REPORT OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE To THE Xlth CONGRESS of the DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF IRANIAN KURDISTAN Presented by the Secretary-general Comrade Abdullah Hassanzadeh (December 22-26, 1997)
	1- International Situation 2- The Middle East 3- Iran 4. Iranian Kurdistan 5. The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan REPORT OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE Dear Comrades! Valiant members of the Congress! On behalf of the Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, 1 would like to welcome you most sincerely, wishing full success to the XIth Congress of our beloved Party in fulfilling its sacred mission. This Congress, which is held in a most crucial phase of the fifty-two year history of our Party, has eminent significance as it faces a most formidable task in planning the future of the liberation movement of the Kurdish people in Iranian Kurdistan. The success of the congress in fulfilling such an arduous task is entirely dependent on the sincere participation of all its members in the discussions and debates; and with the knowledge 1 have of democrat activists, I am quite confident that such a participation will be satisfactory to the highest degree. That is why I can say for sure that 1 am confident that this Congress is bound to succeed. On the occasion of this glorious Congress, I would like to convey my heartfelt congratulations to you, to all democrat activists and to the popular masses in Iranian Kurdistan, as well as to the advocates and supporters of our people in general. In the sessions of this Congress, seats belonging to two groups of our comrades are vacant: the first being those who, since our last Congress, have either lost their lives in fighting against the enemy or have been put to death in dungeons by headmen of the Islamic Republic of Iran, martyrs who have delegated their comrades to continue their way. The second group are the loyal activists whose hearts are filled with a genuine love for freedom and for their motherland, a fact which is reason enough in the eyes of the regime to have them subjected to cruel torture. Among these, it is most apposite to remember the seven Party combatants who were arrested last year by armed men of the Islamic Movement of Iraqi Kurdistan and handed over to the slayers of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Dear Comrades! Our present Congress has several specific aspects, of which I would like to bring three to your notice with more clarity. First and foremost, after ten years running, this is the first Congress which representatives of all democrat activists are attending, and now, in this hall where we are gathered together, there is no organ affiliated to the Party which has not one or more representatives in this Congress. This is the direct outcome of the proper resolution adopted during the Xth Congress of our Party in relation to the reunification of the Party lines. It is also the continuation of the historical day which we rightfully named «the day of the reunification of the great dynasty of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan». Let us honour this great achievement of ours and do our utmost to preserve it for ever. Secondly, this is the last congress of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan to be held in the XXth century: our next Congress will be convened at the beginning of the XXIst century. The XXth century, with all its delirious developments and bitter or joyful events, is about to leave us to be replaced by another century which, no doubt, will witness many a development even more delirious and astonishing. Accordingly, resolutions adopted and arrangements made during this Congress for the next century should be drawn up in such a way as to prepare our Party to enter the next century. The third and last aspect is that this Congress has been convened at a time when our Party is going through one of the most difficult phases of its life, as a result of which some of our comrades sank into despair and left us, while those who are genuine valiants made a resolute stand, bravely facing up to the obstacles popping up before them. Accordingly, in order to render honour to those who, being intrinsically alien to despair, have under all circumstances bravely held our Party flag hoisted, 1 have suggested that our Congress be named the «Congress of Ardent Valiants». Since our Xth Congress, many important events have come to pass in the life of our Party and many great changes have occurred in Iran, in the Middle East and in the world, changes of which we intend to have a section discussed on this occasion. No doubt, any resolution we take in connection with this new phase of our Party struggle should briefly reflect the favourable and unfavourable effects of these developments on our Party's future activities. 1- International Situation Considering the most important aspects of the international situation, we can clearly see the following phenomena: Remnants of the Cold War Despite the fact that more than six years have elapsed since the downfall of the socialist block and the end of the Cold War, the world is still haunted by remnants of the latter. From the very beginning it was cristal clear that the phenomenon known as the New World Order, albeit not clearly defined, actually meant a monopolar state of the world, vesting the United States with the power to make decisions regarding almost all international issues. It goes without saying that the US government has done all in its power to cement such a uni-axial state, and we cannot but acknowledge that it has, to some extent, been successful in this regard. Because in connection with many inter-governmental problems, it is the United States who had the last word, carrying its points in full, although it has time and again achieved its ends by resorting to its veto right in the UN Security Council. Nevertheless, no one can say for sure that the world today has turned in full into a monopolar world, because there exists an ever-increasing polarisation in other ways - a fact which clearly shows that in the near future some other formidable powers will rise in rivalry with the United States. Such a polarisation will not necessarily take the form of militaristic rivalry which used to be reflected in military blocks such as NATO and the former Warsaw Pact. It can materialize, however, in the political or cultural, and above all economic, fields. The fact which is quite obvious is that Europe has not been ready so far to accept US leadership. On the contrary, it is trying to act at cross-purposes with the US and as an independent pole both politically and economically. Although many economic and military pacts link the United States with Europe, the latter is ardently seeking to have its own entity independent of that of the former, a rivalry which can be clearly seen in some fields. Taking a look at the special efforts Europe is making in the Middle East, one can see such a fact quite clearly. You should not ignore the fact that, day by day, the unity of Europe is going to materialize more and more; in 1999, when this unity will actually take place, the Europeans will in many aspects act as a united, powerful entity. With regard to Japan, there is no doubt that it cannot enter into rivalry with the United States in political - even less in military - arenas. But it bas been a long time since it turned into a formidable rival in the economic field. Bear in mind the fact that the days of military expeditions are over and that resorting to military strength to impose one's colonial rule is something quite outdated, and you can say for sure that Japan can be regarded in the near future as a great power. It is especially noteworthy that Japan is resolutely bent on forming a kind of commercial unity among the members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Consequently, you may consider from now on ASEAN, NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association) and the European Union as three major poles of the XXIst Century. China, as an important, permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, with a quarter of the world's population living inside its borders, is one of the main nuclear powers. But its economy is still fundamentally following a socialist system, having at the same time the highest rate of economic growth in the world. Thus, it too can predictably rise as a rival. Russia, with three-quarters of the former Soviet Union's territory in its possession, inheriting also a powerful nuclear arsenal, still hopes to revive the might of the Soviet Union despite a host of formidable difficulties it faces, especially in the economic and social fields. A great number of Russians, too, are dreaming of such a day. The Russian Parliament's (Douma) ratification - on 15 March 1996 with a large majority - of the bill drawn up by the leftists demanding abrogation of the resolution adopted in December 1991 by the Council of Supreme Soviets, is clear proof to this fact. Despite Russia's pack of economic difficulties - however great they may be - the fact should not be disregarded that this country has many potentialities for the advancement of its economy. Taking into account the devotion and perseverance these people have shown in the past, one may expect them to be able to solve their problems and to rise up once again as a great power in the world arena. Regional Conflicts and Disturbances A most significant aspect of the time between our last two Congresses is the continuation of some regional conflicts and disturbances, as well as the outbreak of hostilities in a number of other regions. Bloodshed and skirmishes in the Middle East, former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and between India and Pakistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey and Greece, etc., continued in one way or another; in some other regions, such as Ruanda and Zaire, crises also started. The Cold War having come to an end and the super powers rivalry terminated, the United Nations was expected to be given a more effectice role in solving regional and international issues. But in spite of the fact that this organisation was apparently more active in its mediation efforts, it was quite obvious that those who preordain world affairs and decide behind the veil of secrecy are solely the great powers - first and foremost the United States. Recalling the fact that a great number of resolutions adopted by this organization's Security Council have remained unaccomplished for years, it is easy to say that the United Nations has actually been turned into an instrument to serve the policies of some great powers. Irrespective of the fact that the United States, as well as its associates, ardently try to work out solutions for international problems by themselves, thus leaving no room for the United Nations to play an effective role in such matters, the main difficulty lies however in the great powers' lack of any clearcut criterion for resolving disputes. The criterion they do have is their own financial interest. As has been seen time and again, while in some cases they insist on enforcement of resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, on other occasions they not only refuse to take such a stand, but they themselves turn into obstacles on the way of their fulfilment. Wherever they find it to their advantage, they do all in their power - even through armed intervention - to impede conflicts, while in other places they sit on their hands turning into unbiased onlookers of events. Disarmament and a Double-Standard Policy One of the most important issues in the world today, which takes up considerable amounts of energy and time at the United Nations and of the great powers, is the endeavour made towards disarmament and prevention of mass-destruction arms. But this endeavour is totally reversed when the great powers are concerned with arms dealers. They take advantage of every opportunity to make certain countries afraid of their neighbours, thus doing their utmost to bully them into buying as many arms as possible. Besides, as said powers and companies are willy-nilly engaged in bitter rivalry over their financial interests, you can often see that they openly, or in secret, violate international treaties by selling weaponry even to those governments to which selling arms is forbidden. The outcome of such a situation is that while hundreds of millions of people in different regions of the world live under the poverty line, hundreds - even thousands - of billion dollars are spent every year in armament and reinforcement of armies and of many countries - among which is our ill-fated country - such