate.
The Komala Kurdistan's Organization of the Communist Party of Iran is an Iranian Kurdish communist party active throughout the Iran–Iraq border. The party is led by Ibrahim Alizade and works as the Kurdish branch of Communist Party of Iran.
Iranian Kurdistan or Eastern Kurdistan is an unofficial name for the parts of northwestern Iran with either a majority or sizable population of Kurds. Geographically, it includes the West Azerbaijan Province, Kurdistan Province, Kermanshah Province, Ilam Province and parts of Hamadan Province and Lorestan Province.
The Organization of the Toilers of Kurdistan, also known as the Komala – Reform Faction, was an armed communist and separatist ethnic party of Kurds in Iran based in northern Iraq.
The Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan – Reunification Faction simply known as the Komala – Reunification Faction, was an armed communist and separatist ethnic party of Kurds in Iran, currently exiled in northern Iraq.
Abdullah Mohtadi is the leader and secretary general of Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
The Salvation Force was a Naqshbandi Sufi Islamist militant group composed of Kurds, active in the Avroman region of Iranian Kurdistan during the 1979–1983 Kurdistan conflict and Iran-Iraq war. Like other Kurdish separatist groups in Iran, they aligned with and were armed by the Iraqi side. For the period of its existence, it was led by its founder Sheikh Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din Naqshbandi, of the prominent Sheikhs of Tawilah family.
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