Among many other characteristics, Kurdish nationalism and the Kurdish question carry strong crossborder features. Crossborder interaction between the Kurds of different parts of Kurdistan has a long history, in which crossborder solidarity has worked as an invaluable source of movement mobilisation. In this chapter, light is shed on the KDPI leadership’s attempt to re-establish the Iranian Kurdish movement in the 1960s through reliance on crossborder interactions with the Iraqi Kurdish movement, under the leadership of the KDI and Mostafa Barzani. Through this chapter the Iranian Kurdish movement’s interaction with the Kurdish movement in Iraq, and the impact of this interaction on the content and direction of the Iranian Kurdish movement, are highlighted. In addition, in order to reflect on critical aspects of this interaction, minor and major events and episodes that contribute to understanding this crossborder Kurdish interaction are included in this chapter.

This chapter discusses the regional conditions that have shaped the framework, direction and content of different forms of mobilisation and conduct of the Iranian Kurdish movement from the 1990s to 2015. This analytical focus includes the activities of the political parties of Iranian Kurds based in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). This chapter explains why, during this period, the exiled (KRI-based) Iranian Kurdish movement experienced massive decline in its military and political activities. Taking the early 1990s as the starting point for the latest stage of the Iranian Kurdish movement, it is claimed that this phase was a product of comprehensive regional shifts with impacts on Iran’s domestic and regional policy. In addition it is highlighted that movement decline, misconducted crossborder interaction, thickening and diversification within the movement are among some features and hallmarks of this era’s Iranian Kurdish movement.

The main focus and argument of this chapter is that the Kurdish movement in this period experienced the emergence of several new tendencies that distinguish this era from the previous period (the 1960s). The trends and tendencies which occurred through this era allow us to classify this period as an era of diversification and thickening of the numbers and the spectrum of ideologies of the actors and organisations that participated in this period’s movement. The most eye-catching trend is related to Komala’s announcement of its official activity and its focus on the class problematic in Kurdistan. In line with Komala’s emergence as a new actor within the Kurdish movement, different examples of challenge and difficulties occurred in the relation between this organisation and the KDPI, which resulted in half a decade of war between these major organisations of the Iranian Kurdish movement. These factors and their impact on the post-revolutionary Kurdish movement are discussed in this chapter.

This chapter investigates the socio-political and ideological aspects of an event named in the lexicon of the Iranian Kurdish movement as the Kurdish Peasant Uprising of 1952-3 (Rapêr̄ini Werzeran u Cûtyarani Kurdistan 1331-2). This event took place in a period when kurdayêti was the only ideological force behind mobilising the Kurdish people to conduct collective political action. However, throughout this chapter I argue that this uprising highlighted the issue of class conflict in the rural areas of Kurdistan, and challenged the authority of the Kurdish feudal class. In addition, the KDPI’s role, as the only and major ethnonationalist political organisation is assessed and discussed. Due to the way this uprising was conducted, it has been argued to be the first collective class-inspired rebellion in Iranian Kurdistan.

The Kurdish national movement in Iran following the Iranian Revolution and regime change in 1979 entered into a new era of mobilisation and challenge to the newly established Islamic Republic. The post-Revolution relations between Kurds and the regime resulted in a period of unpredictability and instability, conceptualised in this chapter as the ‘no war yet no peace’ Kurdish Condition. In this period the Kurdish claim for khodmokhtari (autonomy) and Tehran’s rejection of this claim was the focus of conflict with the regime. Through this period the Kurdish region witnessed some of the fiercest examples of regime brutality in Kurdistan, resulting in many massacres, executions and considerable internal displacement, with the Bloody Newroz of Sanandaj (March 1979) as an example among many others. On the other hand, Kurdish civil society has through this short era expanded drastically, resulting in the establishment of many civil society associations and organisations.

Chapter 1 introduces the book’s main protagonists, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or Sepah, Corps. It examines the Sepah’s emergence, formal establishment, mission and duties, early institutionalization, and role in fighting counter-revolutionary and ethnic separatist groups. It traces how the Sepah formed from groups brought together by the shared goal of protecting what they saw as the revolution’s most important principles. It emerged in the days after Ayatollah Khomeini’s return to Iran on February 1, 1979 and in the midst of the Islamic Revolution’s turbulent and precarious transitory phase, which was characterized by political and violent struggles over the nature of the new regime. A particularly contentious issue, and one especially critical in the Sepah’s formation, was the fate of the Artesh, Iran’s regular military, and the nature of military power in the new regime.

Chapter 12 ties together the book’s central themes and highlights its main contributions. It argues that the Revolutionary Guards have endeavored to write the history of the Iran-Iraq War because of the way the Guards view the importance and meaning of the conflict in Iran today, the way they understand the nature and dynamism of history, and their commitment to what they view as the historical imperative of keeping the war alive.