armements are not meant merely to serve against alleged foreign invaders, but mostly to oppress intemal opposition and to suppress complaints or democratic aspirations of their citizens. Besides, while the great powers do everything they can to prevent proliferation of mass-destruction arms - which is a good action - they never think of destroying their own arms of the kind or, at least, cease to produce them. Still more, they consider the making of such arms to be a wicked action only for some countries; as regards the others, they not only do not stand in their way, but even assist them so that they can get nuclear and other mass destruction arms as well. In order to see this more clearly, it is enough to know that while the United States is vehemently trying to have nuclear experiments prohibited, the US Congress wants to have the right of carrying out such experiments preserved for its own country! In the Conference on Prohibition of Anti-personnel Mines, held in Norway in March 1997, which was attended by representatives of over 120 countries, we saw that the United States of America demanded to be excluded from such a treaty. Also, the borders between North and South Korea should not be included in the resolution to be made on prohibition of anti-personnel mines. During the Ottawa Conference as well, the United States and some other great powers refrained from signing the Agreement on Prohibition of Anti-personnel Mines. Terrorism Over the past few years, the continuation of terrorism and its development, State terrorism, has been one of the insoluble issues in the world. Although «the fire» of terrorism has gradually reached «the houses» of great powers too, and the United States, as the greatest power of the world at present, has tasted the bitterness of such inhuman, barbari actions, no effective step has yet been taken to eradicate them. Some governments, trying to preserve their commercial and economic interests, have avoided annihilating the main sources of terrorism. Instead of looking for the perpetrators of terroris acts, they have tried to keep them covered up. As a result of such a sluggish policy adopted by the great powers, one can see that thousands of people, even tens of thousands, have been killed by terroris gangs who are set on the opposition by terroris regimes, including that of the Islamic Republic of Iran, so as to threaten powerful states of the world and bend them to their demands. 2- The Middle East Not only is the Middle East important with regard to its inhabitants, but «in the international calculations, particularly in the great powers' strategy, it has special importance (as well). From a geographical point of view, this region is located on the crossroads of the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe, and from the viewpoint of economy and mineral resources it is so rich that more than half of the oil reserves of the world are in this region». There are other factors which add to its importance. That is why the Middle East has turned into a kind of rivalry arena for the policies and interests of different international powers. Should a general feature of the region be closely examined, one can clearly see the following phenomena: Arab-Israel conflict Despite the many hopeful anticipations which, after the signing of the agreement in Washington between the Israeli government and the Palestinians, had appeared for the establishment of a permanent, comprehensive peace among the Arab countries on the one side and Israel on the other, Likoud's victory in the last general elections and its coming to power in Israel turned back the process of negotiations, creating obstacles on the way of defenders of peace and advocates of justice. But it is a great cause for pleasure to know that peace endeavours are still continuing, with the extremists and those opposed to peace on both sides failing to impede the process of peace entirely. Yet the matter which is cristal clear to anyone is that neither considerable progress has been made in this regard, nor the previous agreements have been implemented as yet, with the Likoud administration refraining from fulfilling part of the commitments previously undertaken by the Labour administration. Mr. Netanyahou's intransigence regarding the just demands of the Palestinian people, his refusal to implement the agreements previously reached, his issuing a pack of orders running counter to the peace process and his unduly expectations of Yasser Arafat and of the Palestinian govemment to oppress the extremist Palestinian organizations, have on the one hand provided those opposing peace with plausible excuses to obstruct the process of negotiations and, on the other, have drastically weakened Yasser Arafat's status. Without giving any concessions, and even without implementing the agreements previously reached, Netanyahou is waiting for Yasser Arafat to turn into Israel's gendarme so as to suppress all those who oppose peace with Israel. It is quite obvious that, should this expectation be fulfilled, Arafat's prestige will be impaired so heavily that he will be utterly discredited among his people - a fact which may be what Netanyahou is fishing for. In June and August 1997, a number of suicide explosions occurred in Israel, as a result of which a number of defenceless civilians were killed. These terrorist acts were rightly condemned by peace advocates throughout the region and the world, including Yasser Arafat. Nevertheless, these criminal acts gave Netanyahou an unjustified excuse to impose a severe economic blockade on the autonomous region, closing the gateways to Israel on tens of thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel - which meant financial losses of hundreds of million dollars on the fledgling economy of the Palestinian govemment. What was particularly bizarre was that although it became quite clear that the terror had not come from the regions under control of the Palestinians, Netanyahou persisted in his obstinate position. Although the visit Madeleine Allbright made to the Middle East saved the peace process from being completely finished off, the fact remains that the United States of America does not perform its role as an unbiased mediator or an impartial supervisor of the peace process, since it most often takes sides with Israel. The policy adopted by the US in this connection makes the situation ever more complicated: while it strenghtens the position of the extremists and opponents of peace, it paves the way at the same time for governments such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, facilitating their intervention and undermining the peace process as a result. The normalization process between Israel and the Arab countries and the establishment of peace with Israel's neighbours are impeded as well by the obstinate policy of Netanyahou's government. Prior to Likoud's coming to power, prospects for a just peace between Israel and Syria, to be followed by that between Israel and Lebanon, increasingly became clearer, but the stubbornness of Mr. Netanyahou dissipated all hopes, thus weakening day by day the possibility for the establishment of peace with said countries. Contention between Iran and the United Arab Emirates The dispute which started in 1971 between Iran and the United Arab Emirates as a result of the Iranian armed forces' deployment in the three islands of the Big Tumb, the Little Tumb and Abumussa, still remains unresolved. Both Iran and the United Arab Emirates consider the three islands as their property and despite endeavours made during the past few years to solve the issue through peaceful procedures, no progress bas been made to this end as yet. The Gulf Cooperation Council, of which six Arab countries of the Persian Golf region are members, supports the United Arab Emirates in this connection and the other Arab countries have more or less taken the same stand. Besides, there is a kind of contention between all Arab countries - Syria and Sudan excluded - on the one side and Iran on the other: while Iran, as the greatest power in the Gulf region, entertains the idea of assuming the status of leader of the countries located on the Gulf coasts, as an Islamic regime as well it strongly nurtures the idea of leading the whole Islamic world, of which the Arab countries form a section. But the Arab countries as a whole accept none of these positions for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Saudi Arabia in particular, as the «Guardian of the two Sacred Sanctuaries» and as the first country where the commandments of Islam were implemented, considers no country other than itself worthy of deserving such a status. Besides, the United States and other Western countries, with so many interests in the Gulf region, do not tolerate the extremist, fundamentalist regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran to assume control over the important waterway of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, thus endangering the flow of oil to the world markets one day or another. The deployment of American armed forces in the Gulf and in some countries around it, is prima facie evidence in this respect. A Few Other Important Issues In the Middle East, there are some other difficult issues, which have muddled the state of affairs in the region. One of them is the Kurdish cause, the history of which goes back hundreds of years, increasingly assuming more importance. Even during the first decades of the second half of the XXth century, outside the countries where Kurds live, there were few people to be acquainted with the name of the Kurds. The States among which Kurdistan is parceled out somehow managed to cover up the truth about that issue and to hide it from the world. Nowadays, thanks to the heroic, incessant struggle of our people and owing to the development of the mass media, the Kurdish issue is known by all international bodies, and the progressive peoples of the world demand a just way for its solution. In the Middle East, there are some other difficult issues, which have muddled the state of affairs in the region. One of them is the Kurdish cause, the history of which goes back hundreds of years, increasingly assuming more importance. Even during the first decades of the second half of the XXth century, outside the countries where Kurds live, there were few people to be acquainted with the name of the Kurds. The States among which Kurdistan is parceled out somehow managed to cover up the truth about that issue and to hide it from the world. Nowadays, thanks to the heroic, incessant struggle of our people and owing to the development of the mass media, the Kurdish issue is known by all international bodies, and the progressive peoples of the world demand a just way for its solution. Future Outlook Despite a host of thorny issues and hostilities in the region, it is unlikely for the Middle East to witness large-scale armed conflicts in the near future. While the Likoud front, with Mr. Netanyahou in the lead, more often than not goes to extremes, the general opinion of the Israeli people, even of some advocates of the Likoud front, is for a lasting peace with the Arab countries and eventually a solution to the Palestine issue. A remarkable fact is that in the Israeli community there are many prominent individuals, even groups, who support the creation of an independent Palestinian State, as they strongly believe that the creation of such a state will be the most effective way to establish lasting peace and stability in the region. The Islamic Republic of Iran, despite all its seditious activities, is unlikely to dare face the danger of a direct and serious confrontation with Israel or the Arab countries. It has so far made use of terrorist activities, creating all sorts of troubles for the countries of the region and trying at the same time not to get directly involved in the conflicts. What can be expected of this regime is that it will continue the same policy in the foreseeable future, because in spite of all its bragging, with the experience it has earned from the eight-year war with Iraq and the second Gulf War, it knows quite well that it shall have no success whatever in the next armed conflict in which non-regional powers will undoubtedly get involved. Tensions between Turkey and Israel on the one side and Arab countries on the other are not expected to turn into a serious armed conflict: with the exception of Iraq and Syria, the other states which have close relations with the United States in many fields and are thus able to solve their differences with Turkey and Israel, are not apt to get engaged in armed clashes with them. Generally speaking, both the Middle Eastern countries and the states of the world as a whole appraise the outcome of armed engagements far better than in the past, thus avoiding as long as possible to get involved in fullfledged wars against each other. Besides, although the process of democratization is quite slow in the Middle East, with the advancement made in the technology of the mass media and the development of economic relations in the world arena, a situation has developed in which the regional states of the Middle East have more or less had to «open the door for democracy to come in». With the promotion of this process, the danger of outbreak of regional wars decreases on the one hand, and the way will be paved for resolving internal issues through peaceful procedures and negotiations on the other hand. Accordingly, one could anticipate that proper ways will be found sooner or later for resolving regional issues in the Middle East, and the regime will be safe from the perils of another destructive, catastrophic war. Although the States governing Kurds - Turkey and Iran in particular - have so far followed a policy based on the suppression of Kurdish movements, refusing to officially recognize the just rights of the people of Kurdistan, we strongly believe that with the failure of such a policy and with the start of a democratic «breeze» in the region, the way will be prepared for a favourable solution to the issue of the Kurds. The States governing Kurdistan will eventually come to realize the existing realities and look for a way other than suppression to solve the issue, or they will have to be replaced by democratic regimes capable of apprehending the necessities of the last years of the XXth and the beginning of the XXIst centuries. 