Kurde' chief committed to self-rule
Barns, Michael K
The Sue ( 1837- 1 985); Aat 6, 1979; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Baltimore toe, The (1t37-19t6)
Pt. Al
Kurds' chief
committed
to self-rule
By MICHAELL BURNS
Sun Staff Correspond ent
Mahabad, Iran—Sheikh Ezzeediji Hos-
semi, the popular leader of the Kurdish
autonomy movement in _ is a soft-
spoken grandfather. He has ray beard
and wears a white turban, and he bears
wounds from the last rebellion of the
Kurds, a decade ago.
His right foot is ailing and he apolo-
gizes to visitors for not being able to rise
to greet them from the Persian carpets
that cover the reception room, where be
receives petitioners and advisers through
the day.
The 58-year-old political-religious
leader seems a gentle man. The impres-
sion is heightened by his voice—a near
whisper, the result of an operation for
throat cancer. But he is a tough bargainer,
a committed opponent of the Tehran-Qom
Islamic regime. And he promises violence
if Kurdish demands for self-rule are not.
met.
“It will be the government's fault if
something happens,” he said. “A fight will
certainly start if the revolutionary guards
jTehran's security forcesj are not with-
drawn from Kurdish towns.
“I hope that we can reach a peaceful
settlement,” Sheikh Hosseini added. “But
this situation in Marivan is not the last
problem.”
The 25,000 Kurds in Marivan aban-
doned the city two weeks ago in protest
against killings that occurred when revo-
lutionary guards were sent in by Tehran to
take up security duties—a move the town
council opposed. The Kurds are living in
neighboring villages and in a mountain-
side tent camp, protected by their own
militia, which has acbanged fire several
times with government forces.
Twelve persons have been killed in the
fighting in Marivan, which the Kurdish
spiritual leader said was the last city in
the area to have revOlutionary guards
forced on it. The central government is
fearful of giving Kurds self-rule because
that could lead to separatism and similar
demands from other major tribal groups
in
real aim of the Kurdish people is
to rule themselves—not separation,”
Sheikh Hosseini said. “We want to stay a
part of “but the government has deaf
ears and will not listen.”
The Kurds established a short-lived
state in 1946, with Soviet support, but the
muvement was crushed by the shah. The
leader, Qazi Mohammad, was hanged and
buried in an unmarked grave.
Qazi Mohammad is honored as mar-
tyr today in Mahabad. His picture and that
of Sheikh Hosseini appear in windows of
shops and houses.
Ten years ago, the fighting erupted
again. The government ruthlessly put it
down and imposed virtual martial law in
See KURDS, M, Col. 1
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Kurdish leader
vows self wrule
for his people
KUHUS. from Al
the northwest, exccuting Kurds who defied the ban on car-
rying weapons.
Today, nearly every carries a pistol or rifle, and
the arms bazaar Ilouris ma an Kurdish cities as a result of
the revolutionary freedom that followed the departure of
the shah. Like their traditional moustache, billowing
pants, colorf i ii waist-sash and turban, arms are very much
a part of the Kurd's costume and his warrior heritage,
“We were fighting for the same thing 10 years ago,”
Sheikh Hosseini said. “The difference is that no one could
hear about our struggle. If we have to turn to fight-
ing this time, we will get support from all over
Two weeks ago, representatives of the Kur as auton-
omy movement held a secret meeting i an with lead-
en of the other major ethnic groups in Arabs, Balu-
chis, Turkomans, Turks—and issued a statement support-
ing democratic self-rule in the areas each group Inhabits.
They also agreed to let each group pursue its own de-
mands without formulating a common proposal for au-
tonomy.
When the Kurdish rebellion was put down 10 years ago,
Sheikh Hosseini made peace with the shah, who provided
money to build roads, power plants and other basic ser-
vices in the long-neglected northwest. Some say this ges-
ture bought off Sheikh Hosseini; others insist that the
Kurds simply recognized their limits against the well-
equipped military.
But the sb h's economics failed to bring wealth to the
mountainous region inhabited by 4 million Iranian Kurds,
brothers to 12 million others in neighboring Turkey, Iraq,
Syria and the Soviet Union.
