Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê (PJAK) پارتی ژیانی ئازادی کوردستان
Leader
Peyman Viyan and Amir Karimi[1]
Founded
2004; 20 years ago (2004)
Armed wing
Eastern Kurdistan Units (YRK)
Women's armed wing
Women's Defence Forces (HPJ)
Ideology
Democratic confederalism
Kurdish Nationalism
Political position
Left-wing
International affiliation
Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK)
Flag of the HRK, former name of the armed wing of the PJAK
The Kurdistan Free Life Party, or PJAK (Kurdish: Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê), is a Kurdish leftist anti-Islamic Republic of Iran armed militant group.[2] It has waged an intermittent armed struggle since 2004 against the Iranian Government, seeking self-determination through some degree of autonomy for Kurds in Iran (also known as "Eastern Kurdistan" or "Rojhelat").[3][4][5]
The PJAK is aligned with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) through the Kurdistan Communities Union, an umbrella group of Kurdish political and insurgent groups in Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq.[6][7][8]
PJAK spokespersons have repeatedly told visiting media that its armed wing, the Eastern Kurdistan Units (YRK), has approximately 3,000 active members - half of them women - however estimates from academic specialists over the years point to more conservative figures such as 1,000.[9] However, PJAK's capabilities to inflict significant damage on Islamic Republic of Iran forces in Kurdish areas of Iran has by some accounts been significantly weakened over the past decade, firstly due to a relatively large-scale 2011 cross-border campaign that killed potentially hundreds of PJAK fighters, secondly to due to recent increased Turkish-Iranian cooperation through sharing intel (satellite, drone footage) on PKK and PJAK movements in their Qandil Mountains bases.[10][11] On the other hand, a recent uptick in Iranian Government repression, imprisonment, executions, and extra-judicial killings of Kurdist activists have allegedly caused an increase in recruits to PJAK and the other clandestine anti-IRI Kurdish rebel groups Komala, KDPI, and PAK.[12][13]
PJAK has been designated as a terrorist organisation by Iran,[14] Turkey,[15] and since 2009, by the United States.[2][16]
^Firat News Agency: PJAK held its seventh congress in the 20th year of its struggle (Kurdish), 2 May 2024; Retrieved on 5 May 2024.
^ abCite error: The named reference US-brands was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Iraq's other Kurdish rebel group, BBC, Dec. 19, 2007.
^About PJAK, PJAK Official Website.
^Interview with the Secretary general of PJAK Archived 2016-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, Chris Kutschera, September 2008.
^Turkey says it will stage raids with Iran against Kurdish rebels, Al Jazeera
^Iran says killed dozens in push on Kurdish rebels, Reuters (August 17, 2011).
^Freedman, Benjamin; Levitt, Matthew (December 8, 2009). "Contending with the PKK's Narco-Terrorism". The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Retrieved 2016-02-26. the Treasury Department also listed the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), which is under the control of the Kongra-Gel
^Vera Eccarius-Kelly, professor of Comparative Politics, Siena College, speaking to Rudaw, 2014. <https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/23012014>
^"Iranian-Turkish deal to fight PKK risks harming stability of Iraq's Kurdish region". Middle East Eye.
^"Turkey, Iran agree to take steps against terrorist PKK". www.aa.com.tr.
^"Iraq: Iranian Kurdish refugees alarmed by 'assassination' of activist". Middle East Eye.
^Iranian Repression of Kurds Behind Rise of Militant PJAK Archived January 24, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
^Narina, E (2010-01-30). "Kurdish prisoner executed in Iran". WashingtonTV. Archived from the original on 2019-01-12. Retrieved 2013-12-25.
^"Turkey, Iran step up fights on PKK, PJAK". Hürriyet Daily News. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
^Treasury Designates Free Life Party of Kurdistan a Terrorist Organization (press release), U.S. Department of the Treasury, (February 4, 2009).
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