The Accommodation of the Demands of the Peoples of Iran Threatens National Security of the Country?!
Following the recent presidential election in Iran, and the forming of the
new cabinet, changes also occurred in some administrations in various levels
of government across the country. One
of these changes was the appointment of new governor-general for some
provinces, one of them being the province of Kurdistan.
The appointment of the new governor-general for the province resulted
in the dissension of some of the representatives of the province in the Majlis
(Iranian Islamic Assembly), where all the MPs in the province regarded the
Interior Ministry’s initiative as a blunder in their published communiqué
in early October. In their
letter, they had stated that “Unfortunately, in the era of broaching the
slogan of ‘competency’, ‘rule of law’, ‘Iran for all the
Iranians’, and ‘people-first’, not only any attention has been paid to
the qualified Kurdish and Sunni electorates, but the authorities have also
turned a blind eye on their demands.”
In other section of the communiqué along with criticizing the
unresponsive attitude of the government regarding the demands of the people
of Kurdistan, and also warning the Interior Ministry and the negligence
officials of the outcome of such an initiative, the MPs had requested that
“the government must either officially overturn the slogan of
‘people-first’ and ‘competency’ or must be answerable to the demands
of the people who bring their demands to the forefront via their
representatives.” At the end
of the communiqué, the people have been called “along remaining patient
and calm, and avoiding violence” to allow their representatives to legally
follow-up on their demands.
These representatives, later on September 30th, on the
basis of government’s negligence and inattention to the issues that are
considered as the legitimate demands of the people, collectively declared
their resignation as MPs. In their resignation letter, they had shifted
their attention to the speaker of the House, and stated that “According to
Article 92 of internal regulation of Majlis, and due to Mr.
Khatami’s governmental negligence, especially the Interior Ministry’s to
the legal and legitimate demands of the honourable people of Kurdistan,
failing to fulfill the principle of Article 15 and 16 of the Constitution,
and granting equal right to the Kurds, especially the Sunni Kurds (who
compose 90% of the Kurds), Article 21 of the Constitution that promotes the
development of justice, and espouses the people’s rights, and the
government’s failure to pay attention to solve the fundamental issues of
the Kurdish people, resign from representing the Kurdish people.”
It is worth mentioning that at the end of September, too a number of
administrators and officials of the Kurdish province addressed a letter to
the President, and requested that the governor-general of the province
should remain in his post; furthermore, one of the MPs in an open letter to
the President and the Interior Ministry stated that while appointing new
governor-general for the Province, the demands of the people of the province
should be considered; furthermore, the municipal councils of the province,
and various councils in Kurdistan by sending letter and various written
memos to the President, expressed their opposition to the methods used to
appoint the new governor-general for the province, and the government’s
lack of attention to the public opinions in general.
The group of Kurdistan province representatives in their
clarification in regards to their resignation, listed specific political,
social, economic and cultural deficiencies facing the Kurdish people as
their main reason for such a measure. According
to these representatives – in their interviews with the reporters – in
fact the appointment of the governor-general without consulting them had
only fast-forwarded the process of their decision that they had apparently
prepared to execute a year ago; meaning their current position has not been
a sudden decision, but as a result of the continuing neglected policies of
the government to the conditions, and the demands of the people in the
region.
The emergence of a collective Kurdish opposition in Majlis,
taking advantage of the avenues within the strict rules and regulations of
the regime of Islamic Republic of Iran, the development of public
opposition, the inattention of the regime’s authorities to the demands of
the people’s representatives and the
appointed administrators and officials of the province, has apparently led
to the heightening of the process of resignation measures that these
representatives had decided to take a year ago.
Whatever publicity the action of the representatives has claimed in
public opinions, is essential in its own context, and we do not want to
elaborate very much on this aspect of the issue; rather what is important
here is the harsh and arrogant reaction of some of the country’s officials
in regards to the decision that has been reached according to legal statues
and principles of Majlis. A
reaction that has been the view point of the high-ranking state officials,
and the official policy of the regime in regards to the oppressed and
ill-treated nationalities.
