KURDS AND IRANIAN MONARCHISTS
By Hozan Kapri
Kurdish Media, UK
April 25 2006
Most of the Iranian Television stations that broadcast from California,
U.S.A, are either funded by the Pahlavi family or their supporters.
The hope that one day the former royal family will come back to power
has sustained this people since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. This
people refuse to learn their lesson that the Iranian people kicked
out their beloved regime in a popular national uprising. One of the
presenters on this television is Reza Fazeli, a former actor. In a
February 2003 show Mr. Fazeli was screaming at the top of his lungs
” What do these Kurds want to do in their mountains?”
What Mr. Fazeli meant was very clear. As all of other Persian
chauvinists he believes the Kurds are a primitive people and they
must assimilate. Mr. Repeatedly says that the Kurds are just like
the Mullahs of Iran, because they are fighting everyone in the region.
Mr. Fazeli does not understand that the Kurdish struggle was against
oppressors and Tyrants like his beloved Shah. When Raza Khan became
the new Shah of Iran in 1925, all sorts of Kurdish culture was banned
and people were even forbidden to wear traditional Kurdish clothing.
Many people were tortured and imprisoned and their only offence was
that they were wearing Kurdish clothing. Although these are only a
few examples, Raza Shah was a tyrant and a Persian chauvinist. His
followers today have inherited his Ideology.
Another Journalist from the shah’s time that have a show on one of
this television is a man by the name of sirus or Cyrus Sharafshahi.
Some time ago the Islamic government executed a few Kurdish
decedents. Mr. Sharafshahi was having a discussion regarding separatist
groups of Iran. Mr. Sharafshahi with a smile on his face turned
to the panelist and said, ” The regime just executed a few of this
people.” I was heartbroken upon hearing such words. For this people
were resisting oppression and inequality. But the monarchists do not
refrain in expressing their hatred Mr. Fazeli proudly proclaims that
his mother is of Kurdish descend.
But I wonder why is he than associating himself with anti-Kurdish
groups? Or is that a scheme to attract Kurds towards himself? The
monarchists passionately talk about the brutality of the clerical
regime in Iran, but when one points out to the atrocities and the
crimes of the Pahlavi dynasty, the scream and yell ” Forget the past,
forget the past.” The monarchist denounces the Islamic Republic for
sending money to Palestinians and other Muslim countries while its
own people live in poverty. But when in my own city of Sardahst,
in western Iran, long after the so-called ” White revolution” there
was not a single hospital, not even a simple clinic. Yet when a
caller called and said he was calling from Dubai, Mr. Fazeli said,
” Did you know that when this Arabs were roaming the desert the Shah
came and built a hospital there?” This actions of the Shah, are they
any different than that of the clerics?
Mr. Fazeli repeatedly says that the Iranian Azeri people are not Turks
and that they were turkified. First, if one claims to be a Turk, such
as The Azeri people in Iran, nobody has the right to tell him or her
that she is not a Turk. It is very likely that these monarchists in the
future will make a similar charge against the Kurds and claim that the
Kurds are not really Kurds but they are Persians who have forgotten
their culture. These monarchists say that the Iranian Kurds were the
first Iranian people to live in the country long before the arrival
of the Persians. But when the Kurds talk about self-determination
and press for rights and freedoms they erupt in fury.
In one of their programs, Rafi Khachaturian a comedian of Armenian
origin asked Raza Pahlavi about self-determination for the Azeri
and the Kurdish people. I had almost changed the channel but I did
not. I have always wanted to ask this question myself. I was convinced
that he would give a satisfying answer and somehow ease the tension
between the Kurds and the monarchists. But I was taken completely
by surprise. Mr. Pahlavi said “if any region of the country wants to
spend their taxes they are free to spend it in anyway possible.” Good
for him. At lease “his majesty” is willing to give Kurds as much
rights as a village chief. What does this answer have to do with
Kurdish self-determination? I thank “his majesty” for being honest
enough and reveal his real position on the Kurdish issue. We Kurds
now know what to expect from monarchist.
In the spring of 2004 few Kurds from the Washington DC area were
hosting a show called ” Juanî Kurdistan” on one of the Persian T.V.
station, RANGARANG TV. The monarchists and other racist Persians
would be calling in and swearing and being disrespectful to the host
of the show. They would be calling and say ” be ashamed of yourself.
Shame on you for speaking a language other than Persian.” The
monarchists brought so much pressure on the T.V. station until the
Kurds were forced to close down the show. I would like to ask the
Kurds one question. If this people are treating us like this and can’t
even stand our language, and us what will this people do in tomorrows
“Free Iran.”
I call on all Kurds to unite. We must unite and establish Independent
T.V. stations to counter the attacks of racist and the chauvinists.
These monarchists know very well that Kurds will never accept
monarchy. The Kurds have not forgotten the killings that were carried
out by the Shah of Iran. The monarchist knows that it will be very
difficult to bring resilient Kurds under control in the future. The
Kurds will be a building block against their dream of a future
monarchy. The Kurds will not rest until they get what they are after.
Currently major political parties are asking for a federalist
entity within Iran. But unfortunately after seeing how terribly this
monarchist treat the Kurds, many Kurds are thinking of an independent
state. If Iran does crumble in the future, these monarchists will
probably be the main cause of it. They bring division and sectarian
tension. If the monarchist wants the support of the Kurds, they as
well as the Pahlavi family must apologize to the Kurdish people.
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