3- Iran Although over the years between the last two congresses of our Party, Iran has not remained immutable and witnessed many a change, the ruling system and its administration, as well as the many difficulties befalling the Iranian peoples in the political, economic, social and cultural fields, remained unchanged. Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic of Iran has clearly demonstrated once more that it has no capacity for any changes, and as long as this regime stays at the helm, the Iranian peoples will never enjoy progress, prosperity, freedom and social justice. Let us have a closer look at the matter: Continuation of Dictatorship A relentless religious dictatorship, which was established in Iran after Khomeini and his band came to power, has grown increasingly more ruthless. Over the past three years, it continued to expand as before. The opposition, the syndicates and the Labour unions were denied the right to function freely. Any collective protest of the masses was brutally suppressed; for the Iranian women, deprivation of their rights and freedoms continued as before and the Islamic Republic of Iran had, as always before, only one answer to all the political, economic and social demands of the Iranian peoples: suppression. But at this stage, the enforcement of dictatorship has been accompanied by certain new phenomena. First, the ringleaders of the regime have had brutality and oppression legalized; if the barbarities committed by the manslayer mercenaries of the regime used to be declared illegal acts, or if the ringleaders pretended they were unaware of such crimes, in this stage all such acts were legalized, as the Islamic Majlis (Parliament) passed a bill authorizing the disciplinary forces to suppress demonstrations staged in protest against the regime. As a result, the rulers in Tehran have empowered their armed killers to suppress any opposition in whatever possible way, thus legitimizing brutalities committed by them. Fighting against individual and social freedoms, which was one of the special aspects of this phase, the rulers resorted to an out and out animosity against the intelligentsia. It is true that this regime has always been hostile to writers and progressive ideas, doing all in its evil power to restrict freedom of expression, but its practices over the past three years were almost, if not totally, unprecedented during the approximately nineteen years of its rule over Iran. In this period, newspapers and magazines were closed down, their editors successively charged and imprisoned one after the other, tortured and even flogged in public; writers and intellectuals disappeared in rows. The tragic fates of Abbas Miraldee, Abbas Maroofi, Ebrahim Zalzaddeh and Faraj Sarkoohi were a few but living examples of the regime's animosity with regard to writers and freedom of expression. If the Islamic Republic's rulers managed somehow to justify, for their fanatic followers, the oppression of these intellectuals by accusing them of being atheists lacking religions beliefs or opposing beliefs of the kind, they could never bring such charges against an intellectual as Abdulkarim Soroush. Soroush is a great theologian and a religions man to the full meaning of the word, thus being a close trustee of the ruling clique. Nevertheless, as soon as he raised his voice against dictatorship, oppression and censorship, he was accused of heresy. Gangs of thugs were instigated against him to disturb his lectures, get in his way and impede his everyday activities, and even threaten him to death. One cause for satisfaction is that the policies adopted by the rulers have failed to intimidate the progressive intellectuels in Iran and to make them back off. Outside Iran, such policies stirred up intellectual circles, advocates of human rights, public opinion of the peoples world wide and even instigated some States to sympathize with the victims of censorship and oppression. As a result of such a brave resistance inside and thanks to such widespread sympathy outside the country, the regime had to retreat in certain areas and avoided killing a number of individuals who had been plotted against. Perhaps everyone knows that if this powerful wave of sympathy had not arisen in the world in support of the intellectual movement in Iran, Faraj Sarkouhi would have been lost for ever or hanged in public. It was his own resistance backed up by worldwide support that caused the number of charges brought up against him to be gradually diminished, with the regime eventually having to make do with jailing him for one year. Economic Conditions Contrary to all the arrogant bragging of the ringleaders of the regime regarding claimed advancements made in Iran in the fields of industry and self-sufficiency, economic conditions have worsened in our country over the past three years. Unemployment, a high cost of living, spiralling prices and poverty have been part of the difficulties facing most of the sixty million people of Iran. Even newspapers belonging to the regime refer time and again to the fact that more than 40% of the Iranian people live under the poverty line. There is no doubt that such woeful conditions in a potentially wealthy country like Iran, which is in the front row of the oil-producing countries of the world, possessing rich mineral resources of all kinds essential for the advancement of industry and economy, agriculture and trade, except for the inefficiency and mismanagement of the regime which has been ruling Iran for over nineteen years, have no other meaning. While our country has both ample water and rich soil for the development of agriculture, it is one of the greatest buyers in the world of agricultural products, annually importing several hundred thousand tons of wheat, rice, vegetable oils, meat, etc. Nineteen years after this regime came to power, most of the factories and industriel plants work to half (even less) their production capacity and with lower quality. These facts are the real cause for the soaring prices of daily needed commodities, to such a degree that the majority of our compatriots cannot afford to buy them. Deterioration of the economy has had perilous effects on the lives of poor and low income strata of the society, creating lots of difficulties for them to earn their livelihood. In this connection, it is enough to point out that tens of thousands of Iranian children upwards from six years of age, instead of going to school, work at brick kilns or carpet weaving workhouses, doing all sorts of strenuous jobs in order to earn part of their family's expenditures. Thus their lives turned into an out and out hell. When Khomeini and his band came into power, the leaders of the regime boasted that they had no foreign debt. Yet, today, Iran has got so heavily in debt that it cannot even pay back its instalments. In the report of the Central Bank of Iran, published in October 1997, it is claimed that in the trade balance exports exceeded imports, with the former amounting to 22.5 billion $, while imports have been only 15 billion $. Even if these figures are to be taken as true, the remainder (7.5 billion $) is one billion less than the amount of the annual instalments the regime has to pay to its foreign creditors. We should not ignore the fact that, should the claims of the Central Bank of Iran be believed, there is no outstanding performance in them, since the report does not point out that 80% of the income was gained through exporting oil and that the only advantage of the decrease in imports is the shortage or lack of necessary commodities in the markets, and therefore the soaring prices. It is in such perilous circumstances that the Islamic regime of Iran spends billions of dollars buying ammunition, biological and nuclear weapons and training terrorist gangs both inside and outside Iran. Although they pretend to be in the dark, the authorities know quite well that they cannot get engaged in rivalry with the advanced nuclear powers and avert the personal danger threatening their regime. Accordingly, the only «advantage» which they get through spending enormous sums of cash, taken from the mouths of the poor people, to buy such arms is to save their regime from the danger of the people rising against them, a ploy which the Shah used to make use of - though to no avail. Strife and corruption Power struggle among the ruling mollahs and prevalence of bribery and embezzlement - in short, the spreading of corruption throughout the administrative bodies - are two main insurmountable problems that have beset the regime, threatening its very existence. As long as Khomeini was alive, contention among the ringleaders of the regime rarely surfaced, because when it reached a critical point, Khomeini would intervene and solve the dispute, no one daring to disobey him. But after Khomeini's death, there was no one to play such a role. Khamen'ei, despite his titles as Ayatollah, religions leader, «Vali Faghih» (Clerical Guardianship), lacks the authority and prestige to awe the contending factions into obedience. Besides, Khamen'ei himself is a party to the strife. This is why, during the years he has been at the helm, the struggle between the factions has increasingly intensified, reaching such a height as to make it impossible to keep it covered up. Despite ever so many cloaks and turbans and the bulk of hypocrisy which are part and parcel of the Islamic Republic of Iran, there have been very few regimes in history whose administrative bodies have corrupted so rapidly. From the very first months and years of the mollahs assuning power, brokerage, bribery and embezzlement - in short any and all despicable actions classified as corruption - originated in the governmental organisations, developing increasingly with the passing of time. But while different bands connected to the ruling junta were engaged in adeadly strife among themselves, they knew quite well that in fighting against the opposition, they had the same destiny, and thus did all in their power not to let the outside world know anything of their differences, especially of the rampant corruption spreading through the administration of the regime from top to bottom. As a result, until a few years ago, although the Iranian peoples knew almost everything about this chaotic situation, the rulers managed somehow not to let their scandals come out in the open and resound in the world. It was nevertheless impossible to keep this widespread corruption covered up forever. That is why, for the past ten years, rival bands of the regime engaged in divulging against each other, a process which reached its climax over the past two or three years. Then, enormous embezzlements made from national assets - or, in the mullahs' terms, the «Muslim Treasury» - were uncovered and dozens of robberies from public funds, each amounting to tens of millions, even thousands of millions of tomans were disclosed, all of which had been done by «religions merchants». Thus, the regime's disgrace resounded all over the world. Elections Since our Xth Congress, two general elections were