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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