Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Many Iranian Kurds, who put their faith in Iran’s newly-elected President Hassan Rohani to push for greater rights for Iran’s minorities, are surprised at his recent TV interview, in which he said, “There is only one nation in Iran and that is structured by Islamic system.”

“It came as a shock to me when I heard Rohani said such a thing,” said Baram Walidbagi, the head of the Kurdish Institute in Tehran. “Rohani is one of the moderate clerics in Iran, and he used to chair the Strategic Research Center where they have a specific department for the minorities,” he added.

Rohani’s pledge during his election campaign, to include minorities in his administration, led many Iranian Kurds to support him in last month’s election.

“Let’s wait to see his cabinet,” said Walidbagi, adding it was still too early to completely judge Rohani’s attitude toward minorities.  “He can be judged by the type of people he will choose for his cabinet,” he added.  
 

Mawlawi Juma, a Sunni preacher at the Zahidan Mosque, said he believes that Rohani will do more for the minorities than is widely expected.

Iranian minorities, who include Kurds, Azeris, Turks, Arabs and Baluchis, comprise an estimated  45 percent of Iran’s more than 70 million population.

“Rohani cannot ignore such a large population,” Walidbagi said, adding that the president-elect’s comments about national reconciliation during his campaign in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj, “can be developed as a foundation to resolve the Kurdish issue in Iran.”

Walidbagi, who has been organizing cultural activities for almost two decades, said that the rule of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been “the worst in 30 years for cultural activities and freedom of speech.”

“We weren’t able to conduct any cultural activities for the Kurds, because Ahmadinejad’s regime closed down all the Kurdish magazines and newspapers,” he said.

There has been some debate in Iran over whether the peace process underway in Turkey between Ankara and the Kurds, can be used as a model to resolve the Kurdish issue in Iran.

“We must know that Iran and Turkey are two different countries, and that Iranian Kurds must have their own strategy and approach to resolve the Kurdish issue in Iran,” Walidbagi said.   

The Kurds are the largest minority in Iran with an estimated 12 million population, but with no legal political party inside Iran.

“The traditional and religious structure of Iran has made it difficult to form political parties, but this doesn’t mean the Kurds should give up,” Walidbagi said.