Kurdistan Political Movement: in Political Strategy and Iranian State Relations 1968-1975

Abstract

The Iranian-Iraqi Kurdish Political Movement relationships between 1968 and 1975 was under both the impacts of Iran-Iraq relationship after the coup of 1968 and the change in the Iraqi governments. This relationship witnessed frequent ups and downs. The core of the conflict was not only due to the Kurds’ political goals and their relationship with Iran, but also greatly influenced by the Iraq and Iran ideological stances. Whenever there was a decrease in ideological attitudes, there was a boost in political coordination and the border clashes became less. The interests of several states, such as Israel and the USA, played a considerable role in Iran-Iraq and Kurds-Iran relationships. Apart from the Kurdish Political Movement’s goals, Iran-Iraq relationships made the two states benefit from several mechanisms to weaken each other. For Iran, the Iraqi Kurdish Movement was part of its political and military tool. The first aim of this article is to examine the Iraqi Kurds relationships with Iran from 1968 to 1975 and Iran’s role in the Kurdish Movement led by Mustafa Barzani. The second aim is to investigate why Iran supported the Kurds and the roles of Iran and Iraq in this matter. Thus, the main question is what role did the Kurds play in the Iran-Iraq relationships between 1968-1975? In this research, historical descriptive-analytical method has been implemented. The researchers arrived at the conclusion that Iran took advantage of the Kurdish Movement through using them as a political instrument. Furthermore, Iran, through putting pressure on the Iraqi state, tried to attain its strategic, political, and economic goals such as demarcation of water and land borders, deviating of Iraq-Kurds March Manifesto from its path through the abrogation of the Kurdish autonomy. With Algeria Convention in 1975, Iran reached its goals and this proved the use of the Kurds as a political tool by Iran.