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