held in our country: general elections of representatives and presidential elections. In the general elections, the extremists - or conservatives as they are called - won the majority of seats, with no one inside or outside the regime expecting any change to follow. We believe therefore that it is not necessary to say anything about them. But the presidential elections comprised new phenomena and great numbers of people inside and outside Iran entertained some kind of hope about them. That is why they should be reflected upon a bit in detail. As stated above, the last presidential elections comprised some new phenomena: while most of the opposition blocks, including our Party, had boycotted the elections, the turnout of voters was so great that it was entirely unprecedented. More important was the fact that, for the first time, a candidate supported by almost all the authorities, including Khamen'ei, was defeated by a man who not only was undesirable to the leaders of the regime, but had also been openly opposed, to such a point that they instigated gangs of thugs to tear down his electoral posters, demolish his office in Tehran and close it down. Information has reached us, showing that the votes given in favour of Khatami were three to four million higher than the number officially declared by the polling center. But the poll which was actually declared clearly showed that Khatami had won more than 20 million votes, while Nategh Nouri had gained only seven million. Which is to say that the candidate backed by the regime in its entirety had earned one third of the votes given to a man who was both unknown to the people and opposed by all the power circles of the regime. How is this development to be appraised? Authorities inside and outside Iran are of the opinion that the twenty million votes cast in the election were not really given to Khatami, but were intended to demonstrate enmity towards the eighteen-year rule of the Islamic Republic. In his polling campaign, Sey-yed Muhammad Khatami had defended freedom, enforcement of law, equal rights for men and women, freedom of the press, interests of the intellectuals and the young people. In short, he had included in his election platform the aspirations of the masses as a whole. The Iranian peoples who had both set their hearts on such rights and freedoms and regarded the Islamic Republic as a violator of such rights and freedoms, knowingly voted on the polling day against the regime, in favour of which they had unknowingly voted in the elections held on 30-31 March 1997. The ringleaders of the regime were awfully angry about the polling results, but as the difference in the votes given to the two candidates was so great, they could not announce the outcome inversely. That is why they had to accept the result, at the same time trying to show the unprecedented turnout as a positive reaction to Khamen'ei's mustering the people to take part in the elections and presenting it as a great success for the regime. On the other hand, both the regime and a group, however small, of the opposition marked the great turnout as the people's refusal to heed the demands of the opposition forces. But we appraise the question the other way around. The fact is that the opposition was not confident that the people would have the opportunity to vote freely, and as the regime had not permitted any independant individual or members of patriotic organisations to get nominated, the opposition boycotted the election. In other words, it could be said that they advised the people to vote in abstention against the regime's candidate, his platform and policies. But when masses of people turned out to impose their will on the regime, they not only did not make do with abstention but voted against the regime, a fact which is not to be appraised as opposing the opposition, but as utmost agreement and cooperation with it. We should now wait and see whether the newly elected president will - and can - accomplish his promises and even more, whether he can fulfill the people's aspirations. As you know quite well, following the election, after Khatami had received the vote of confidence from the Majlis (Parliament), the world as a whole and the advanced industrial countries of Europe and America looked at the matter optimistically, sending him messages of congratulations from all sides and showing him the green light. But it did not take long, first for the Iranian people and then for the world, to realize that Khatami's victory in the election has brought about no fondamental changes in the Islamic Republic, a fact for which there are two main reasons: First, Mr. Khatami is part and parcel of this regime, fully believing in its philosophy. He has accepted the Constitution and philosophical foundations of this regime; has announced his candidacy in the framework of this system; has been elected in compliance with the fundamental principles of such a regime. Accordingly, his particular belief in freedom, democracy and human rights is not the same as that which other people outside the Islamic Republic hold regarding these universally accepted principles. As a result, he is not expected to carry out his undertakings as anticipated by the voters. Secondly, and more important too, is that in the Islamic Republic there are numerous centers of power above the presidency, which in cases not deemed expedient can annul any decision taken by the president of the Republic, the Majlis, the Council of the Guardians of the Constitution and the leader or «Vali-e Faghih». We also know that all such centers are under the control of those opposing Khatami's line and the aforementioned principles. These are the same authorities who, for the past eighteen years, have had the upper hand in Iran. Besides, another new, most powerful department bas been formed, higher than the presidency and titled the Assembly for Determination of the System's Prudence. It is true that there used to be such a body with the same title, but it neither had the power which was recendy bestowed on it nor a powerful person such as Rafsanj ani as its director. On the day when his term as president of the Republic terminated, Rafsanjani pointed out in his speech: «A change of responsibility does not necessarily mean a change of power». These words may apparently mean that in the Islamic Republic responsibility does not bring authority, but he actually meant that although the presidency had been given to Khatami, the real power was in fact in his own grip. That is why to expect a radical change during the period of Khatami's presidency is not a realistic expectation. The Regime and the World Community At present, the status of the regime in the world community is a proper reflection of its conduct (over the past eighteen years). In the international area, the Islamic Republic of Iran has rightfully come to be known as an anti-democratic, anti-human, anti-freedom, terrorist and lawless regime. After the Berlin Court's ruling issued last spring regarding the Mykonos case, this regime has been utterly detested and strongly condemned by masses of peoples across the world. As a result of approximately nineteen years of an oppressive rule over Iran and after nineteen years of disregard for almost all established international laws and regulations, as well as opposition to peace, freedom and human rights, the Islamic Republic bas been discredited across the world inasmuch as that even rapacious governments, apprehensive of the general opinion of their peoples, do not dare to speak openly of their relations with the Islamic Republic and try instead to cover up the nature of their cooperation. To demonstrate more convincingly the degree of this regime's ill repute, it is enough to say that thoughout the years it has reigned over our country, not a single year has passed without it being condemned by international, humanitarian organizations for violations of human rights. Over the past nineteen years, the Islamic Republic has been denounced over forty times by different international bodies for its hostility to freedom and its violations of human rights. 4. Iranian Kurdistan Iranian Kurdistan is a part of Iran, so whatever has been said so far about the former is correct in connection with the latter. Any change occurring in Iran, for better or for worse, in the political, social or economic fields, inevitably resounds in Kurdistan as in other regions of the country, with effects on the livelihood of the people. All the same, Kurdistan has some peculiar aspects of its own, and the general policies adopted by the central government take on some specific qualities there. Accordingly, should you closely consider the general situation in Kurdistan, you could easily detect certain specific aspects peculiar to the region, such as: Ethnic Oppression As has been pointed out many times in our Party literature, ethnic oppression can be easily seen in political, economic, social and cultural aspects of life. Neither the people of Kurdistan as a nation, nor the region which they inhabit, have been officially recognized with the name they have. Despite the fact that the people of this region are efficient enough to run their own affairs, they have no role whatsoever in determining their fate. All Kurdish or non-Kurdish authorities in the region are appointed by - or with the consent of - the central government; the high-ranking ones, such as governors and governor-generals, are non-aboriginal elements, as if the Kurds were «sterile» and «impotent», lacking anyone capable of running such posts. As we all know, during Hashemi Rafsanjani's second term of presidency, they appointed a man from Grurweh as Governor General of the province of Kurdistan. In spite of the fact that the man was an Azeri (a Turc), they embarked on large-scale propaganda, claiming they had fulfilled the Kurdish people's aspirations by appointing «a Kurd» to such a post. Together with their propaganda, they tried to show that Kurdistan was limited to the Province of Kurdistan, excluding other provinces inhabited by Kurds. We have always been of the opinion that it is not important whether a government official serving in Kurdistan is a Kurd or a member of other Iranian nationalities. What is important to us is that such a person be appointed with the consent of the Kurdish people, not appointed directly by Tehran, and with the interests of the region taken into consideration. Otherwise, neither a patriotic Kurd could overlook a non-Kurdish compatriot's merits, nor any cultured individual would like to see an undeserving, inefficient person running the affairs of a Kurdish - however small - region merely because he is a native Kurdish speaker! It has been many years since the regime's authorities did their utmost to cover up the situation in Kurdistan, adopting a policy of silence in this regard and rarely speaking about the heroic resistance which bas been put up for more than eighteen years by the valiant people of the regime against the oppressive policy of the reactionary regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Since the day when this regime came to power, it has not implemented any economic project in Kurdistan - the lack of security being its excuse. Discrimination in this connection has reached a point where Kurdish contractors are not allowed to found any big-sized economic plant in Kurdistan. As a result of such a policy adopted by the rulers in Tehran since the years of monarchy, no big economic projects have been implemented and no sizeable industriel plants were constructed in Kurdistan in spite of the natural resources existing in the region. To talk about the inhuman behaviour of the regime's authorities in the region is a long story, but if you listen to the confessions of agents who were sent on mission to our Party to commit terrorist acts - their confessions have been broadcast on our Party radio - it will be enough to get an idea of the bulk of crimes committed by the Islamic Republic under the cover of Islam against the muslim people of Kurdistan. Parts - however small - of these confessions have been published in «Kurdistan», the organ of the Central Committee, reaching those who were not able to tune in to the «Voice of Iranian Kurdistan». Irrespective of the fact that, according to the laws enforced by the Islamic Republic, the Iranian Kurds, the majority of whom are Sunni Muslims, are deprived of the rights enjoyed by their other compatriots. The laws and regulations equally applicable to all Iranian citizens have no meaning in Kurdistan, and the authorities are empowered to play, as they choose, with the fate of the people. Stubborn Resistance It is said that «wherever there is injustice, there is resistance». This clearly materialized in