ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to provide an overview of the Kurdish condition in contemporary Iran. After the downfall of the Mahabad Republic, the Iranian government outlawed the Kurdish Democratic Party, which had led the revolt against the central government and whose members were heavily involved in running the Mahabad government. The Kurds enthusiastically supported the Iranian revolution of 1978–1979, and a broad spectrum of the Kurdish population participated in the revolutionary process from the outset. The banning of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran and damning of its leaders by the Islamic Republic did not put an end to the Kurdish leadership's search for dialogue with the Iranian government. Khatami, a reformist mid-ranking cleric, received some 70 percent of the popular vote with a mandate to reform Iran's political system and allow the emergence of a genuinely pluralistic political culture in the country.