Jalal Talabani was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, as well as the president of the Governing Council of Iraq. He was the first non-Arab president of Iraq. He is known as Mam Jalal amongst the Kurds.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is the official executive body of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq.
The Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, commonly shortened to Komalah, is a social-democratic ethnic political party of Kurds in Iran. Formerly with Marxist-Leninist 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 freedom-fighter wing that has a history of leading the Kurdish resistance. The Komalah advocates 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 industrialised areas of Iran.
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.
Kurds in Iran are the third largest ethnic group in Iran after Persians and Azerbaijanis, comprising about 10% of the country's population according to the CIA in 2014.
Mustafa Hijri is an Iranian-Kurdish politician who is the current leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI).
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 is 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 party "has no real influence on the masses in Iranian Kurdistan", according to Rodi Hevian.
The Republic of Mahabad or 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.
The Iraqi–Kurdish conflict consists of a series of wars and rebellions by the Kurds against the central authority of Iraq during the 20th century, which began shortly after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and lasting until the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some put the marking point of the conflict beginning to the attempt by Mahmud Barzanji to establish an independent Kingdom of Kurdistan, while others relate to the conflict as only the post-1961 insurrection by the Barzanis. The conflict lasted until the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, though tensions between the Kurdish autonomy and the central Iraqi government have continued.
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 erupted in mid-March 1979, some two months after the completion of the Iranian Revolution. It subsequently became the largest among the nationwide uprisings in Iran against the new state and one of the most intense Kurdish rebellions in modern Iran. Initially, Kurdish movements were trying to align with the new government of Iran, seeking to emphasize their Muslim identity and seek common ground with other Iranians. The KDPI even briefly branded itself as a non-separatist organization, allegedly criticizing those calling for independence, but nevertheless calling for political autonomy. However, following a number of attacks on Iranian army barracks in Kurdistan province by militant groups, relations between some Kurdish organizations and the Iranian government quickly deteriorated, and although Shi'a Kurds and some Sunni tribal leaders turned towards the new Shi'a Islamic State, Sunni Kurdish leftists and communists continued the nationalist project in their enclave in Kurdistan Province.
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, and is described by the Carnegie Middle East Center as "one of the most important Kurdish opposition parties in Syria". 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, 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.
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 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 2001 election, Mehdi Karoubi in 2005 and Mir-Hossein Mousavi in 2009.
Kurdistan Freedom Party is a Kurdish nationalist militant group currently based in the Kurdistan Region although its origins can be traced back to Eastern Kurdistan.
The 2020 Kurdish protests were a series of demonstrations and riots against the Kurdistan Regional Government in Sulaymaniyah Governorate in Iraqi Kurdistan. The demonstrations started on 2 December 2020. Demonstrators have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the political leadership, high unemployment rate, lack of public services and employs was not get salary from few months. Demonstrators set fire to several government buildings and headquarters of political parties. The Kurdish security forces killed and arrested many protesters.
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.
