Mustafa Hijri: The Founding of the PDKI – A Significant Turning Point in the Kurdish National Movement

The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) was founded in the city of Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan on August 16, 1945. Three years earlier, its founding members had established an organization known as Komalay Ziyanaway Kurd (The Society for Kurdish Resurrection).

The PDKI was founded to replace Komalay Ziyanaway Kurd, with the purpose of creating a modern, well-organized, and popular political party with an explicit commitment to democracy, liberty, social justice, and gender equality. Only 159 days after its founding, the party established the Republic of Kurdistan.

In a statement marking the anniversary, PDKI leader Mustafa Hijri emphasised that the establishment of the PDKI marked a pivotal turning point in the national movement of Kurdistan. For over eighty years, the Party has organised Kurdish society in pursuit of its national rights, representing the national aspirations of Kurdistan throughout this time.

He added that, by adhering to its enduring intellectual principles of political independence, realism, integrity and reliance on the people, as well as the conviction that the destiny of the movement rests on the internal strength of Kurdistan, the PDKI has remained steadfast on its national and democratic path. These principles have enabled the party to achieve 81 years of dignified history in service to our nation, despite the many obstacles placed in the way of its struggle.

Hijri also paid tribute to the martyrs of Kurdistan and their families, as well as to the unbroken resolve of Kurdistan’s political prisoners.