Iranian Kurdistan. Reactionary die-hards of the regime have embarked on a relentless, multilateral oppression in Kurdistan, aiming to bully our people into submission and to make them renounce their just demands. Fortunately enough, all their drudgery to this evil end has come to nothing, and they have not been able to suppress our people's penchant for freedom nor their patriotic feelings. Over the past nineteen years, the Kurdish people have sacrificed tens of thousands of lives, of whom more than four thousand were peshmerga of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan. But we are proud to see the flag of our people's liberation movement flutter in the hands of our Party activists: imprisonment, exile, torture and mass executions were unable to extinguish «the fire» of our movement. Many times, in the cities or villages of Kurdistan, masses of people have risen unarmed against the hirelings of the Islamic Republic, showing them that they never surrender to violence and intimidation. The last instance of our compatriots' contention with the regime was the widespread, glorious uprising of the valiant people of Kermanshah and its suburbs in protest against the assassination of mollah Muhammad Rabi-ee, a famous religions leader of the region. The authorities made great efforts to misrepresent the uprising, faking it up as religions contention between Sunni and Shi'a muslims of the region, but truth lay somewhere else. Having realized that said religious leader had been killed only because he had defended freedom and the rights of the people, the population of Kermanshah (Shi'a and Sunni muslims) rose in protest, avenging on the hirelings of the reactionary regime the crimes which had been committed. After three days of violence perpetrated by the regime, during which a number of people were killed and a great many arrested and imprisoned, the regime was able to put down the insurrection. But the memory of this heroic insurrection will vividly remain in the mind of the people, living on for ever as an outstanding instance of bravery and courage in the history of Kurdistan. Thanks to the heroic resistance put up by the Kurdish people, the Islamic Republic bas failed to impose its reactionary laws and traditions on Kurdistan. The people of Kurdistan, the honourable Kurdish men and women, are still celebrating their own national traditions. It is a great honour for these people that, after eighteen years, the Islamic Republic has no social or political bases as yet in Kurdistan, still being compelled to dispatch non-Kurdish hirelings from other regions to Kurdista to get the rightful movement of the Kurdish people suppressed. Revolutionary Alertness No one can deny that in line with the general situation prevailing in Iran and as a result of certain minor factors, our people's struggle in Kurdistan has, in some stages, experienced progress and regression, rise and fall, its resistance less apparent than it really was. Especially over the past few years, when our people's fight against the lackey-mercenary forces of the regime was consideraly limited. Yet this is a process which is always likely to come about in the course of every nation's struggle for freedom- a phenomenon which is never counted as a permanent regression of any movement. What has remained unchanged during this period is the revolutionary potential of our people in Kurdistan. There is a proverb saying " A blow not breaking your back is sure to give you more strength ". Valiant scions of our nation have not surrendered to violations and tyranny, but they got more experience at every victory or retreat. Those working in the market, in workshops, on farms, and those engaged in different economic activities in Kurdistan, as well as those studying at schools and universities and those working in different government offices, are to be regarded as devoted peshmerga and faithful soldiers of our nation's freedom. It will not be an exaggeration if we say that our people in Iranian Kurdistan are far better organized than those in other regions of Iran, and should suitable conditions arise, they could simply be self-reliant and able to perform their duty to rescue their homeland from the yoke of the reactionary die-hards. 5. The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan Honourable members! In order to start discussing realistically about this section of the report, we should frankly admit - regarding the period between our last two congresses - that our Party passed through one of the maybe most critical stages of its fifty-two year old and eventful history. Like it or not, over the years it has been in power, the reactionary regime has succeeded in imposing its hellish rule over almost all parts of Iran. As a result, Kurdistan has more than ever before felt isolated in its fight against the tyrannic regime. Our Party has been alone in its struggle, as apart from a few limited operations by one or the other Kurdish organization, there have been no armed activities by any organization or party over the past three years. Like it or not, this fact has had unfavourable effects on the state of affairs in general and, at least in the field of armed struggle, it limited our Party's activities more than ever before. Still worse, our Party has had to confront formidable obstacles in connection with its rearline. Taking advantage of the fratricide between the two main Iraqi Kurdish forces, and in defiance of all international laws and regulations, the Islamic Republic of Iran has opened a unilateral front against our Party in Iraqi Kurdistan. Thus, much more than face to face armed engagements of our combatants and its forces, it has committed assaults on our forces, dealing them heavy blows. That was because our Party, trying to respect the sovereignty of the regional government of Iraqi Kurdistan, refused to turn this region into a combat zone with the enemy. Besides, not being eligible to lay control on the roads, it has failed on many occasions to annul terrorist schemes of the regime. Despite all said obstacles and a host of other difficulties, our Party bas actively remained in the struggle field against the regime, hoisting the flag of our people's just movement in Iranian Kurdistan, a fact which strengthened the Kurdish masses' confidence in our Party. Over the past three years, relations between the Party and our people have not been interrupted; because of different factors which will be clarified hereinafter, they have increasingly taken root as well. Our political propaganda has been going on uninterruptedly, and if the current Iranian year is excluded, our armed struggle against the oppressive forces of the regime has continued as before. Some Other Important Events During the period of time between our Xth and Xlth Congresses, some encouraging or bitter incidents have happened for our Party, which seem appropriate to be discussed here: Raid on the Political Bureau Headquarters The first episode, which became the title of most newspapers, radios and televisions around the world, was the assault launched by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Political Bureau's headquarters and some of the camps of displaced Iranian Kurds located in the vicinity of Koysinjagh, Erbil province, Iraqi Kurdistan. Prior to the attack, we had received information regarding a big operation aimed at dealing our Party a heavy blow, but its true nature was unclear. Before the big operation was launched, a few terrorist acts had been carried out in or close to our Party bases, including a car bomb explosion near one of the offices affiliated to the Political Bureau. But it seemed clear to the leadership that none of these criminal acts was the raid, the scheme of which had been prepared long before. The fact is that we expected to come under a heavy air and/or missile assault from inside Iran, rarely thinking that we would be attacked by land forces in the depths of Iraqi Kurdistan. Then, on 27 July 1996, information was received that a big force of the regime's unity, after having crossed the border, was on its way to the strategic height overlooking Koysinjagh, in the vicinity of which the Political Bureau's headquarters and the camps of displaced Iranian Kurds were located. According to the last appraisal, the enemy force was composed of nearly two thousand men equipped with long-range artillery, Katiusha launchers and three Hossein missile launchers, as well as several mortars, different semi-heavy weapons and small arms. They had not even forgotten to bring along huge iron cages mounted on tracks to take captured valiant democrats back to Iran! With the knowledge we had about our Party combatants' way of fighting during the war of resistance, we were sure that the enemy forces could have been routed easily, should some fifty peshmerga have been deployed on their way, not letting them reach the points mentioned and have the Party camps in gun range. But because of certain reasons not to be necessarily mentioned here, reasons which are quite clear to our comrades, we had to abandon that idea. This is why we were obliged to have the families evacuated from the camps and the combatants entrenched in case the enemy started its land invasion trying to capture our Party headquarters, in which case its forces were to be battered in such a way as to never forget it. Such an order having been issued, the women and children were evacuated, during which time the invaders took up their position in points previously determined. Then, early in the moming of June 28th, the enemy forces started to pound the Party installations and defenceless refugee camps as hard as they could, firing in 24 hours about four thousand shells of all kinds. Apart from minor damages on Party installations, 228 houses of the defenceless refugees were either totally destroyed or badly damaged - fortunately enough with no loss of lives. In this connections there are some factors which should be proudly pointed out. First and foremost was the fact that, when the invaders came to understand that despite their heavy bombardment they had not been able to crush the iron will of the entrenched democratic valiants and had failed to force them out of their positions, they did not dare to embark on their land offensive, nor to take back to Iran, as they had previously planned, booty and prisoners. Even the inhabitants of Koysinjagh and its suburbs were astonished at the resistance the valiant combatants put up under such heavy and relentless bombardment. Secondly, there was a stand the women refugees and their children made in front of the UNHCR's office in Erbil. The true meaning of a Kurdish proverb saying «Once out of the bush, a lion, be it male or female, is a lion» was demonstrated in full by these women refugees and their children as, particularly on the first few days of their taking sanctuary in front of said building, they were desperately in need of food and drinking water, having to withstand the 50° heat of the region without any shelter of any kind. All the same, they were not discouraged. They resisted with such courage that they attracted the attention of international human rights organisations and of world opinion to their desperate case and to the plight their nation is in. Thirdly, there was the extensive, unprecedented sympathy shown towards our Party and the displaced refugees by the Kurdish masses of Iraq, including political parties and organisations, trade unions and social foundations, as well as prominent personalities, individual political and religions leaders - in short, all the social classes and strata of Iraqi Kurdistan. In a week's time, thousands of messages and declarations condemning the aggression of the Iranian forces reached the Political Bureau in support of our Party. Thousands of men called at the Political Bureau and other Party offices to sympathize with us in person. The apprehension of our people in Iranian Kurdistan and the sympathy they showed were so extensive that they cannot be put into words. They, whose immediate relatives had come under aggression and been threatened to death, only thought of them, availing themselves of every opportunity to get informed about them. On the first day of the aggression, hundreds of phone calls were made to our offices in Europe, intended to get an account of the invasion by the reactionary forces; despite the strict censorship in force in Iran, some individuals managed somehow to get in touch with us in Erbil via satellite. Apprehension of the people in Iranian Kurdistan grew to such an extent that we were obliged to issue a declaration stating that the women and children had been evacuated in advance and that there had been no loss of lives during the aggression. This turned out