The 1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran was one of the largest nationwide uprisings in the country against the new state following the Iranian Revolution. The Kurdish rebellion began in mid-March, just two months after the Revolution ended, and was one of the most intense Kurdish rebellions in modern Iran.
Kurdish groups initially tried to align with Iran's new government in an attempt to emphasize their own Muslim identity and to seek common ground with other Iranians. The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), who strongly campaigned for political autonomy, briefly identified as a non-separatist organization, even criticizing those calling for independence from the state. However, following a number of attacks on Iranian army barracks in the Kurdistan province by militant groups, relations quickly deteriorated. Though Shīʿa Kurds and some Sunni tribal leaders approved of the Shīʿa Islamic State, most Sunni Kurdish leftists and communists continued to push for the independence of Kurdistan. A portion of the Naqshbandi Order also opposed the new state, aligning with the Iraqi army and forming the Sipay Rizgari militant group, under the guidance of Sheikh Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din.
Kurdish militants, primarily from the KDPI, initially made territorial gains in Mahabad and temporarily ousted Iranian troops from the region, but a large-scale offensive in spring 1980 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reversed the course of the conflict. The start of the Iran–Iraq War in September 1980 saw the Iranian government increasing efforts to snuff the Kurdish rebellion, the only 1979 uprising that remained, in part due to the province's proximity to the Iraqi border. By 1981, the Iranian police and the Revolutionary Guard had ousted the Kurdish militants from their strongholds, but small groups continued to execute sporadic attacks against Iranian militia. Clashes in the area continued until 1983.
About 10,000 people were killed over the course of the rebellion, including 1,200 Kurdish political prisoners executed by the Iranian government and "hundreds of Kurdish villages were razed in retaliation".
There was a resurgence in conflict in 1989 following the assassination of KDPI leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou.
Background
After failed rebellions in 1946 and 1967, Kurdish political organizations continued to push for revolution against the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a move that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power in February 1979. Tensions remained between the Kurdish people and the government, even with the new leader installed. Many Iraqi Kurds fled to Kurdistan following Saddam Hussein's crackdown on Kurdish revolts, though they continued their campaign for their right to independence in their new home. In the past, Iran had supported Kurdish fighters in clashes with Iraq. The Kurds were exploited by foreign powers looking to destabilize the young republic.
Unlike others in the country, Iranian Sunni Kurds abstained from voting to endorse the creation of an Islamic Republic in March 1979. That referendum garnered 99.20% approval of the Islamic Republic from Kurdistan, compared to 99.31% nationwide. KDPI leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou was barred from joining the Assembly of Experts, the group responsible for writing the new constitution in 1979, despite winning a seat with 34.9% of the vote. The rejection came after Ghassemlou refused the government's request to disarm the KDPI and turn their weapons in to the military.
Rebellion
Beginning
A wave of nationalism engulfed eastern Kurdistan after the fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty. A series of anti-revolutionary revolts were cropping up across the country, including in Khuzestan and Iranian Baluchestan. In March 1979, the KDPI announced an eight-point plan for Kurdish independence, which was met with opposition from other Kurdish leaders such as Ahmad Moftizadeh who disapproved of the militarism and separatism proposed. In mid-March, Kurdish factions took control of police headquarters, army bases, and parts of army barracks in Sanandaj, killing 21 soldiers when they refused to surrender the barracks to the militants.
BBC reported that the revolt began when Kurdish tribesmen overpowered Iranian militiamen in Paveh. Unrest was then alleged to have spread to other Kurdish-dominated regions such as Divan Darreh, Saqqez, and Mahabad as Kurds took over towns and army garrisons to keep the Iranian military at bay. Many Kurdish leaders went into hiding after Khomeini ordered their arrest and execution. At this point, Iranian newspapers were estimating 600 casualties.
Two groups formed in Sanandaj at this time: one was led by Ahmad Moftizadeh and another by the leader of the city's hussainiya, Safdari. The Iranian government sent a delegate to Sanandaj to meet with representatives of the militant groups. Negotiations resulted in an agreement to end conflict. Afterwards, Brayim Younisi was temporarily appointed governor of Kurdistan by the Ministry of Interior. Armed conflict broke out again in April, initially between Kurdish forces such as the KDPI and Komala against the revolutionary government's forces, but later between Kurdish militants and area Azerbaijani factions, including the Qarapapaq tribe, as well. This resulted in the death of hundreds of Azeris and Kurds.
Fighting campaigns and politics
In mid-August, the Revolutionary Guard ambushed Paveh in defiance of the army's advice. Since they were unprepared for battle, they were overpowered and encircled by Kurdish militants. The situation prompted Khomeini to meet with the heads of the government and army. In his statement on August 17, he announced a jihad against Kurdish separatists and declared key Kurdish nationalist figures, including Ghassemlou, enemies of the state. A three-week campaign to clear out rebel strongholds in Saqqez and Mahabad followed. A week after the ill-advised siege on Paveh, the city was captured by the Revolutionary Guard after the Kurdish withdrew. This marked the beginning of the Iranian counteroffensive.
