The dabate on Kurdish-Azerbaijani Relations

The answer of Dr.Goran Nowicki


It is nice to see friendship being cultivated between Kurds and Azeris and for example the borders between Kurdish and Azeri regions in Iran are delimited by such efforts based on the results of council elections in Iran. From my personal interaction with Azeris, I group Azeris into 3 groups.
1) Those zealous supporters of the Islamic regime.2) Those nationalist Azeris following Pan Turkism and Grey Wolvism.3) Those Azeris who want to live in peace with their neighbors
As Mr Hejar and Dr Hassanpour are both aware, the first group provides the bulk of manpower for suppressing the Kurdish movement in Iran, especially in western Azerbaijan and they exert a lot of influence in Iranian government, diplomatic offices, intelligence, revolutionary guards and economic activities. The second group that you see their propaganda in the Azeri satellite news, not only putting the Kurdish territory under Azerbaijan, but even Tehran itself. The third group do exist, but are a minority compared to the above two groups and that is the reality on the ground.
I don't know how much Mr Hejar has interacted with Azeri or Persians in general. I want to argue that the increase in the influence of Azeris in Iranian regime after the Islamic regime translated into more repression and bloodshed in Kurdistan. I am sure Mr Hejar knows the famous Azeri hanging judge Khalkhali who committed crimes in Kurdistan 25 years ago. Mr Hejar questions Naqadeh bloodshed in this debate, but does he blame Kurds for Khalkhali atrocities in Kurdistan? Or does he blame Sharfkandi, Moftizadeh for being assassinated or tortured by the direct orders of Khamenei?
It is a fact taht Dr Sharafkandi was sent into exile by Shah to Karaj before revolution and in fact he was allowed to do his PhD abroad like Shariati and other oppositions in Iran before revolution. After revolution, the Turkish religious leader of Iran (former president) Mr Khamenei started a campaign of assassinating Kurdish leaders like Dr Sharafkandi even torturing and killing religious leaders of Iranian Kurdistan like Moftizadeh and Rabie who Shah wouldn't dare to touch.
Khalkhali, Khamenei, Ardabili, ... are not isolated cases and show the pattern of behaviour of Azeris in power. Observing this pattern of behaviour and contrasting it with the pattern of Kurdish repression in Turkey, makes me anxious and brings me to this unfortunate conclusion that there will be a confrontation between Kurds and Turks in Iran whether it is between Azeri Shiite supports of regime and Kurds or the Azeri nationalist supporters of Turkey and Soviet Azerbaijan. The third Azeri group does not stand a chance in this balance of power. We are talking about state support, money and Marx's notion of CAPITAL, using Dr Hassanpour's terminology.
3) We need to know who is our enemy and who is our friend; whom we should trust and whom we should be weary of, otherwise our fate will be as unfortunate as the fate of Dr Qasemlou. Having dealt with the complexities of Shiite Azeris and Persians, I would rather stick with my Kurdish tribe/nation instead of falling for nice words and being backstabbed. Qazi Muhammad is quoted on Wikipedia: "If an Ajam gives you honney, there is poison in it for sure!"
4) To send this strong message to the Turks and their regional supporter states that Kurds are not sitting idle to watch them trying dominate Kurds again. Kurds will dominate them if they do not stop their chauvinistic attitudes towards Kurds. You deal with them in a position of strength and they respect you and your rights. You deal with them in a position of weakness, and they kick you and abuse you. This is Turkish mentality.
My advice to Mr Hejar and Dr Hassanpour as affiliates to PDKI (KDPI) and Komala is to initiate this important dialogue in their own party and ask their leaders to initiate this inter party friendly dialogue with PKK and the president of KRG at the same time that they cultivate nice and friendly relations with Azeris and the internationalist socialist friends. Kurdish parties need "to bury the hatchet" of past grievances and inter party conflicts and learn lessons from the bitter past and move forward.
Posted by: Goran Nowicki September 6, 2006 03:03 PM
Source:http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobalinbox/2006/08/republic_of_kurdista.html