“What we are seeing in Iran is not simply an economic crisis. These are primarily symptoms of a deep political crisis,” he said. “The state, the political system, and the government are in crisis.” Yazdanpana argued that Iran is suffering from a fundamental mismatch between the identity of the state and that of its population, drawing parallels to the crises that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and plunged Yugoslavia into war and genocide.
Hussein Yazdanpana is the president of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) and commander-in-chief of the Kurdistan National Army, a Kurdish nationalist armed group with roots in Iran’s Kurdish region, known to Kurds as Rojhelat, or Eastern Kurdistan. Since the latest wave of unrest erupted, PAK has called for an emergency meeting of Rojhelat’s political parties, urging immediate and unified action around a joint Kurdish strategy to defend the region. Rojhelat is home to more than 14 million Kurds and is Iran’s most heavily militarized region.
In recent days, Iran’s security forces have intensified their crackdown on protesters, deploying riot squads and opening fire on demonstrators. At least 30 people have been killed, with most of the victims reported in Iran’s Kurdish areas. “Iran’s crisis is over 100 years old,” Yazdanpana said. “This crisis is the result of the fact that the state is not compatible with the population. The identity, language, sovereignty of the state, and even its religion belong to one nation, the Persians, who have imposed their identity on other non-Persian ethnic nations within the state.” (Ed note: What do you think about this article? Very interesting material.) (Read More)
