Iranian Kurds say they will cling to their motherland

While Iraqi Kurds map out post-Saddam Hussain scenario that they expect following U.S.-led campaign to overthrow him, their counterparts in northwestern Iran cling to their motherland.

As the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which have been ruling two-thirds of Iraq's Kurdish region for 11 years, implicitly fan the flame of separatism, Iranian Kurds accentuate their Iranian origins and assure that "we are more Iranian than Iranians."

Asadollah Darvish Amiri, Deputy General Governor of the province for security affairs, said: "Kurds are the purest Iranian in this country and they are first Iranian and then Kurd. So they have never intended to separate from Iran."

Abdolmomen Mardokh, a political activist and the head of political parties in the western Province of Kurdistan, said: "Many times we get accused of trying to create a Kurdish state or separate from Iran. However, we want a situation in which the Kurds can live as first-class citizens and as full partners to other Iranians in the government."

Despite their division on a number of issues, Iranian Kurds seem to be united in their vision of the future.

They look at incidents in Iraq as a pattern for their destiny, not a plan that can be practically implemented to change Iran's political system or lead to federalism in Iran's political structure.

Tehran, despite its recent warming up of diplomatic relations with its neighbours, says "it never put all its eggs in Saddam's basket, and is spending its honeymoon with two major anti-Saddam parties KDP and PUK."

Jalal Talibani, Chief of PUK, recently visited Tehran and promised to curb Iran's arch-foe Komoleh party, which is now in Talibani's territory in Soleymaniah, north of Iraq.

Talibani plays a key role alongside Massoud Barzani, head of KDP, in the Iraqi Kurdistan, and their role is expected to grow bigger in the post-Saddam era. Iranian Kurds say they can breathe more easily in their relations with their Iraqi counterparts for they have informal trading relations with Iraq's Kurdistan.

Moreover, Iranian contractors are dealing with reconstruction of the Iraqi Kurd cities. In the case of a U.S. attack on Iraq, Iran's Kurdistan border can also be a haven to accommodate a huge influx of refugees.

"They are our Muslim brethren. Why shouldn't we help them? Some of us are married to Iraqi Kurdish women, and some women from our province are married to men over there. You can say that we are members of the same family," said Ahmad, 24, an educated unemployed young man.

When President Mohammed Khatami took office in 1997, he created a liberal atmosphere for Iran's Sunni Kurds by appointing a Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, a Kurd, as General Governor.

Although three dissidents have been executed recently in the Kurdish area of western Azerbaijan, Kurds are now free enough to criticise the central government on issues related Kurdistan.

"This is the very first time in our contemporary political history that we are articulating our vision for what we want," said Mardokh, comparing the current situation with a decade ago.

"Kurdish rights can be realised within the framework of a state under the full control of central government like that in the U.S.," he said.

Iranian Kurds, however, say they are unhappy with the fact that the "government does not employ us in high-ranking positions. President Khatami tried to calm them down by appointing Kurds in senior positions in his government.

However, Kurds believe that the moderate pro-reform President "didn't keep his words in employing many Kurds even in their own province."

Amiri said that they have selected Kurds for top administrative positions in the province as much as they could.

"Some four governors out of nine and some 320 top administrators out of 400 in the province are Kurds."

Khatami's popularity has fallen among Kurds in recent years. He got less than 50 per cent of the votes in Kurdistan in presidential election last year, while he gained more than 70 per cent in the presidential election in 1997.

Unemployment also adds fuel to the fire of people's unease regarding political incidents while they keep their eyes open to what is going on in Iraq.

While Iraqi Kurds are waiting for an American-led attack to share more power with next Iraqi government, Iranian Kurds are trying to be a full partners of power in central the government.