Iran demands Iraq disarm Kurdish opposition as deadline expires
An agreement between Tehran and Baghdad stipulated that Iraqi authorities would disarm and relocate the Kurdish opposition groups along the Iranian border.
TEHRAN — Iranian officials warned on Tuesday that they had no intention of extending a deadline for the disarming and evacuation of Kurdish opposition groups based in neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan, Iranian media outlets reported.
The Sept. 19 deadline was set by an accord signed in March between Tehran and Baghdad.
The Iraq-based Kurdish opposition is mostly formed by the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and the leftist-leaning Komala Party. The two groups have been engaged in a bloody conflict against the Islamic Republic almost since the latter's inception in 1979.
While initially fighting for the independence of Iran's underdeveloped Kurdish areas, they have in recent years revised their ambitions, promoting the establishment of a federalist state in Iran in which the Kurdish minority would be granted the right to self-determination and enjoy basic cultural freedoms.
