PDKI statement on the situation in Kurdistan
During the past two months the people of Iran has stood up to bring about an end to the Islamic Republic of Iran. People have demonstrated peacefully under the Kurdish slogan of Woman, Life, Freedom to attain their rights, but the regime has responded with brutal violence. Despite the regime’s use of violence, indiscriminate detentions and torture, people are standing firm and continuing to demonstrate against the regime.
The Islamic Republic uses all inhuman means to prevent people from demonstrating peacefully to stay in power. So far, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards have killed more than 400 people and injured thousands more. This is in addition to the thousands of people who have been arrested and are in the regime’s prisons.
The situation in Kurdistan is in comparison to other parts of Iran much more dire. This is partly due to the historical opposition of the regime in Kurdistan, but also because it was in Kurdistan that the demonstrations against the regime began. In the past 6 days, more than 40 people have been killed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Kurdish cities such as Piranshar, Bokan, Mahabad and Jawanro. Hundreds of people have also been injured in these and other Kurdish cities. The regime prevents the wounded from being taken to hospitals and abducts injured civilians. This situation is very dire and the lives of the wounded are in grave danger. Moreover, the regime has completely militarized a majority of the Kurdish cities.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has also attacked Kurdish refugee camps and opposition parties in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq with surface-to-surface missiles and suicide drones on three separate occasions, killing and wounding dozens of civilians.
We call on all international human rights organizations and the international community to raise their voices against the brutal massacre and repression of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in Iranian Kurdistan and support the people in all of Iran who are demonstrating for their right to freedom, peace, dignity, and equality. We would also like to emphasize that the repression and massacre that the Iranian regime is conducting, especially against the Kurdish nation, has reached a very dangerous level and the international community should take a clear position as soon as possible.
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
International Relations Office
21 November 2022