The Kurdish national movement in Iran following the Iranian Revolution and regime change in 1979 entered into a new era of mobilisation and challenge to the newly established Islamic Republic. The post-Revolution relations between Kurds and the regime resulted in a period of unpredictability and instability, conceptualised in this chapter as the ‘no war yet no peace’ Kurdish Condition. In this period the Kurdish claim for khodmokhtari (autonomy) and Tehran’s rejection of this claim was the focus of conflict with the regime. Through this period the Kurdish region witnessed some of the fiercest examples of regime brutality in Kurdistan, resulting in many massacres, executions and considerable internal displacement, with the Bloody Newroz of Sanandaj (March 1979) as an example among many others. On the other hand, Kurdish civil society has through this short era expanded drastically, resulting in the establishment of many civil society associations and organisations.

Chapter 7 examines the numerous difficulties Iran faced following the invasion of Iraq. In its last six years, the Iran-Iraq War became more and more difficult for the Islamic Republic to prosecute, forcing Iranian political and military leaders to come up with ways to keep the war going. The liberation of Khorramshahr had greatly bolstered morale and popular support and had generated enough initiative to drive the war into Iraq. But that initiative began to run dry after the invasion, as successive Iranian operations failed to produce the desired results – a decisive victory that would force the acceptance of Iran’s ceasefire terms and ensure the security of the country. In addition to these military challenges, in the later stages of the conflict Iran was forced to confront the war’s pluralization as the parties to and the scope of the conflict expanded.

This chapter provides an introduction, chapter outline and theoretical/conceptual framework for the book. Through this introductory chapter the reader will be introduced to the scope and significance, and the two main elements of the book with relevance to the Iranian Kurdish movement: firstly, the formation and politicisation of Kurdish national sentiment, and the reasons for the emergence and continuation of the Kurdish question in Iran; and secondly, the crossborder dimension of the interactions between Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish political parties, and the impact of this interaction on the capability and direction of the Iranian Kurdish movement. In addition, this chapter reflects on the early twentieth-century nation-state policy in Iran, and its impact on the emergence of the national liberation movement of the Kurds in Iranian and reasons for the intensification and continuation of the Kurdish question.

This book has sought to explore the patterns of the liberation movement of Iranian Kurds from the mid-twentieth century into the following decades, through the lenses of movement mobilisation and crossborder interaction between different armed and political organisation of the Iranian, Iraqi and Kurdish movements. The exact periodisation and politicisation of the Kurdish movement has been a complex and unfinished task. Nevertheless, this book concludes that the establishment and conduct of the twentieth-century Kurdish movement has aimed at liberating the Kurdish people from the changing authoritarian regimes’ neglect of the political and cultural rights of the Kurdish people. The changing Iranian regimes’ continuous militarisation of the Kurdish region, since the establishment of the modern Iranian nation-state in 1925, has institutionalised a deep-rooted feeling of deprivation among Iranian Kurds, and consequently a politicisation of Kurdish national identity and the Kurdish national movement. The journey of the contemporary Iranian Kurdish movement started with the Uprising of Simko (1918); since that time the Kurdish national movement has, with the formation of the KDPI and the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan, demonstrated gradual signs of modernisation and institutionalisation. Whilst until the end of the first half of the twentieth century, the Iranian Kurdish movement had an utterly nationalistic outlook, some major developments and events, for instance the peasant movement of 1952–3 and 1979’s announcement of the official activity of Komala, show the presence of diverse visions and ideologies within the Kurdish movement.

This chapter provides an introduction, chapter outline and theoretical/conceptual framework for the book. Through this introductory chapter the reader will be introduced to the scope and significance, and the two main elements of the book with relevance to the Iranian Kurdish movement: firstly, the formation and politicisation of Kurdish national sentiment, and the reasons for the emergence and continuation of the Kurdish question in Iran; and secondly, the crossborder dimension of the interactions between Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish political parties, and the impact of this interaction on the capability and direction of the Iranian Kurdish movement. In addition, this chapter reflects on the early twentieth-century nation-state policy in Iran, and its impact on the emergence of the national liberation movement of the Kurds in Iranian and reasons for the intensification and continuation of the Kurdish question.

Chapter 8 completes the chronological analysis of the IRGC’s history of the Iran-Iraq War by examining how the Revolutionary Guards assess the conflict’s conclusion. As the indelible declaration from Supreme Leader Khomeini made clear, deciding to end the war was agonizing for Iran, akin to drinking from a poisoned chalice. The assessment of the IRGC sources presented in this chapter reveals why that was so and why the decision was finally made. Understanding the disquiet that surrounds Iran’s acceptance of the ceasefire also reveals the IRGC’s view of the conflict as unfinished, a view that represents one of the ways the Iran-Iraq War continues to have a profound impact on the Islamic Republic.