In response to their resignation, Ali Mohaghar, the Parliamentary
deputy of the Interior Ministry stated: “resignation either in Gilan,
Kurdistan or in Sistan and Baluchestan is not in the best interest of
Iran.” He then added: “Our friends in the provinces must not be so
sensitive to regionalism; we are all Muslims and Iranians.”
Shakouri-Zadeh, a member of Parliamentary commission and from the
Participation Front Fraction in Majlis, in an interview with
parliamentary reporters expressed his opinion in this regard as follow:
“We will not support the increasing demands of national minorities, and we
believe discussing such issues threatens our national security, but national
minorities have some rights that can not be ignored.” He also reminded us: “Ethnic issues must not dominate
national issues.”
However, the position taken by Mousavi-Lari, the Interior Minster in response to the collective resignation of the representatives is even more striking. He in the ceremony of appointing new governor-generals, and farewelling the previous ones in the city of Sanandaj (Capital of Kurdistan province) said: ”I will not accept the programs and propositions that have ethnic tendencies.” Mousavi-lari also elaborated that “wishful assumptions and fanciful self-separations that weaken national unity and solidarity must be discarded.” The Interior Ministry also along with referring to the fact that these sorts of secessionism that might lead to disintegration, are the main obstacles on the path of reform, and affirmed: “In circumstances that the public in general look into the constitution for shaping the country’s destiny, magnifying these issues is out of context.”
In these responses, the demands of the representatives, though basic,
have been labeled as ‘regionalist’, ‘threatening national security’,
‘prioritizing ethnic issues over national matters’, ‘disintegration
tendencies due to self-separation’, ‘obstacles ahead of reform’, and
also ‘hollow and non-sense proposals’, and are weighed with such scales.
These accusations and labeling are reminders of those rusty guns that
were used by the authorities of the Shah’s regime and now the rulers of
the Islamic Republic utilize against the oppressed and revolted people of
our country.
In the culture of these so-called governmental-reformists – but in
reality back-warded chauvinists – the request of maintaining a Kurdish
governor-general in one of the Kurdish provinces leads to secession,
demanding one of the most fundamental human rights such as education in
mother tongue by a nation that is deprived of all of its rights, is
considered as ‘excessive ethnic demands’, and the emphasis on this issue
leads to threatening ‘national security’ of these folks, and a sign of
‘domination of ethnic issues over national matters’, the collective
resignation of the representatives of a Kurdish province leads to
‘national disintegration’ due to ‘self-separation that are hollow and
non-sense’ and ‘obstacles on the path of reforms’ in the hearts and
minds of the claimants of ‘creators of civil society’.
It is clear that Iran is a multi-ethnic state, and in this era, the
nationalist oriented or nationalist issues become the leading conflicts of
any current and future governments in Iran; moreover, the level of success
of any government and state will surely depend on the level of consideration
of multi-ethnicity by these governments and designing of a suitable strategy
so that the demands of all the people of Iran are regarded and respected. In connection with the current administration, it should be
said that it is not possible to trust the slogans of ‘Iran for all the
Iranians’, while the participation of representatives and administrators
of the oppressed minorities are restricted in the governing of the country.
Are propounding ‘regionalism’ and ‘disintegration tendency’
and ‘hollowness’, ‘obstacles to reform’, ‘threatening national
security’ and etc...not against the most fundamental and apparent demands
of the oppressed people of our country, the continuation of the same belief
of ‘centralization’? Is the stipulation of basic and clear demands
should be responded with defeated policies and proposals of ‘Kurdistan,
Yazd, Isfahan, and Kerman are all equal’?
The claimants of reformism and civil society must well understand
that in our country, without responding to the just demands of oppressed
nations, talking about development, reform, stepping towards growth and
development, and the establishment of ‘people-oriented society’ is not
more than a fantasy. They must
accept the fact that national security without the active participations of
all the people of Iran is unattainable.
These active and intelligent participation become reality when all
the people of Iran have equal rights, and this is when we should be
satisfied with our national security and sovereignty.
Article translated from KURDISTAN, Organ of the Central Committee of PDKI, No 326
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