rather to the regime's advantage, because it helped to cool down the wrath of general opinion throughout the world against such a brutal invasion. The Iranian politcal organisations demonstrated their position, and apart from sympathizing with our Party and their displaced compatriots, as well as condemning the military invasion of the Islamic Republic, they were instrumental in having world opinion far better informed of the crimes committed by this regime and in attracting support for the struggle of the Kurdish people in particular, and that of the Iranian peoples in general. While all these things came quite naturally, the most remarkable phenomenon was the favourable reaction by mass media and international humanitarian organizations. Over the past eighteen years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has done all in its power to hide the bulk of crimes it committed against the people of Kurdistan, but with this last pugnacious action it made the world better informed of its anti-human offences. Consequently, a great number of representatives from international organisations and journalists called in person at the destroyed camps, meeting the displaced families and preparing reports to be broadcast on radios and televisions world wide. The fourth aspect was the regime's failure to reach its two main goals: forcing our Party out of Iraqi Kurdistan and starting off fratricide between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and our Party. Through adopting a farsighted, responsable policy regarding our people's destiny in Iran, our leadership managed to stave off further deterioration of its relations with the PUK, thus guaranteeing that our Party headquarters would remain in Iraqi Kurdistan. In short, the armed aggression aimed at dislodging our Party from Kurdistan once and for all turned out entirely in reverse. It was a great political victory for our Party, and the aggressor reaped nothing other than infamy and hatred of the Kurdish masses and of general opinion world wide. The Socialist International Another important event came about in the glorious histoiy of our Party struggle: approximately one and a half month after the regime's aggression, our Party was admitted to the Socialist International as a member with observer status. As you comrades know quite well, since the mid'eightees, our Party has had close relations with this international organization. For the first time, our great leader, the late Dr. Ghassemlou, attended a Congress of the Socialist International held in Lima, the capital of Peru. Since then, our Party was invited to all congresses and sessions of the SI, all of which were attended by our Party delegations composed of high-ranking officiels. Moreover, since the very time when our two leaders, Dr. Ghassemlou and Dr. Sharafkandi, were assassinated, we have been trying to gain membership to this highly reputable international organisation. Fortunately, supported by a number of influential members of the Socialist International, our endeavours to this end produced the long awaited result After the session held in Capetown, capital city of the Republic of South Africa, we were informed that our Party's membership would be put on the agenda of the XXth Congress and that it would most probably be ratified. Accordingly, a Party delegation comprising our Secretary-general, Party representatives in France and in the United States, was appointed to take part in said congress. The XXth Congress of the Socialist International was held in September 1996 in the hall of the UN General Assembly in New York; at its third day session, it unanimously accepted the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and a few other parties and organisations, including the Liberation Movement of Palestine led by Yasser Arafat and the Janata Dall Party of India, as observer members of the Socialist International. Our Party becoming a member of the SI was a great political achievement for us. The very membership in such an important international organization paves the way for the establishment of relations with political parties and organisations throughout the world and is per se a manifest proof clearly demonstrating the credibility and prestige of our Party. Because the Socialist International defends values such as peace, freedom, human rights and social justice, and accepts in its ranks only those parties and organizations which have come to be known as defenders of these values. Therefore, our Party becoming a member of the SI should be counted as it being accepted as a democratic party defending peace, human rights and social justice. If you bear in mind the fact that there are too many political parties and organizations which aspire to participate in the SI sessions as guests, even as spectators, then you can truly appreciate the importance of obtaining membership in this international organization. It is duly noteworthy that ours is the first Iranian and Kurdish party to have become a member of the Socialist International. While we earnestly wish to see Iranian and Kurdish political parties and organizations by our side in the SI, we should by no means minimize this great victory of ours. The Central Committee strongly believes that our Party should ardently try to solidify its position in the Socialist International, doing its best as from now to get full membership status. Considering the friendly relations we have with most socialist and social-democrat parties, and with the knowledge they have about the policies and activities of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, we think everything is well prepared for our Party to obtain such a status in the SI. The rest depends on our comrades' endeavours in this regard. As previously stated, our Party being accepted as a member of the Socialist International became feasible thanks to the cooperation and effective support of some important members of this organization, with whom our Party has had friendly links for a long time. We therefore owe them a particular debt of gratitude and we should like to extend to them our most sincere thanks, wishing at the same time that they remain supporters of our Party and of the liberation movement of the Kurdish people, as well as of the Iranian peoples' liberation movement against die-hard reaction and despotism. A Disgraceful Crime Another event, which was very distressing for our Party and disgraceful for its perpetrators, was the deportation of seven Party activists from Iraqi Kurdistan, who were handed over to the bloodthirsty regime of the Islamic Republic. On 20 October 1996, seven Party activists: Arshad Reza-ee, Muhammad Aziz Ghadri, Driyoush Islamdoost, Younes Muhammadpoor, Adnan Esmaeeli, Muzaffar Kazemie and Maroof Sohrabi, who were on their way from Halabja to their camp located in the vicinity of Suleimania, were ambushed by some armed men of the Islamic Movement of Iraqi Kurdistan and disappeared. Our Party's efforts to trace their whereabouts were in vain, till a few days later we came to know that these comrades had been handed over as a token of sycophantic service by the armed men of the Islamic Movement of Iraqi Kurdistan to the tyrannic regime of Iran, and that they had been imprisoned in Paweh and brutally tortured. Despite the efforts made by our Party over the past fourteen odd months, not only has the Islamic Movement refrained from submitting the perpetrators to justice, but it has also refrained from apologizing to the Kurdish people and to the families of the imprisoned Party activists. The leaders of the Islamic Movement seem to believe that the Democratic Party and the people of Kurdistan will by and by forget or connive at such a dark crime. But they are in the wrong, because neither the PDKI nor any other political organization ever forgive crimes of that kind. At first, our Party believed that this shameful crime had been perpetrated by one of the commandes alone, so it did not directly accuse the Islamic Movement as a whole. But the leadership of the Movement avoided taking any steps towards clarifying the matter and punishing the offender(s). Consequently, it became quite obvious that this spiteful act had been done with the consent of said organization and that its armed men had been made use of solely as means of carrying out the machination. Reunification of Party Lines One of the most important events which occurred between the last two congresses of our Party, as well as one of the most significant victories gained, was the reunification of the Party lines - or as it was rightfully called at the time - «the reunification of the great family of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran». Relying on a timely resolution, the Xth Congress had recommended that the Central Committee pave the way for negotiations with the comrades who, after the VIIIth Congress, had parted their line with that of our Party and formed an organization called the «Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, Revolutionary Leadership», the aim being to resolve the discord to the advantage of the Movement and of the Party. A short while after the Congress, the first step was taken towards the fulfillment of that resolution, and negotiations started between the Political Bureau of our Party and said comrades. Going over the process realistically, we should openly say that resolving the differences was by no means an easy task, with numerous difficulties existing - or popping up - on the way of the efforts we had to make. That is why negotiations to this end were so arduous. But both sides had earnestly decided to reach an agreement in any possible way, so the negotiations were bound to succeed. It was in fact the endorsement of the long-lived aspirations of our people in Kurdistan as well as of friends and advocates of our Party which eventually materialized, and the endeavours made to this end were at last crowned with success on 9 January 1997. Through a litarary-political essay, «Kurdistan», the organ of the Central Committee, depicted the panorama of the celebrations observed on the occasion of the reunification of the Party lines. A great number of the members who had no opportunity to take part in the festivities, either saw them on film or at least read the essay printed in «Kurdistan». We therefore do not consider it necessary to say anything about the heavenly atmosphere which enveloped the celebrations on January 9th. Besides, at the time, «The Voice of Iranian Kurdistan» discussed different aspects of the glorious event in detail. The news of the reunification of the PDKI lines had great resounding among the masses of the Kurdish people in Iranian Kurdistan and in other parts of Kurdistan, on the Iranian and Kurdish political parties and organizations, as well as on all Party friends and advocates. A great number of Kurdish, Iranian and foreign political parties, organizations and prominent personalities congratulated our Party on this occasion by sending messages, telegrams or letters to the Political Bureau or the Central Committee, wishing full success for the timely historic step taken by the Party. Most of the congratulating messages have been published by the Commission of Publication in a special pamphlet titled «Reunification of Democratic Party Lines». Also, thousands of people have called in person on Party headquarters or have telephoned to our offices in different countries of the world, expressing their deep pleasure at the great deed accomplished. The wave which rose in Iranian Kurdistan in support of the historic step towards réunification of the Party lines is still gaining height one year after the glorious event. A short survey of the messages which reached the XIth Congress easily shows this. In most of these messages, advocates of the Party and friends of the Kurdish people have pointed to the responsable decision taken in this respect, wishing the Party every success in bringing this historic victory to completion. In short, we should say that while the Kurdish movement as a whole is unfortunately in complete disaccord as a result of internal strife and fratricide, receiving a fatal blow every day, our Party activists' brave decision aimed at putting aside all sorts of disagreements and bringing about the reunification of the Party lines, has made us proud before advocates of peace, freedom and human rights. The facts mentioned so far make the duty of democrat activists ever heavier to solidify this great victory of theirs, making them do their utmost to take greater steps towards the unification of the different lines of the Kurdish movement and of the Iranian peoples. We hope that our Party will be able to fulfill the aspirations of the advocates and of the masses of the Kurdish