Sputnik reporter Suliman Mulhem spoke to Loghman Ahmedi, head of foreign relations at the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), about the incident and renewed tensions with Tehran.
Mr. Ahmedi, who also serves as a member of the party’s executive council, described Iran’s hostility to the Kurds as a “holy war”, citing Ayatollah Khomeini's declaration of jihad against them just months after he returned to the country following the Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s.
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"This missile attack is just the latest attack in a series of failed attempts to destroy our party and the Kurdish national liberation movement,” Mr. Ahmedi told Sputnik on Tuesday, proceeding to insist that they will continue to fight for “freedom, equality and democracy.”
Moreover, the senior PDKI official said it is virtually impossible for Iran and the group to strike a longstanding deal to end the violence, saying, ”Kurds never chose war with Iran. War was imposed on us by a theocratic Islamist regime. Hence, the likelihood that this regime will be willing to reach a peaceful solution and accept Kurdish political demands is zero.”
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“Therefore, we will continue to defend our people and ourselves until we obtain our rights.”
Mr. Ahmedi said the group does not receive any financial, military or political support from abroad, but explained that they would accept such support if was offered on an “unconditional” basis and didn’t jeopardize the PDKI’s political values.
Iran’s strikes against the group earlier this month, which left some 11 people dead and 50 injured, were seemingly carried out in retaliation to an attack against Iranian border guards in July.
PDKI militants have mounted similar hit-and-run attacks against Iranian forces in recent months, prompting retaliation from Iran, though this is the first time Tehran opted to target the group’s facilities in the semi-autonomous region of Iraq.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.