Let me begin by expressing my thanks to the organisers of this
meeting, especially my dear friend Jeremy Corbyn, the host of this
meeting, for his continuous support of the Kurds
and for the cause of democracy and human rights in a region where both
are truly needed, and also his outstanding and dedicated staff. I should
also thank my dear friend and tireless activist for the Kurdish cause
Mr. Ihsan Qadir.
Indeed it is very timely to have a
conference on the Kurdish issue. As you all know, the Kurdish issue is
one of the major unresolved political questions in the Middle East. Take
the Iranian Kurds as an example.
With a population of
roughly ten million people, spreading across at least four provinces in
North and North-western Iran, they are still deprived of their basic
human rights. They do not have the slightest resemblance of a self-rule,
they are denied education in their mother tongue, investment in
development projects is very rare, Kurdish students are constantly and
disproportionately rejected into higher education by the notorious
‘selection’ process, they have been denied access to high positions in
government for the last three decades of the Islamic regime, they are
subject to the harshest violations of human rights and the most brutal
state violence.
However, what should be stressed is that
despite this the Kurdish movement has remained a democratic, secular,
and pluralist movement and has not succumbed to extremism,
fundamentalism or terrorism and blind violence. In fact the Kurdish
movement has been a vital component of any democratic movement in the
country and in the region.
Kurds in Iran have long
fought for democratic change. Staging a highly successful general strike
in all Kurdish towns last May highlighted the significant role of Kurds
in the recent mass democratic movement. The death of a young Kurdish
student in the recent upsurge of the mass demonstrations in Tehran a
couple of weeks ago also ignited widespread protests all over the
country.
The role that the Kurds can play becomes more
important when we put it against the backdrop of the recent democratic
upheaval in the Middle East. At a
time when the whole region is striving for democracy, Kurds should not be
neglected once more. Kurds themselves should also learn lessons from the
past. That is why we are for a Kurdish front in Iran that allows for
the cooperation of all political parties. We are also for the
constructive engagement and partaking of the Kurds in a broad democratic
coalition in Iran providing their basic rights are acknowledged.
The
idea of a non-centralist federal state structure in Iran and an end to
discriminatory laws and patterns of government is what mainstream
Kurdish politics demand. Acknowledgement of the legitimate aspirations
of the Kurds and other minorities in Iran and safeguarding their rights
should find its way into any future constitution of the country.
Let
it be known that the existing Iranian constitution does not have the
capacity or the potential to become a vehicle of democratic change. It
is imbued with medieval notions of the divine rule of the clergy,
eternalising a certain branch of Islam as its official religion,
blocking any meaningful change through a labyrinth of bodies and
mechanisms such as the guardian council, expediency council and assembly
of experts, with the unelected all-powerful supreme leader at the top.
The
constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran is especially and clearly
discriminatory against national, ethnic and religious minorities and
against women. What we need is a new constitution based on universal
democratic values and human rights derived from the realities and
diverse needs of the Iranian society. The idea of a democratic federal
state in Iran is no longer unthinkable; it is gaining more and more
support among the political elite in Iran.
Let me finish
by saying that we all agree that in Iran, as in every society, change
should come from within. Now that it has come, we rightfully expect the
full support of the international community for the democratic change in
Iran and for the fulfilment of the legitimate rights of the Kurdish
people. And let’s not make a taboo of regime change in Iran. There is no
reason why we should support change in Egypt or Tunisia, but hesitate
to do so when it comes to Iran. The disillusionment with the whole
system is huge and it seems that Iranian society is now ready for
structural change. What we ask for is not military intervention, rather,
full moral and political support for a noble cause