people in this regard as well. The «Mykonos» Court The last important event in this period which should bc discussed in relation to the struggle of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan is the final ruling of the «Mykonos» Court regarding the criminals guilty of murdering Dr. Sadegh Sharafkandi, secretary-general of our Party, and his comrades on 17 September 1992. After having held 247 sessions and heard the testimony given by 170 witnesses in connection with the crime committed in the Mykonos restaurant, Berlin, the Court held its last session on Thursday, 10 April 1997, to give its verdict: an Iranian terrorist called Kazem Darabi was sentenced to life imprisonment without remission, so was one of his Lebanese accomplices; two other Lebanese were condemned to imprisonments of five and eleven years, and one other was acquitted. However, the most important aspect of this verdict was elsewhere: relying on indisputable factors, the Court accused Iran's highest-ranking authorities, including the Religious Leader of the Republic, of having ordered the assassination of our Party leaders. Thus, after eighteen years of conducting terrorism, the Iranian regime was convicted in a competent court by a courageous, realistic and just verdict. As expected, the verdict given by the Berlin Court stirred up widespread approval of the masses in Kurdistan and Iran, as well as among the advocates of justice and opponents of oppression and terrorism throughout the world. Although the conviction of the leaders of the Islamic Republic for their involvement in the murder of the leaders of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan was a great achievement for all the Iranian peoples as well as political parties and organizations, since the Mykonos incident related directly to our Party, hundreds of congratulatory messages were sent to our Party offices from different countries of the world following the issuing of the verdict. It should be pointed out that the Mykonos case has not been entirely cleared up as yet. It is going on in connection with some of the accused not having been brought to justice so far. Besides, in the verdict, there was a clear reference to the murder of the prominent leader of our Party, Dr. Ghassemlou, in Vienna. This will certainly pave the way for the reopening of the case of the crime committed in Vienna in 1989. We hope that the Austrian govemment, by allowing a serious, impartial investigation into the case, will eventually erase the stain on its reputation caused by its covering up of the shameful act of the Islamic Republic of Iran. While the outcome of the Berlin Court was a cause of satisfaction for all defenders of justice throughout the world, it quite naturally instigated anger and dissatisfaction among the terrorist and terrorist-training ringleaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran to such a degree that they went fully crazy, starting to threaten all sides and acting in a way absolutely incompatible with the terrns of diplomacy and common sense. Consequently, a diplomatie crisis ensued between Iran and all the members of the European Union. It was to everybody's liking that the German government had let the court have a free hand in its job, just as before the trial, so it refrained from giving in to the pressures of the Iranian regime after the verdict had been given, at the same time avoiding to compromise the dignity of its own country as well as the independence of its judiciary. Supporting the German government, the European Union also drove the Islamic Republic to a difficult situation. With the deepest sense of gratitude we should say that the German judiciary fulfilled its duty in connection with the Mykonos crime very bravely, very honestly and very truthfully, and that many Iranian parties and organizations, as well as individuel personalities, did their utmost to clarify the matter. In particular, the testimony given by Mr. Banisadr, the first president of the Islamic Republic, and his introduction of two other witnesses had the greatest effect to that end. I deem it necessary, from this very tribune, to express the highest degree of gratitude of the Democratic Party and of the Kurdish people in Iranian Kurdistan to the valiant, humanitarian German prosecutor and his colleagues, as well as to all the supporters who helped to bring out the truth about this heinous crime and to have the Islamic Republic duly condemned. I should also like to congratulate all of them on the great political and judicial victory they attained. Continuation of Terror On the days when we were preparing for the Xlth Congress, a group of Party cadres and combatants were on their way from Tanjeh-row camp to Koysinjag on December 8th. At two different sites, they were ambushed by terrorists of the Islamic Republic. On the first occasion, they were fired upon at a point located on the road between the town of Dukhan and the village of Khalockan. During this criminal act, our most competent activist, Mr. Mansoor Fattahi, was killed and three of his companions wounded. Our comrades resisted courageously, put the mercenaries to flight and continued their journey to Koysinjag. Unfortunately, at the town's checkpoint, they were sniped at from all sides: four of our comrades, who were in a Brazilian sedan without any bodyguards, were killed on the spot. The martyrs were: Sey-yed Mansoor Nasseri, a substitute member of the Central Committee and head of our Party office in Suleimania; Abubakr Esma'eezadeh, head of our Party Committee of Baneh; Rafa't Hosseini, a peshmerga of our Baneh Committee and Yadulla Shierin-Sokhan, a peshmerga of our Political Bureau. This was by no means the only aggression launched against Party activists in the span of time between our last two congresses. Many operations had been carried out against Party members; on two occasions, heavy losses were inflicted on our Party. The first operation of the regime's mercenaries was carried out against the Jezhnickan camp located in the vicinity of Erbil, where a group of Party members were busy playing voleyball. Four of our comrades were killed and eight wounded. This happened on 19 March 1996. The second operation was an assault on a minibus with a number of Party combatants on board. It was ambushed on its way from Dukhan to Suleimania on 19 August 1997. Three of our Party members were killed and ten wounded. In the span of time between our two last Party Congresses, altogether 88 of our Party members and advocates have either been killed or wounded in Iraqi Kurdistan by mercenaries and lackeys of the regime. Should we want to include all those who were murdered or wounded in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1990 by terrorist gangs of the Islamic Republic, at least those whose names are at our disposal, their total number reaches as high as 254 persons, more than 70% of whom were members and advocates of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan; the rest were affiliated to other organizations of the Iranian opposition or common refugees. Unfortunately, the number of victims is much greater, and while on the one hand this dirty phenomenon reveals the inhuman terrorists nature of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the other hand it clearly shows the bitter fact that the governing parties of Iraqi Kurdistan have let the criminal regime of Iran have a free hand in killing members of opposition. The Main Slogans Dear Comrades! The Congress is the highest organ of the Party vested with the competence and authority to decide on the nature of the slogans, ends, positions, policies and - in short - on the destiny of the Party. A short review of the program and constitution is part of the time-table of this Congress, and whatever alterations deemed necessary will be discussed and decided upon here. But because of the importance and far-reaching outcome which the strategic slogan and the ultimate goal of the Party have, we found it necessary to put these two essentiel issues on the agenda, so that they can be duly discussed and decided upon. Following the developments in Iraqi Kurdistan, there were too many people outside the PDKI, and even some members, who suggested that the leadership of the Party should try to have the strategic slogan «Democracy for Iran» and «Autonomy for Kurdistan» changed, to be replaced by «The Great Kurdistan» or at least «The right to Self-determination». But the Central Committee neither had the authority to change the slogan - such authority is entirely vested in the Congress - nor believed in changing it. Besides, there were no suggestions for any modifications in the constitution and program of the Party to be included in the time-table of the Xlth Congress or in a section of the agenda, so that the question of changing the slogan could have been brought up for discussion. But, as it was pointed out, reviewing the constitution and program is one of the items included in the time table, and the Congress can make any alterations deemed necessary. Yet, we believe that the strategic slogan should remain as it is. Let us see why: As far as the first part of the slogan is concemed, i.e. democracy, we believe it should remain unchanged. Fortunately, after the collapse of a number of dictatorships, no one now has the slightest doubt about the importance of the establishment of democracy in different societies in the world: it is cristal clear to everybody now that in the absence of democracy and without the participation of all members of the society in planning the social affairs, it will be very difficult - if not impossible - to make progress in the economic, social and political fields. That is precisely why even some dictators are trying to show off as democrats. In our Party, which has been fighting for democracy for the past 52 years - which democracy has come to be counted as part and parcel of its identity, no one ever thinks of putting aside such an essential principle. As regards the second part of the slogan, i.e. autonomy, it should justifiably be said that as far as the right to self-determination is concemed, it is now over a quarter of a century since such a demand was reflected in the first article of our Party program, and will certainly remain unchanged. But the right to self-determination, which has a general meaning matching with all procedures of resolving national issues, cannot be adopted as a strategic slogan, because it should first be quite clear and well-known to Party members and to the masses of our people. Having accepted the fact that any strategic slogan should have a clear purport, we address ourselves to the question of why we do not choose «the Great Kurdistan», «Independance of Kurdistan» or «Federalism» as our slogan. To answer questions of that kind, we say that, under the conditions such a slogan is taken up, its fulfilment should be feasible. But it is perhaps obvious enough to everyone that, to bring to effect the slogan of «Great Kurdistan» or «Independant Kurdistan», we would have to remove the boundaries of four States which are linked to other powers through military, economic and trade relations.The question which then arises is whether the PDKI and the Kurdish people in Iran, and even the whole Kurdish nation, have enough power to cope with the united forces of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, wrest «Great Kurdistan» from them and safeguard it. The answer to such a question is, beyond any doubt, negative. Besides, we know for sure that none of the States among which Kurdistan is parceled out would abandon Kurdistan of their own free will and give it back to the Kurdish people. The matter is quite different with regard to federalism, which is in fact based on the integrity of the country concerned and on the division of political power-a fact which makes it entirely different from autonomy. But since federalism is a better way of resolving ethnic issues in a multi-ethnic country like Iran, the PDKI has always supported it and will most certainly support it in the future as well. Division of political power in Iran on the basis of federalism would mean creation of six regional governments of six ethnic peoples who are Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Balutchis, Arabs and Turkomans. Consequently, to take up such a slogan and its fulfilment needs the unanimous agreement of the representatives of them all, or at least of the non-Persian nationalities. And as long as said people have not been very active to this end, the PDKI has neither the right to decide on behalf of them, not the power to fight for them. No doubt, whenever conditions will be ripe enough for the slogan of federalism, the PDKI will delightedly opt for such a slogan, appraising