"Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan" (PDK-I) was founded in Mahabad, Iran, on August 16, 1945. PDK-I replaced the Komeley Jiyanewey Kurd (Council of Kurdish Resurrection) which had been formed three years earlier. Just 159 days after its foundation in January 22, 1946, the Party, availing itself of expedient circumstances in a section of Iranian Kurdistan, established the " Republic of Kurdistan ", usually referred to by historians as the Republic of Mahabad , the reason being its choice of Mahabad as the capital.
The Republic of Mahabad lasted not more than 11 months. Following a pact signed by the Iranian central government and the ex-Soviet Union (which supported the PDK-I and the secession of the Kurdistan province from Iran), the Iranian army launched a vast offensive into the region, destroying the " Republic " December 17, 1946. The " Republic " having collapsed, a great number of PDKI leaders were imprisoned, of whom 20 people including Qazi Muhammad (Ghazi Mohammad or Qazî Mihemmed), head of the Party and president of the Republic, M. Hossein Seyfi-Ghazi, minister of Defence, and Abulghassem Sadri-Ghazi, a member of the Iranian Parliament from Mahabad, were hanged in the capital of the Republic, and the others in Saqez and Bukan.
In less than two years after the collapse of the Republic, PDKI started its political and organizational activities anew, striking roots in some parts of Iranian Kurdistan.
Following the collapse of Dr. Mossadegh's government in 1953, when democratic rights and freedoms of the peoples throughout Iran were suppressed, PDKI's activities came almost to a standstill. A great number of Party activists were either imprisoned or went underground, though they resumed their activities after a very short time.
Two widespread police raids against the Party in 1959 and 1964 dealt heavy blows to its organization: some 300 Party activists were imprisoned, with an even greater number hiding away or fleeing Iran. Nevertheless, not having sunk into despair, the Party embarked on the task of reviving its organization. Its activities picked up such a speed that in 1967-68, a large number of its members and high-ranking cadres started an armed insurrection - lasting 18 months - against the Shah's regime. But as this armed movement lacked a safe rear zone, the Shah's regime managed to crush it.
The Kurdish Iranians in Iranian Kurdistan and PDKI played an active part in the Iranian people's uprising against the Shah's dictatorship. A group of PDK-I leaders, who were living in exile either in neighbouring countries or in Europe, returned to Iran before the collapse of the monarchy, actively participating in the uprising of the Kurdish people and assuming the status of leadership in the movement.
The uprising of the Iranian people having succeeded, PDK-I declared its public activities in a meeting held in Mahabad, which was attended by representatives from all parts of Iranian Kurdistan. Despite the Party's sincere endeavours to settle its differences over the democratic rights and freedoms of the Kurdish people peacefully with the newly established regime in Tehran, the rulers in Tehran did not give into the PDK-I.
On 13 July 1989, Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, Secretary-general of PDK-I, and two of his collaborators, were assassinated in Vienna, Austria as they were negotiating with envoys of the Iranian regime, at the latter's invitation, for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Iran. Dr. Ghassemlou's successor, Dr. Sadeq Sharafkandi met with the same fate on 17 September 1992 in Berlin where he had attended the Congress of the Socialist International.
Tags: Shehidan PDKI Mehabad PDK Hizbi Demokrat Qasimlu Sherefkendi GHassemlu Shehid Sne Hewler Amed PKK YNK Se
