Friday, October 22, 2010

PJAK: Declaration of democratic solution to the Kurdish question in Iran



Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

QENDIL, Kurdistan, -- The Assembly of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) released a declaration for a democratic solution to the Kurdish issue in Iran.

The Assembly of PJAK once more announced its willingness to solve the Kurdish issue in a democratic peaceful way.



The full declaration is as follows:



Declaration of democratic solution to the Kurdish question in Iran

Iran is currently running through a sensitive and historic stage. The government is struggling with the internal crisis in the political, economic, security and cultural spheres and, externally it is further isolated and from both sides its legitimacy has been undermined. Having considered the real history of Iran and the heritages that the Iranian people have been endowed with for the last millenniums, neither the Iranian people nor the political institutions of this region would warrant this. All these problems emanate from the lack of a democratic constitution and a democratic outlook in the Iran. This has been the major problem of the social and political sphere.

As the result of leaving the problems at a critical level and not taking democratic measure into account in dealing with these problems, all attempts for political and economic progress have been aborted. This has also opened the doors for the interference of external powers exploiting these problems for the benefit of their own. This is while that the national, religious, cultural, ethnic and linguistic make up of the Iranian society is able to generate greatest opportunities for political and economic progress. This structure is able to bring about positive opportunities that will have the potential to advance Iran into level of having a leading role in both Middle East and the world.

For that reason we are of opinion that Iran is at a decisive and historical junction. The Iranian regime will either look up to the natural structure of the Iranian multinational society and based on the decentralisation of power and the democratic self-rule of the people it will embrace all the Iranian nations, a process that would in turn open the door for democracy which includes all the Iranian nations including Beluch, Arab, Azeri, Fars, Kurds plus all the ethnic and religious entities; or the Iranian regime will face another historical regress and fall far behind from the current democratisation process.

The intention behind these lines is that the democratic struggles of the Middle Eastern people are culminating and will not wait for the regional states to find solution for their problems. New waves of efforts and endeavour taken by internal and external initiatives have begun in the Middle East. If Iran is not prepared to align itself with such advancements, its current crisis will deepen in the New Year. Iran should take into account the latest progress in the Middle East as well as the culmination of Kurdish struggle in the region and do not fall behind these processes.

We as the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) are determined to find a solution to the Kurdish issue in a peaceful way based on political and democratic methods. If the government is willing to take steps in the same direction, there will be no need for hostility and violence. The unilateral ceasefire declared on our behalf two years ago, is a good document to demonstrate PJAK’s willingness to reach such a solution. The Islamic Republic of Iran should be aware of the fact that PJAK is powerful organisation and at the same time it is certain on its pursuit of peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish issue.

Within that framework, as the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) we are of opinion that violence or bloodshed, the state’s policy of regarding Kurdistan as a security zone which has imposed the discourse of nationalism and separatism on this issue as well as all other democratic and legitimate demands of the Iranian nations, will not solve the problems. Owing to this fact, a peaceful and democratic endeavour is the best method to reach a solution to the current unsettled problems of the Iranian society. In order to demonstrate our responsibilities toward the values of the Iranian people, we as PJAK would like to take initiatives to solve these issues within the current political borders.

Hereby, and in order to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue, we would identify the following points as our demands from the Islamic Republic of Iran:

1. Formal recognition of Kurdish issue and its solution with the application of dialogue and democratic methods.

2. In order to approach a solution in a democratic and political environment, background for negotiation should be considered.

3. To prepare the ground for dialogue, negotiation and a political solution, a peaceful environment devoid of any violence where the politics can play its role, is needed; therefore the immediate cessation of the military operation is required.

4. In order to reach a solution and to implement people’s political, economic, cultural and civil rights including the right to free speech which are necessary for development of the essential will of people, all these rights should be guaranteed and all the present difficulties for their achievement must be eliminated.

5. Formal recognition of freedom of assembly and political-democratic activism.

6. People without access to their own language, will not be able to represent themselves or make manifest of their being as a people, consequently no one would be able to discuss their being as a people since they will be emptied of their own cultural, ethnical and national essence. Therefore, the legal recognition of different languages in Iran particularly the Kurdish language in education and in all administrative and non-administrative institutions is the initial condition.

7. In order to eliminate the atmosphere of fear and terror, and to generate a free and political environment for free participation, the freedom of the political prisoners and the nullification of death penalty is undeniable requirement.



We as the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) declare that we will be taking into account the conducts of the Iranian authorities after the announcement of this declaration and would expect a concrete steps to be taken by them.

We as the PJAK long declared the non-action period, yet we do observe the continuation of violence, hostility and bloodshed from the Iranian side. Up to date, the Kurdish activists do receive death penalty, they are tortured and persecuted in prison and finally executed.

To achieve a democratic environment and to end all sorts of violence in Iran and Kurdistan, The Iranian response to this declaration is of historical importance.

Nonetheless, it should be mentioned that, we would not confine this declaration only to the Kurdish question, and we believe that our endeavour within that framework would serve as a backdrop for the solution to all the Iranian’s issues.



The Assembly of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK)

19/10/2010