Land redistribution saddled peasants with loans they
could not repay, and agricultural production sank. Feudal
landlords reclaimed their properties. Rice and wheat and
cigarettes were imported from abroad as the h
areas no longer produced enough of these crops fo
In the spring revolution this year. Kurds dug p their
buried weapons—or raided army arsenals—and seized
farmlands to plant the crops they are now harvesting.
Landlords have tried to win support from the government
and from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian revo-
lutionary leader, in their attempt to reclaim these lands.
Sheikh Hosseini said he had heard that these landlords had
received weapons from the Tehran government, a report
he linked to violence last month in three areas that cost 10
lives.
The success of this kind of self-help land reform has
fired the hopes of many Kurds to achi r long-sought
goal of an autonomous Kurdistan in a goal that is
also supported by several large landholders.
The fighting that broke out recently during a march in
Sanandaj, a Kurdish city 125 miles south of here, began
with a' minor misunderstanding over the shipment of
wheat supplies from the city of Tebran. Two hundred per-
sons died in the battle between government forces and
Kurds attacking the army garrison.
Ayatollah Mabmoud Taleghani, a respected clergyman
from Tehran, resolved that dispute with promises of self-
rule except in federal matters. But the new draft constitu-
tion does not mention regional autonomy, and Kurdish
spokesmen say the government attempt to send its own se-
curity forces to their towns indicates the lack of good will.
The Tehran government did enact laws giving limited
autonomy to town councils in cultural and local affairs,
and several councils have been elected in the Kurdish
areas. But the laws also impose a mayor appointed by
Tehran and do not permit directly elected councils for
larger political areas.
The central government has also tried to build up an-
other Kurdish leader, Sheikh Ahmad Muftizadeh, to
counter the autonomy movement. He supports the idea of
limited regional councils instead, a move that has eroded
his popularity. He has called many autonomy supporters
Communists.
Sheikh Muftizadeh now leaves his Sanandaj borne every
afternoon and spends the evening away from the city, re-
portedly for security reasons. Only several hundred sup-
porters turned out for a rally he called In late June, a sign
that many Kurds are wary of his close ties to Ayatollah
Khomeini and Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan.
Ayatollah Khomeini's attempt to enforce a strict Shiite
Muslim ethic has helped to turn the Kurds against him.
Most of them belong to the other branch of Islam, Sunni,
though they are more relaxed about their religion. Many
Kurdish women eschew the full-length veil urged by Is-
lamic zealots, favoring their brightly-colored, gold-em
broidered costumes and headdre
Unlike in many other parts of n, Mr. Khomeini's pic-
ture is rarely seen in Mahabad. “Khomeini Is anti-Kurd, he
has sent us nothing but soldiers,” a grizzled peasant in a
village outside Saqqez said with anger.
Kurdish sensitivities have also been irritated by what
they claim is a deliberate distortion of news about their
area. That issue led to a protest march in Marivan that
was fired on by revolutionary guards, who were attacked
by Kurdisb rifleMen, and another dangerous confrontation
was under way.
They are resentful at the lack of industry or develop-
ment of oil resources in the area. There is one refinery in
Icennanshah, Sheikh Hossaini said, “and most of the work-
ers are not even Kurds,”
No new government could expect to achieve drastic
economic change overnight. But Kurds fought the révolu-
tion against the shah in order to achieve political and eco-
nomic change, and the result has been disappointing,
Sheikh Hosseini said,
Sbeikh Hosseinl, whose father and grandfather were
also respected Kurdlsh leaders, is committed to socialism
as the remedy for the feudalistic poverty of most Kurds;
But he says, “I do not want to make divisions among the
Kurdish people on a question of ideology.”
He has also forged strong bonds with the resurgent
Kurdish Democratic party, whose candidates In last
week's election for constitutional convention delegates he
supported.
While at odds with Ayatollah Khomeini, Sheilth Hos-
semi is respected as a religious figure, as well as political
leader, by the Kurds. It is a potentially powerful combina-
tion of allegiances that Shelkh Hosseini holds, and he
strongly implied that the time was ripe at last to press the
case for autonomy against a weakened provisional gov-
ernment in Tehran.
“The future Is difficult to predict,!' he told a reporter,
who asked what would happen If the central government
refused to grant self-rule and or to withdraw security
forces from the towns.
Then, in a smiling aside to a confidante seated at this
side, he whispered: “It is obvious what will happen.”
• B lock Sea
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Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
