Kurdish PJAK Utilized to Weaken and Divide Iran
In this picture taken Friday, Dec. 18, 2009, a member of the Free Life Party, or PJAK, trains on a weapon at their camp in the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq. (AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)
Every major Kurdish political group in the region has longstanding ties to Israel. It’s all linked to major ethnic violence against Arabs, Turkmens, Aramaeans, and Assyrians. From the PKK in Turkey to the PYD and YPG in Syria, PJAK in Iran to the most notorious of them all, the Barzani-Talabani mafia regime (KRG/Peshmerga) in northern Iraq.
Documents leaked by WikiLeaks in 2010 suggested that Israeli Mossad Chief Meir Dagan wanted to use Kurds and ethnic minorities to topple the Iranian government. The Israeli spy service was aiming to create a weak and divided Iran, similar to the situation in Iraq, where the Kurds have their own autonomous government, the spy chief told a U.S. official.
The Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistane (PJAK), a militant Kurdish nationalist group based in northern Iraq, has been carrying out attacks on Iranian forces in the Kurdistan Province of Iran (Eastern Kurdistan) and other Kurdish-inhabited areas. Half the members of PJAK are women. The PJAK has about 3,000 armed militiamen. They represent yet another example of the Kurds finding themselves in the middle of a conflict and being used as a pawn by the West.
The party is closely linked to the PKK. Iran has often accused PJAK and other Kurdish nationalist groups from Iran of being supported by Israel. Journalist Seymour Hersh has also claimed that the U.S. supported PJAK and other Iranian opposition groups. However, both the U.S. and Israel have denied supporting PJAK. In fact, the U.S. Treasury branded PJAK as a terrorist organization in 2009.
As Hersh noted in 2004: “The Israelis have had long-standing ties to the Talibani and Barzani clans [in] “Kurdistan” and there are many Kurdish Jews that emigrated to Israel and there are still a lot of connections. But at some time before the end of the year [2004], and I’m not clear exactly when, certainly I would say a good six, eight months ago, Israel began to work with some trained Kurdish commandos, ostensibly the idea was the Israelis — some of the Israeli elite commander units, counter-terror or terror units, depending on your point of view, began training — getting the Kurds up to speed”.
Why are the so-called Kurdish “freedom fighters” willing to get in bed with any and every group that has an interest in destabilizing Syria, Iraq, and Iran? The provocative manner in which the SDF has teamed up with terrorist organizations during the war in Syria is a glaring contradiction to the “revolutionary” public relations image that they have fought hard to establish in recent years.
Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran, continue to oppose the notion of having their borders and sovereignty divided by the U.S. for yet another U.S./NATO-dictated social engineering experiment in the Middle East.
Featured Image: In this 2009 photo, a member of the Free Life Party, or PJAK, fires a rifle at a clandestine weapons training camp in the Qandil mountains of northern Iraq. (AP/Yahya Ahmed) Source
The Rabbit Hole 
I get that “the Kurds” (falsely, as a solid, cross-clan group) are being presented as unified in their desire for sovereignty in some “Kurdish” entity. As a novice in intra-Kurdish politics, it seems that cooler heads prevailed in Kirkuk (some [Talbani] assent to the ICG in refusing to fight the ICG rollback of the Bazani takeover there).
Is there some hope for this same type of non-violent rollback of “SDF” overreach in Syria? You’ve written about historical Syrian government inclusion of Kurds as part of multi-ethnic Syria, what might that mean for a reintegration of Kurdish “cooler heads” there?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great question, what took place in Kirkuk is truly a wonderful accomplishment. Any sort of agreement that could save unnecessary bloodshed is worthy of praise. In Syria, on Sept. 26th the Foreign minister Mr. Walid Mualim had stated that once Daesh is defeated the Syrian government is happy to sit down with the “Kurdish sons” (notice the term of endearment being used) and negotiate autonomy under the framework of a unified Syria. What this basically means is that unlike what Barzani was hoping to accomplish with the ill-timed KRG referendum on Sept. 25th, which was to change their semi-autonomous status in Northern Iraq to a fully autonomous region. The Syrian Kurds are hopefully willing to establish a form of autonomy that still keeps Syria’s sovereignty in tact. I suppose we won’t know for sure till they sit at the negotiation table but based on Al statement the situation seems to be a bit better in Syria for Kurds than in Iraq.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Also worth noting, Barzani has made many questionable decisions and alliances. The referendum took away rather than granted them more independence and created this conflict with the Iraqi military. Thankfully it wasn’t as bloody as was expected nor did ut turn into a lengthy war. Barzani is basically the father of “Kurdistan” but in truth he’s an opportunist first and foremost. He’s also 4 years past his term.. meaning he’s not even legally the “president” of the KRG yet it seems no one wants to run against him in the next election.
