Prospect of rebel alliance threatens Khomeini regime

          
          Prospect of rebel alliance threatens Khomeini regime
          Watson, Douglas
          The Sun (183 7-1985); Dec 9, 1979; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Baltimore Sun, The (1837-1986)
          pg. A2
          Prospect o. rebel alliance threatens Khomeini regime
          s aooaaawn irs are in central itaCtmasptay LMteaO are
          SSUU?Ccrrnpou den l pholis of Kurdish guerrillas as they died
          tehran—lran'a militant Kurdisb1em earlier this year bejore an army firing
          ocratic Party raterda, &CIUSd Kt
          — ft ) 4 oc ' The Kun}s boycotted l ast weeWs rein.
          cerred is the Aurtialjaa region ad cent endurion the Isla mi c Constitution, which
          toKurd is ts u , gives Ayatollah Khomeini neardictatorlal
          “The Kardli Deinacratle Party sup ' powers while falling to grant the Kurds
          pisis the kglt1nste detainS of the pee the autonomy they had been promised by
          pie of Azerbaijan concerning the elimina the revolutionary regime. Unable to force
          lion of national InJistice. .. S their de central government control over the
          stands for autonomy7 it was announced. . iCu rde. Ayatollah Khomeini last month
          The Kurdish announcement raises the bad to concede them the principle of au.
          possibility of a potent alliance—between ononiy, g matter now to be negotiated by
          the 12 millIon AzerhaljS Twi g, most of stoma appointed bythe ayatollah.
          whom live lathe northwestern corner of Alter cestlag the shah last Yetcuary,
          iran, and ‘the 3.5 million Iranian Lunis lrafl revolutionary leaden promised a
          who llviIn the mountains south of them- sympathetic hearing for the Kurd? anion-
          against Ayatollah Rubollab Khomeini's omypkas.ButasearlynMarcftilflting
          PersIan -domInated regime In tehran. had broken out between the Kurds who
          The Sins Mus l im leaden of revolu- are Sunni Muslims, and govermnent
          tloaary Iran also face the threat of rebel- fortes that were predominantly Sins Mu ,.
          lkmsfrxn three other ethnic groopa living ants.
          j different corners of the country, who Steilib Lizedd ln Hussalni, the spiritual
          feel that the islamic regime has not ended leader of the iranian Kurds, said last
          the dIscr ImInatIon they have g felt week: ‘tAyatoilah Khomeini's role in the
          from the Persians of centra The revolution can be divided Into two parts.
          threegroupsarethetw omlllion b ela The first was asa leader of the people
          southwestern iran's oil-rich Khuzestan against the shah. Here, we agreed with
          district near the Persian Gulf hail hint. But after he seized power, he cent-
          million Balochis In southeastern near mitted many mistakes. He ordered an at-
          Pakistan and the half.mIlllon Turkormans tack on Kurdistan, banned political par .
          who live In northeaster*€1 next to the ties and Other groups, and he took away
          SovietUnion . . the freedom of the press, lie changed the
          Together, the Azerbaijani Turks, the Assembly of the People Into an assembly
          lords, the Arabs, the Baluchis and the of experts.
          Twtocnans total more than 1$ million and “Of course, If Ayatollah Khomeini ac;
          toS ltata a slight majority of $fl 0I)'5 cepts autonomy for the Kurds as he has
          popilatlon, the Persians numbering about promised, we will be much closer to him
          1 1 mIllion. ‘ and our relations will improve,” the Kurd-
          Ayatollah Khomeini's anti-American lsh leadersaid.
          campaign represents to acocislderable 02 ' The revolutionary regime has also sent
          tent an attempt by the revolut locar les to a committee to Azerbaijan, where local
          pirenationalunltylnacountrythatIs kcescontlnuetoholdthetelevlalonsta-
          i sdangerof comingapartat all corners. tion and other public buildings In Tabris,
          The Axerbaijani Turks and the Ku* the capital of the province. The city Is hi-
          att demanding constitutional guarantees tently waiting to see whether it will be.
          of autonomy that would give them much ‘come the focus of a civil war, or whether
          more local authority and would weaken an agreement with Ayatollah Khontelnlon
          the central government's control over demands for autonomy and individual
          then' Ayatollah Khomeini does not want rightscanbeachleved.
          to surrender such control any more than AyAtollah Mobammad Kazem Shariat-.
          the shah did. Be may have to, however, Madarl, iran's second most InfluentiAl
          inasmuch as the alternative, U the Azer - Shin Muslim clergyman and the leader of
          baijanla and Kurds stand firm, probably the Azerbaljanl turks, yesterday asked
          would be only an unsuccessful attempt to the people of Tabrlz not to demonstrate
          crash the rebels byforce. against the government. However, he did
          Ayatollah Khomeini attempted such a not tell them to surrender control of the
          suppression earlier this year In Kurdistan, city to the former authorities.
          senàlngiran's army Into themountains In Hassan t4azlli, who this fall was dis-
          pursuit of the Kurdlsh guerrillas But the missed as Iran's oil minister, has gone to
          army soon bogged down and was harried Azerhaljan to play a central role In the up
          by repeatEd Ambushes. The Kurdish Dent ' rising. liahinatola Mghadan, Azerbaijan's
          erratic Party currently Is In etlective con- representative to the Iranian assembly Of
          frol of the region, which Is about the size experts which drafted the Constitution,
          of Denmark. fled from his home In Tebran yesterday'
          Under a cease-fire that the Ir anian before police ransacked It and arrested
          gàvernment and the Kurdish reb E ls flveofhlsa,sslstants.
          agSed to IA mid-November, revolutIonary The half-million Baluchls, like the
          jarS In Mahabad, the capital of Kurdi . Kurd , largely boycotted the referendum
          st S withdrawing, while regular,army ‘on the Constitution, even forcing polls to
          ts 'isconfinedtothelrbarraS. ‘ close and denouncing the balloting as a
          ?:ipictvreaOfAyatollahKhOmelnlarnot fraud. Whatever success the Kurds and
          Slas' bllci, in Kurdlstan as they Azerbaijanls have In achieving autonomy
          will Inspire the Baluchis to demand the
          same. Implicatlne tOL the distinct
          possibility of a weakened central govern-
          ment, whether through autonomy apse-
          meats or as a result of several simultane-
          ous rebellions in different corners of the
          countr
          These developments may also havefar '.
          reaching Implications for the entire re-
          glot For I I the Kurds, after decadent tnt-
          successful struggle, at last win genuine
          autonomy In Iran, their Kurdish brothers
          in Iraq, Turkey, Syria and the Soviet
          Union may well he stirred to similar ac'
          tivism.
          Iran's revolutionary leaden blame the
          United States for muck of the trouble they
          are having with the country's minority
          pap ., though they supply no evidence to
          support the accusation. Typical of such ac-
          caatloea Is thEcharge in the Is lamic Re-
          public newspaper that “Cart&a adminis-
          tration and the American espionage ser-
          vices havedevotedall theirattentlonto,,
          • destraying the llranlanj revolution from
          within... . That Is not possible except
          through local conspiracies”
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