Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris

, , ,
THE
TIMES
sat. july 15 1989
BR" -ABDORRAHMAN QASSEMLOU
Leader of the Kurds of Iran
Dr Abdorrahman Qassemlou,
General-Secretary of the
.Kurdistan Democratic Party
of Iran, was assassinated in
Vienna, on July 13, during a
European tour. He was 58;
He was öne of the most
important Kurdish political
ligures of his generation. A'
moderate politician demanding
only a modest degree of
'autonomy for thp r01~nlrv,~
lhree~miIÏion-strong KurdIsh
, ,minority, he was nevertheless
rejected by the new revolutionary
r~gime in 1979. When, '
later. wàt broke out between
Iran and Iraq, his several
thousand guemllas often tied
down upwards of 200,000
Iranian troops.
He was born in December
1930 into a landownmg family
in the Qassemlou Valley near at leading Kurdish upnsmgs
the city, of Rezaieh (now again in Iran 10 the 19605 and 1970s
called Urmia) and went to while based in Prague and
school in the city. While still a teaching at the university
schoolboy, he was inspired by there. In 1973, he was elected
the uprising of the Kurds the leader of the party and
under President Mohammad moved to Paris in 1976 to
Qazi, the founder of the teach Kurdish at the
KOPf. After the hanging of Sorbonne. By then he had
President Qazi in 1947, he become disillusioned by the
went, to Iraq and eventually Soviet Union.
found himself a left-wing exile Five months before the
in Europe, where he studied Iranian revolution in
economics at' Paris and Feburary, 1979,'he returned to
Prague.
Kurdistan where he set up
, He was then engaged in numerous branches of the
several unsuccessful attempts party. His supporters captured
large amounts of arms from
the' army and police stations
during" the revolution and
suosequently large areas of
western Iran, including many
,towns. Eventually, however.
the Iranian army and Revolutionary
Guards were able to
break the back of the movement
even before the war with 'I
Iraq came to an end in July,
!:~:::.'i~~I'. T:~I'" ;~::?: (lvW'-î
exists mainly in the form of
roaming guerrilla bands.
Dr Qassemlou received
some material support from
Iraq but retained enough independence
to to antagonize
that government by condemning
its use of chemical weapons
against the Kurds of Iraq,
Consequently he remained on
friendly terms with mostlraql
Kurdish leaders,
Speaking eight Middle Eastern
and European languages,
he was by far the most
educated leader that the Kurds
have ever produced. He was
also extremely good company,
believing in, having a good
time whenever possible, During
his annual visits to Paris.
he could often be seen in the
pavement cafes in the centre
of the city drinking into the
small hours, surrounded by
poets and poetesses. He leaves
two daughters. ~
16