K U R D I S T A N in English

The Declaration of the Political Bureau of PDKI On the Resignation of the Kurdistan Province MPs from the Iranian Majlis

10 October 2001

In the last few months the rumors of repositioning Ramazan-zadeh as the Governor-general of the Kurdistan province spread in the region. These rumors turned into reality in the last week of September, when on Wednesday, September 19, the Interior Ministry introduced the new Governor-general of Kurdistan province to the Cabinet.

This initiative taken by the Ministry led a handful of government officials and administrators in the province to express outrage at the appointment of the new Governor-general, and requested the continuation of Ramazan-zadeh as the province’s Governor-general. The Ministry rejected the request; however, the appointment of the new Governor-general was postponed for further consultation.

In this regard, six Islamic Council’s Parliament (Majlis) MPs representing the ridings within the Kurdistan province consisting of Baha-adin Adab, Jalal Jalali-zadeh (MPs from the city of Sanandaj), Abdullai Bahrami (representing the city of Mariwan), Salahdin Alai (representative of the cities of Saghiz and Bana), Massoud Housieni (Ghorweh MP), and Mohammad Mohammad-Rezai (Bijar MP) resigned collectively from their post in the Majlis, expressing their opposition to the Ministry’s unilateral decision to appoint the new Governor-general for the Province, and also neglecting the opinions of the representatives of the Province by the regime.

No doubt, the MPs’ protesting initiative opposing the uncalculated policies of the government can be efficient and to some extent effective in any condition for the fulfillment of constituents’ demands. In essence, these protests and opposition intended to accommodate the people’s demands is one of the primary responsibilities of the representatives in the Majlis. We must also take into consideration the reality that each province in the country posses particular problems and inadequacies that is also the duty of the honourable representatives of the provinces to work hard for their eradication; however, the honourable representatives of the Kurdistan Province know well that Ramazan-zadeh in his tenure of office as the Governor-general of the Kurdistan Province has not presented any noticeable service to the people of Kurdistan Province that his removal should cause worries in the discontinuation of those services. Furthermore, realistically, what disruption will the removal of a piece of pawn in the region in any post or position such as the governorship of the Kurdistan Province -- who are in essence the administrators of suppressive government policies in the region -- bring about in serving the people, so the people of Kurdistan cry in tears for the departure of one and lay red carpet for the appointment of the other. Also the honourable representatives of all the people of Kurdistan in Majlis know well and are fully aware that the demands of the people in all the Kurdish provinces are not only limited to the appointment or the methods utilized to appoint the Governor-general or any other officials from any post so as to compel the representatives of each of these Kurdish provinces to take steps or express their opposition by themselves and in a very narrow framework; rather, the Kurdish people in all the Kurdish provinces of the country, despite the existence of common issues and problems have a primary collective and common demands and needs that they have struggled for years and made valuable sacrifices for their attainment. Therefore, the proposition of common demands and other fundamental demands of all the Kurdish people in all the Kurdish province can both lead to the increasing gratification of the people in all the Kurdish provinces, and develop the basis for the expression of these demands within the framework of the Kurdish Representatives’ Fraction in Majlis.

To achieve such objective instead of the resignation of the representatives of one of the Kurdish provinces, a common voice, union and harmony among the representatives of the people of Kurdistan in all the Kurdish provinces is essential and of vital importance; thus, adopting any appropriate measures in regards to the government’s negligence to the fundamental demands of the people of Kurdistan as collective and on behalf of the Kurdish fraction in Majlis seems both effective and logical.

We hope that the attempt of the honourable representatives of Majlis for the realization of the fundamental demands of the people of Kurdistan can become successful and lead to the endorsement of all the people of Kurdistan.

Article translated from KURDISTAN, Organ of the Central Committee of PDKI