Back حزب الحياة الحرة الكردستاني Arabic حزب الحياه الحره الكردستانى ARZ Kürdüstan Azad Həyat Partiyası Azerbaijani Partit per una Vida Lliure al Kurdistan Catalan پارتی ژیانی ئازادی کوردستان CKB Partei für ein Freies Leben in Kurdistan German Partido por una Vida Libre en Kurdistán Spanish حزب حیات آزاد کردستان Persian Parti pour une vie libre au Kurdistan French מפלגת החיים החופשיים של כורדיסטן HE

Kurdistan Free Life Party

Kurdistan Free Life Party
Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê (PJAK)
پارتی ژیانی ئازادی کوردستان
LeaderPeyman Viyan and Amir Karimi[1]
Founded2004 (2004)
Armed wingEastern Kurdistan Units (YRK)
Women's armed wingWomen's Defence Forces (HPJ)
IdeologyDemocratic confederalism
Kurdish Nationalism
Political positionLeft-wing
International affiliationKurdistan 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 U.S. Department of the Treasury.[16][2][17]

  1. ^ Firat News Agency: PJAK held its seventh congress in the 20th year of its struggle (Kurdish), 2 May 2024; Retrieved on 5 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference US-brands was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Iraq's other Kurdish rebel group, BBC, Dec. 19, 2007.
  4. ^ About PJAK, PJAK Official Website.
  5. ^ Interview with the Secretary general of PJAK Archived 2016-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, Chris Kutschera, September 2008.
  6. ^ Turkey says it will stage raids with Iran against Kurdish rebels, Al Jazeera
  7. ^ Iran says killed dozens in push on Kurdish rebels, Reuters (August 17, 2011).
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Vera Eccarius-Kelly, professor of Comparative Politics, Siena College, speaking to Rudaw, 2014.>
  10. ^ "Iranian-Turkish deal to fight PKK risks harming stability of Iraq's Kurdish region". Middle East Eye.
  11. ^ "Turkey, Iran agree to take steps against terrorist PKK". www.aa.com.tr.
  12. ^ "Iraq: Iranian Kurdish refugees alarmed by 'assassination' of activist". Middle East Eye.
  13. ^ Iranian Repression of Kurds Behind Rise of Militant PJAK Archived January 24, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Narina, E (2010-01-30). "Kurdish prisoner executed in Iran". WashingtonTV. Archived from the original on 2019-01-12. Retrieved 2013-12-25.
  15. ^ "Turkey, Iran step up fights on PKK, PJAK". Hürriyet Daily News. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  16. ^ "Anti-Terrorism designations | Office of Foreign Assets Control".
  17. ^ "Treasury Designates Free Life Party of Kurdistan a Terrorist Organization". February 4, 2009. Archived from the original on August 29, 2023.

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