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 Dawood Mohammed Ali. All presidents of Iraq under the 2005 constitution have been from this party.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is the official executive body of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq.
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 Communist Party of Kurdistan – Iraq is a Kurdish political party, formed in 1993 when the Iraqi Communist Party branch in the Kurdish areas was formed into a separate party. The party is led by Kawa Mahmud.
The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, also known as the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), is an armed leftist separatist movement of Kurds, exiled in northern Iraq with branch offices in Europe. It is banned in Iran and thus not able to operate openly. The group calls for either separatism in Iran or a federal system.
The Iran–PJAK conflict is an armed conflict between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Kurdish rebels of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), which began in 2004. The group has carried out numerous attacks in the Kurdistan Province of Iran and provinces of Western Iran. PJAK is closely affiliated with the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the primary opponent of the Republic of Turkey in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. PJAK has been designated as a terrorist organization by Iran, Japan, Turkey, and the United States.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party, usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK, is the ruling party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional Government. It was founded in 1946 in Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan. The party states that it combines "democratic values and social justice to form a system whereby everyone in Kurdistan can live on an equal basis with great emphasis given to rights of individuals and freedom of expression."
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 Democratic Union Party is a Kurdish left-wing political party established on 20 September 2003 in northern Syria. It is a founding member of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change. It is the leading political party among Syrian Kurds. The PYD was established as a Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 2003, and both organizations are still closely affiliated through the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).
An independence referendum for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was held on 25 September 2017 in Kurdistan Region, with preliminary results showing approximately 92.73 percent of votes cast in favour of independence. Despite reporting that the independence referendum would be non-binding, the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) characterised it as binding, although they claimed that an affirmative result would trigger the start of state building and negotiations with Iraq rather than an immediate declaration of independence of Kurdistan. The referendum's legality was rejected by the federal government of Iraq and the Federal Supreme Court. KRG eventually conceded and accepted the Supreme Court’s ruling that no Iraqi governorate is allowed to secede.
Islamic Iran Solidarity Party is an Iranian reformist political party founded in 1998, by 10 members of Parliament of Iran. The party is a member of Council for Coordinating the Reforms Front and publishes the newspaper Hambastegi. Ali Asghar Ahmadi is the general secretary, an office previously held by Ebrahim Asgharzadeh and Mohamadreza Raahchamani. They have supported Mohammad Khatami in the 2001 election, Mehdi Karoubi in 2005 and Mir-Hossein Mousavi in 2009.
Kurdistan Freedom Party is a Kurdish nationalist and separatist militant group of Kurds in Iran, based in northern Iraq.
Doleto Prison is a prison located in the Doleto neighborhood of Sardasht, West Azerbaijan, Iran. During the early stages of the Iranian Revolution, members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan committed a series of human rights violations and war crimes against detainees in the Doleto prison in Iran, including physical abuse, forced labour, executions and torture. Doleto Prison has been accused of committing "serious human rights abuses" against its political dissidents and critics of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan. This prison was active from 1978 to 1982.
Kurdistan Beit-ol-Moqaddas Corps is a military unit under Basij and IRGC. Their headquarters is located in Sanandaj, and they are the largest and in charge of controlling all IRGC Corps and Basij units in Kurdistan province.
