5 - The 1979 Revolution and the Iranian Kurdish Movement

Summary

Through this chapter light is shed on the different aspects of the Iranian Kurdish movement during the turbulence of the period from 1979 to the 1980s. The Islamic regime’s hostile attitude towards the non-Persian and non-Shiite people and communities’ claim of autonomy and decentralisation of power in Iran is dealt with as an explanation for violent clashes between regime forces and forces of nationalist groups in Iran’s peripheral regions. It is highlighted that the changing regimes in Tehran have, throughout the modern history of the country, failed to provide the non-Persian national communities with their political and cultural rights. In addition, the chapter concentrates on the relations in the twentieth century between Iran’s changing regimes and the non-Persian communities, showing that this relation contains several examples of the regime’s brutal attacks on the country’s Azeris, Kurds, Baluchis, Turkemens and Arabs. In this chapter I argue that a mutually mistrusting relationship between the sovereign and these mentioned non-Persian national groups has shaped Iran’s modern history of citizenship.