PDKI statement regarding the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization
After years of discussion and debate, the European Union finally decided on Thursday, 29 January 2026, to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. This decision was taken by the foreign ministers of the European Union. Previously, the United States, Canada, Australia, Lithuania, Ecuador, and Paraguay had designated the IRGC in its entirety as a terrorist organization; Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Argentina had also designated the Quds Force, the IRGC’s external military wing, as a terrorist organization.
The European Union’s decision, which represents the collective stance of all 27 EU member states, is a response to the violent and bloody suppression of the Iranian people’s uprising during the recent protests, in which thousands of protesting civilians were shot and killed.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was established shortly after the victory of the 1979 Revolution of the peoples of Iran, by order of Khomeini, with the stated aim of protecting the so-called Islamic Revolution. Over the 47 years of the Islamic Republic’s rule, the IRGC has played a central role in suppressing every form of internal protest and uprising in Iran. Abroad, it has assassinated hundreds of political opponents of the regime.
The IRGC was among the main forces that, following Khomeini’s fatwa and orders, launched a military assault on Kurdistan, committing hundreds of massacres, thousands of crimes, and grave atrocities there. The bloody Nawroz events in Sanandaj in 1979, the 24-day siege and attack on the city of Sanandaj, the killing and wounding of thousands of civilians, the massacres in the villages of Qarne and Qalatan, and the burning and displacement of residents from dozens of villages and other regions of Kurdistan represent only a small part of the IRGC’s terrorist record in Kurdistan during the early years of its establishment.
Over the course of 47 years of IRGC activity, the Kurdish people and the Kurdish movement have borne a disproportionately heavy share of the Islamic Republic’s state terrorism, carried out through the IRGC. Within the Kurdish movement, the PDKI has been at the forefront of confronting this terrorist organization for 47 years. By decision of the highest authorities of the Islamic Republic, the IRGC carried out the assassination of Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, Secretary-General of the PDKI, at the negotiating table in Vienna, and later the assassination of Dr. Sadegh Sharafkandi, Secretary-General of the party, along with his colleagues, at the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin.
The crimes of the IRGC have not been limited to the suppression of the peoples of Iran. Beyond Iran’s borders, through the Quds Force, the establishment and support of various proxy organizations such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and direct interference in the internal affairs of regional countries, the IRGC bears responsibility for the killing of hundreds of thousands of people and for causing the displacement of millions from their homes and countries.
The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) welcomes the European Union’s decision to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Although this decision came late, it is nevertheless a necessary and correct step. It is essential to move toward a day when all those who ordered and carried out the killings and massacres of innocent and defenseless people in Kurdistan, Iran, and the region are brought to justice and held accountable for their crimes in domestic and international courts.
The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
Executive Committee
- 30 January 2026
