The Foundation for Democracy in Iran condemns the recent attacks by troops of the Islamic Republic Guards Corps against Iranian Kurdish refugee camps in the town of Koy-sandjak in Iraq. As a result of these attacks, which began on July 27, some 400 homes have been destroyed and 1,500 Kurdish refugees were forced to evacuate the camps. Because of the heat, two refugee women have died in front of a UN office in Irbil, where they had been staging a sit-in.
The Islamic Republic justified its move into Iraq on the principal of "hot pursuit," following an alleged attack inside Iran by Kurdish guerrillas based in Iraq on July 28 . However, the Iranian troops crossed the border two days prior to the alleged attack. Furthermore, they concentrated their attack against refugee camps, not military targets, in a clear violation of the Geneva Convention of 1949 and the United Nations Resolution on Human Rights of December 19, 1968, which states:
"(b) That it is prohibited to launch attacks against the civilian populations as such;
(c) That distinction must be made at all times between persons taking part in the hostilities and members of the civilian population to the effect that the latter be spared as much as possible."
The Foundation for Democracy in Iran has received credible reports that to back up these military operations, the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Information and Security (VAJA) has been pursuing a sinister campaign of violence and intimidation against Iranian Kurdish civilians, both inside Iran and in northern Iraq, in further violation of international law.
This campaign, aimed at sympathizers of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), has intensified in recent weeks and includes terrorist attacks against Kurdish civilians, mine-laying operations, and intelligence gathering.
The following incidents were originally reported by the KDPI and have been confirmed with Iraqi Kurdish sources and by the Foundation's sources inside Iran:
• On Sunday, April 21, Iranian agents driving a Red Crescent Society ambulance attacked an Iranian Kurdish refugee camp in the Bainjan region of Sulaymaniah province in Iraqi Kurdistan. One assailant, captured by camp guards, acknowledged that the attackers had been dispatched by the VAJA office in Kermanshah (Iranian Kurdistan) to carry out terrorist activities against Iranian refugees. and that they had crossed the border under cover of the Red Crescent Society's relief aid programs. Subsequent to this attack, VAJA has established new Red Crescent Society offices in northern Iraq for the purpose of intelligence gathering and to provide cover for violent attacks against refugees. This constitutes an inadmissible violation of the status of a recognized humanitarian organization.
• On July 10, Iranian agents exploded a car-bomb near a housing complex in Koy-Sandjak, the main concentration of KDPI refugee camps in northern Iraq. Made suspicious by the car's license plate, KDPI guards evacuated the area before the explosion. This constitutes an inadmissible attack against a civilian population.
Since the Iranian incursion on July 26-30, the KDPI has reported firearms attacks against Party offices in Irbil, armed ambushes of Party vehicles traveling between near refugee camps in Koy-Sandjak, and the kidnapping and murder of civilians.
Similarly, numerous harassment operations have been carried out against civilians inside Iranian Kurdistan, aimed at preventing collaboration with the KDPI. These include mass arrests, attacks on civilians by military patrols, and the use of landmines in mountain passes and civilian areas.
More ethnic cleansing?
There have also been reports of stepped up efforts by the Iranian authorities to force Kurdish families to leave the region through administrative measures and property seizures.
Kurds complain that a lack of reconstruction funds from the central government has made it impossible to rebuild villages destroyed during the Iran-Iraq war or by Revolutionary Guards troops in punitive operations. This has caused entire populations to move to cities in other parts of Iran.
An administrative ban on buying or building new houses in several cities in Western Azerbaijan province, which is jointly inhabited by a Sunni Kurds and Shiite Azeris, is gradually tipping the ethnic mix of the Province. According to reliable reports, Kurds are frequently banned from restoring older or damaged houses, forcing them to abandon their property as it becomes unlivable. In the towns of Salmas, Naghadeh, and Urmieh, dozens of families have had their houses and property confiscated by the authorities.
At the same time, the government has appropriated funds to build new Shiia Muslim mosques in several Kurdish towns, apparently to accommodate a new population comprised of Shiias from other areas who have come to replace Kurdish Sunni families. This has occurred most notably in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan Province, and in a Kurdish neighborhood of Urmieh, a predominantly Azeri city in West Azerbaijan province. A Shiia mosque was inaugurated in early June in Sulaymaniah, Iraq, by Revolutionary Guards officer Mohammad Djafari Sahraroudi, apparently in an effort to spread Shiism to the majority Sunni Kurds of Iraq.
The Foundation reported in March on similar taken against Sunnis in Iranian Balouchistan (see Action Memorandum No 8), and is concerned that the authorities are attempting to marginalize the Sunni Muslim minority and drive Sunnis away from sensitive border regions.
These expulsions and discriminatory administrative measures constitute a form of ethnic cleansing and are clear violations of international law.
Given these facts, the Foundation for Democracy in Iran calls:
1) on the Islamic Republic authorities to respect the political and human rights of all minorities in Iran, as guaranteed by the Constitution of 1906, by the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, and by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a binding international treaty to which Iran is a signatory;
2) on the United Nations General Assembly to condemn the Islamic Republic's clear violations of international law in its attacks against civilian populations.
The Foundation for Democracy in Iran is a private, non-profit corporation registered in the State of Maryland. Contact: Kenneth R. Timmerman, Executive Director. Tel: (301) 946-2918. Fax: (301) 942-5341. FDI materials, including the FDI Newswire, are available free-of-charge via the Internet at http://www.iran.org