By August 20, the Iranian army had begun attacking Mahabad; they managed to completely surround it by August 30. Three days of negotiations began but ultimately failed, and Iranian forces launched another onslaught of the city on September 3. Using F-4 fighter jets, artillery, and more than 100 tanks, they managed to seize control of Mahabad after just a few hours. Iranian forces continued pushing forward and took the town of Baneh. More than 500 people were killed during the siege. By the end of the campaign, Iranian forces had also recaptured Marivan, Bastam, Sardasht, Bukan, and Saqqez. The Kurdish Peshmerga retreated into the mountains during the attacks and resumed their offensive six weeks later, returning to Mahabad and using Molotov cocktails and rocket-propelled grenades to fight the Iranian troops. At the end of November, while the Iranian government was occupied with other events in the country such as the American Embassy hostage crisis, the Kurds sieged Sanandaj, Saqqez, and other captured cities and towns.
In a Radio Iran speech on December 17, Khomeini said that ethnic minorities were contrary to Islamic doctrines and that those against the union of Muslim countries were at fault for creating the issue of nationalism within these minority groups. In late January, after President Banisadr took office, Revolutionary Guard units and government-aligned Kurds unsuccessfully attacked rebels in the region, resulting in a stalemate that lasted until spring. By May 1980, Kurds still controlled most of Kurdistan's roads and rural areas and held Mahabad as their capital. The KDPI claimed to have more than 7,000 fighters at this time.
Spring 1980 Iranian offensive
In the spring of 1980, government forces under the command of President Banisadr once again captured most of the Kurdish cities through a massive military campaign, sending in mechanized military divisions to Kurdish cities including Sanandaj, Pawe, and Marivan. Neighbourhoods of some villages and towns were destroyed as a result of the fighting between Kurdish rebels and government forces. Ayatollah Khalkhali sentenced thousands of Kurds to execution after summary trials. The Kurds continued to control Mahabad as the summer fighting diminished. Iranian-Iraqi tensions grew amid Iraqi attacks on Qasr-e Shirin and Sarpol-e Zahab, prompting Iran to move its army to the border.
Autumn 1980 Iranian operations
Mahabad remained under Kurdish control for another five months until the Iran–Iraq War bled into the Kurdistan province. Following this invasion, President Banisadr ordered a ceasefire, but the Revolutionary Guard ignored him and continued their campaign. The situation was further complicated by Iranian Kurds receiving Iraqi support for the insurgency. It was initially assumed that Iraqi and Iranian Kurds would cooperate to exploit weaknesses on both sides. Neither Baghdad nor Tehran were willing to accept that outcome and both sides insisted on organizing special loyalist Kurdish military units to participate in the war and to demonstrate allegiance to their respective states.
Prior to June 1980, the KDPI requested an official allegiance with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, resulting in the signing of a seven-point agreement in Kirkuk. According to Ghassemlou, Iraq provided the Kurdish forces with ammunition and anti-aircraft missiles taken from the Iranian army. Despite this alliance, however, Ghassemlou still pursued neutrality against Iraqi Kurdish factions, such as the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and served as an intermediary in negotiations between these groups and Baghdad.
The alliance with Iraq created divides within the KDPI. In late May, Ghani Bulurian and six other central committee members renounced their party membership and published Ghassemlou's private correspondence with the Iraqis, including information about a meeting between him and Iraqi vice president Taha Yasin Ramadan.
Final stage
In January 1981, the Iraqi army successfully established a supply line to KDPI strongholds through Nowdesheh and Qasr-e Shirin, and began sending military equipment their way. This allowed the KDPI to cut off the Baghdad-Tehran highway, blocking Iranian forces from using this main thoroughfare. By late 1981, however, a counteroffensive from the Iranian forces pushed Iraqi forces back over the border, debilitating the KDPI and rendering them a marginal military factor for the rest of the war. More than 10,000 Kurdish forces were alleged to have been killed.
Despite the KDPI's military defeat, armed remnants of the group continued to shelter in northern Iraq and engage in low-level campaigns against Iranian forces. This lasted until 1983, when more Iranian forces were diverted to the Iraqi front amid escalation of the Iran-Iraq War. Komala militants also moved their military bases to Iraqi Kurdistan following Iranian operations on the border.
Aftermath
While most of KDPI's military and political activity in Iran was greatly reduced after the 1979-1981 rebellion, they continued their opposition activities throughout the 1980s. Starting in 1985, military conflict broke out between the KDPI and Komala inside northern Iraq, leading to hundreds of deaths among the two rebel groups. In 1989, the KDPI resumed its military activities against the government. Following a political and military crackdown in 1996, the conflict between KDPI and the Iranian government mainly shifted to political opposition abroad rather than violence within the country. Insurgency was renewed in 2004 by the Kurdistan Free Life Party, a militant group affiliated with the Turkish Kurdistan Workers' Party and the Kurdistan Communities Union.
According to New Lines Magazine, "Iranian Kurdish armed groups have maintained bases in northern Iraq since they were pushed into exile in the early 1980s, when an insurrection for self-determination and rights was brutally suppressed by the Iranian regime. Hundreds of Kurdish villages were razed in retaliation."
Despite having stressed their Shia identity during the 1979 revolution, younger Kurds from Kermanshah and nearby Shia regions later increasingly joined the KDPI, Komala, and other Kurdish leftist groups, while the Shia Kurdish factions from Kermanshah began to openly criticize the government and emphasize their ethnic identity by the late 1990s. Kermanshah and Ilam, which remained among the most deprived regions even four decades after the revolution, witnessed newer generations of Kurdish activists and increased solidarity with Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan. Nevertheless, the 1979 Kurdish revolt in Iran being largely limited to Sunni regions led to some Persian authors equating Kurdish nationalism with Sunni Kurds.
Timeline of events in 1979
February 1979
- February 25: Iranian Phantom II jets bomb Kurdish villages near the Iraqi border.
March 1979