In an interview I conducted today many of these topics were discussed with a war correspondent in Erbil. I’m working on it now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, questionable at best. I mean, in simply practical terms, what Arab country is going to allow an Israel-ally in it’s heartland. Say what you will about Israeli interference, destabilization, and deconstruction efforts, but that’s just a non-starter, at face value.
Plus, no teachers’ pay under Barzani? No normal people focused on 21. century self-improvement (i.e. everyone) see that as a way forward.
Peace. Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Sarah. I REALLY appreciate your insights.
Can I ask, as a non-Arabic speaker, is “Kurdish sons” a high form of endearment, or modest or even glib/diplomatic-speak?
I sense, again as a novice, that there are all sorts of nuances/levels of meaning in all this. I think Syrian Kurds (are there clan issues involved there as well? There do seem to be conflicting pronouncements from the “SDF” side…) and the Syrian government have/share some sort of post-antagonism understanding of outcome. Just my sense, but I feel hopeful that the upside of re-integration into Syria-whole is, or will become, a principle driver for the Syrian Kurdish community/body-politic. The downside of NOT negotiating in good faith and with a shared, beneficial SYRIAN outcome, echoed/amplified by the microscope of what you’ve written here, seems to/might outweigh any fervency for parsed (as in non-collective) sovereignty.
Hopefully.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Let’s just say, if the SDF is foolish enough to fight against the SAA (once the extremists are finished off) without US support (the US is not going to fight against the SAA and Russian Air force) they would be annihiliated within a relatively short period of time.
Their “exceptional fighting skills” are little more than propaganda. They are no match for the SAA and allies, not by a long stretch. This is based on multiple accounts from trusted sources. Hopefully they realize this sooner rather than later.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry for all the qualifications in that comment. 🙂
So much uncertainty.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh and sons is certainly a form of endearment, I think it was chosen to show that Kurds are considered part of the Syrian family, not just as refugees or visitors.
The thing is President Assad has said he wants to liberate every inch. We’re going to have to see how this plays out. No need to apologize. I’m not sure if you follow my Instagram, fb, or Twitter but I posted quite a bit about recent developments there. You can actually see them here on my site but I don’t think they show up when you’re viewing it via your phone.
LikeLike
Unfortunately, Sarah, in the Zio Western MSM including Zio Al Jaz**ra, NA*O/US-ISra*l-sponsored rogue and most evil NA*O-US/ISra*l-backed PKK-led Kurdish terrorist OCCUPPIERS, mass murderers, drug gangs, rapists, land/property robbers and child-soldier traffickers and all its branches, SDF/YPG/PYD/KDP/KRG/Peshmerga – are now exploiting so-called ‘feminist’ women/girls ‘militia’ including now, Yazidi Kurdish females as their photo-op propaganda campaign, across the West/globally.
And unfortunately, the Assad Govt. is being infiltrated by Kurdish TERRORISTS, such as SDF/YPG/PYD and instead of fighting them, are busy demonizing Turkey! Hence, NA*O-US/ISra*l-backed PKK-led Kurdish OCCUPATION and GENOCIDE of the Syria-Iraq’s Indigenous Sunni-Shia Muslim/ORTHODOX Catholic Arab/Turkmen/Persian/Assyrian/Aramean (Syriacs)/Armenian peoples; will continue! But these Kurdish TERRORISTS will play the ‘victimhood’ card as usual – as we can see from the Zio MSM coverage on the LIBERATION of Iraq from rogue TERRORIST ‘Kurdistan’ at the moment; and ironically, rogue TERRORIST /GENOCIDE-worshipping ZioEU-US/ZioUN are trying to forced so-called ‘dialogues’, in order to prevent Iraq from being LIBERATED by the Iraqi Army/PMU, from such NA*O-US/ISra*l-backed PKK-led Kurdish Occupation and GENOCIDE.
See also at –
Raqqa Raped and Destroyed, Not Liberated
By Stephen Lendman
Global Research, October 19, 2017.
LikeLike