such a deed as a step forward in the process of its liberation endeavours. But on the whole, and for many reasons which cannot be explained here, the PDKI strongly believes that taking up a slogan comprising national rights of the Kurdish people in a democratic Iranian system - in the form of autonomy of federalism - is far more advantageous than the fallacious slogan of «Great Kurdistan». Now, as regards our ultimate goal which is «a democratic socialist system», the suggestion to change it is brought up in two different manners, which we will try to consider briefly. In connection with the first manner, the question is: why, in fact, do we determine an ultimate goal, and how can we justify our deciding upon the destiny of our future generations? As a matter of fact, if such a view is not a kind of misinterpretation, it is actually a fallacious reasoning, because deciding upon the ultimate goal is by no means for the future generations: it is for the political activists who are now active in the political arena. The Party wants to have a clear outlook and knows for certain in what direction it is proceeding. But the fulfillment of the ultimate goal may possibly be so far off that only a few - and even none - of us can see it. Besides, if the next generation appraises this slogan as expedient, it will leave it intact. Otherwise, it will somehow change it. With regard to the second manner, it is argued that, following the collapse of the Soviet Block and after the Party joined the Socialist International, propounding such a slogan by the PDKI entirely lost its significance. In this connection too, it is enough to state briefly that the fact that socialism has met its death will by no means bring about the necessity of abandoning socialism because democratic socialism is not just the socialism which died in those countries. Our comrades remember so well that once the Party demanded a thing which did not exist in the then socialist countries, numerous were the charges raised and plentiful the insults made against us. Our Party being granted membership to the Socialist International does not necessitate any change in our ultimate goal, because among the members of this organization there are certain parties which are contending for democratic socialism. In fact, member parties and organizations of the SI, even those titled socialist or social-democrat, each according to its interpretation and in connection with the existing conditions in their own country, have drawn up their constitution, with all of them gathering around a general end, which is defending humanitarian values. There are some people who argue that democratic socialism is not a well-known system, not having been implemented actually in any country. This is true, but it should be noted that none of the social systems have existed from the vely beginning of history and none of them were known to mankind. All such systems originated in the minds of individuals or groups of individuals, evolving gradually to become social systems and to be eventually scrutinized in actual life. There have perhaps existed systems which, on the first examination, proved useless but were implemented for a period of time until other, newer systems put an end to them and replaced them. Politics and our Positions A. Against the Islamic Republic Despite baseless illusions which befell some of the Iranian opposition members, the latest general elections have brought about no change in the nature of the Islamic Republic. This regime, with its constitution and its philosophy of existence, is the same prodigious entity that it has been since the day it came into being. Consequently, none of the basic aspirations of the liberation movement of the Iranian peoples can be fulfilled within the framework of this regime. In particular, the two sections of our Party's strategic slogan run counter to the philosophy of the Islamic Republic. Consequently, the PDKI's policy against this regime will remain centered as before on the fight to overthrow it - a fight which should continue in full-fledged cooperation with the liberation movement of the Iranian peoples in its entirety. B. Concerning Methods of Struggle Never has the PDKI confined its struggle merely to one line of action, strongly believing that in accordance with the existing conditions in the country, all different sorts of struggle should be made use of. In spite of the fact that the Party bas appraised armed struggle as an entirely imposed way of action, whenever the ruling regime denied it peaceful action, the Party bas shown no hesitation to turn to armed struggle with the Party's valiant activists joining the resistance with utmost bravery, adding brilliant pages to the history of our people's liberation movement. Although, as a result of conditions not in keeping with our will, armed struggle has at present drastically declined, the PDKI as always regards such a method of struggle as a glorious way of libération fight, strongly believing that it should be increasingly promoted whenever necessary. Accordingly, at present as in the past, we strictly believe in employing all ways of struggle, at the same time thinking that whichever is more expedient, we should show no hesitation in resorting to it. C. Our Position regarding the Opposition Forces Stated briefly and in the broadest term, we regard all the Iranian opposition forces, which are active towards bringing about radical changes and establishing freedom and democracy in Iran, as our natural associates. We have done our utmost - and will do so in the future too - to bring as far as possible all progressive Iranian opposition parties and organizations close together, so that they can agree on drawing up a minimum common program to overthrow the Islamic Republic and replace it with a democratic regime. But more often than not, we have pointed out that we consider closer to us those Iranian political forces which believe in the necessity of establishing democracy in Iran, with the just national rights of the oppressed peoples secured. The more a political force persists in fulfilling these two principles, the closer we feel ourselves to it and ready to cooperate more intimately with it. Generally speaking, while we consider any rapprochement and affinity between the Iranian opposition forces expedient, we will never join any union which does not support the two main principles of democracy and national rights of the Iranian oppressed peoples, and which has not included such principles in its program of action. Moreover, in order to utilize the abilities of all the political forces in the fight against the Islamic Republic, it is absolutely incombent on the patriotic forces to avoid aggravating their differences, with none of them trying to impose its viewpoints on the others, or insisting that all its viewpoints must be included in the common platform. D. In relation to the Kurdish Political Forces The PDKI is of the opinion that the Kurds are one nation and Kurdistan is a lone, integre entity, but it will not overlook the fact that the Kurdish people and Kurdistan have been divided among a number of countries, each with its own specific conditions. In the light of such a fact, our Party strongly believes that the Kurdish political forces should, in compatibility with the existing conditions, help liberation movements in other parts of Kurdistan, while avoiding to interfere with the internal affairs of each other and respecting the political and organizational independence of one another. In our opinion, if the Kurdish political forces may not be able to assist each other at a certain juncture of time, they are not to be blamed, but they do commit a crime if, for any reason, they impose armed engagements on, bring any harrm to or restrict the activities of one another, particularly if they do so for the sake of one of the States ruling over Kurdistan. This would be such a crime that it could never be connived at. The PDKI is proud to say that, under any conditions and in any circumstances, it has always observed this principle, never bringing any harm either to the liberation movement of the Kurdish people nor to the political forces in any section of Kurdistan. The PDKI supports all the Kurdish organizations in their struggle aimed at obtaining the just national rights of the Kurdish people in all sections of Kurdistan. The struggle of the Kurdish people to obtain a prosperous life such as the one enjoyed by their other compatriots in every section of Kurdistan is a just struggle, the oppression of which, by any ruling State and under any pretext, is something vicious and tobe blamed. There is one calamity which has befallen the Kurdish liberation movement: the on and off fratricide between the forces active in the movement. Unfortunately, «the flames of such a fire» have also befallen the PDKI - yet the Party wrote down to its name the glory that it has never been the initiator in this regard, always trying to avoid being involved in such conflicts. It has been a long time since our Party condemned fratricide, feeling quite exalted at the fact that it was and is neither engaged in fratricide with any Kurdish party, nor has even murky relations with any of them. As regards the armed clashes which have come about over the past few years among the Kurdish political parties, the PDKI has always remained impartial and will preserve its impartiality in the future as well, because it assesses such wars as fratricide and as causes for disintegration of the Kurdish movement. Besides, it believes that to take sides with any party to fratricide will add to the complexity of the existing difficulties, ever more impairing the common interests of the Kurdish people in general. Over the past few years, the PDKI has fortunately succeeded in preserving such an impartiality - a difficult and at the same time a right and proper task. Thanks to the reasonable responsibility the democrat activists have demonstrated so far, our Party is sure to be able to preserve its impartiality for good. E. In connection with the Neighbouring Governments The PDKI's struggle and objectives are confined to the framework of Iran, especially Iranian Kurdistan. Political activities of the Party are not directed against any of the neighbouring States and threaten the interests of none. Our Party therefore strictly believes in establishing sound relations with them all; if it has not been able to establish such relations as yet, it bas not acted contrary to the principle. The PDKI assesses relations with neighbouring governments as propitious, preserving for itself the right to make proper use of the humanitarian assistance and the opportune geo-political conditions of the neighbouring States in the interest of the movement of the Kurdish people in Iran. Meanwhile, our Party has always believed in the necessity of preserving its political independence and free will in making decisions, particularly emphasizing the principle that relations with the neighbouring countries should never be detrimental to the interests of the Kurds residing in the countries concerned, nor harmful to the peoples of said countries in general. F. Relations with Other Countries The political situation world wide demands that all political forces strengthen their relations with other countries so as to have other peoples informed of their cause. Today, different parts of our vast world have been linked by thousand means of communication. Accordingly, no country can be self-reliant without having innumerable links with other countries. In particular, the proposition that the liberation movement of an oppressed nation can succeed without the assistance of some advocates and supporters, has been proved long ago an unrealistic sin. Accordingly, the PDKI strongly believes that its struggle aimed at establishing relations with peoples and political organizations of other countries, having them informed of the situation the Kurdish people and other Iranian peoples are in, and of the goals and aspirations of the Kurdish movement, is a proper and necessary one. In this regard, it is of the opinion that it can establish relations with any humanitarian organisation - and even State - provided that it can preserve its political, as well as its decision-making independence, and that such relations are in the interest of the liberation movement of the Kurdish people and other peoples of Iran. Starting off hostilities and entering into any alliance against this or that government, which, unfortunately enough, was prevalent in our Party for years, is totally incorrect. In this connections relation, with socialist, social-democrat and Labour parties of foreign countries have special importance in the foreign policy of our Party.