Iranian Kurdistan

The Ardalan state, established in the early 14th century, controlled the territories of Zardiawa (Karadagh), Khanaqin, Kirkuk, Kifri, and Hawraman.

In the 12th century CE, Sultan Sanjar created a province called "Kurdistan" centered at Bahar, located to the northeast of Hamadan.

At that time, there were a number of semi-independent Kurdish emirates such as the Mukriyan (Mahabad), Ardalan (Sinne), and Shikak tribes around Lake Urmia and northwest Iran.

Large numbers of Kurds from these areas found themselves deported to the Alborz mountains and Khorasan, as well as the heights in the central Iranian Plateau.

The battle took place around a fortress called Dimdim located in Beradost region around Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran.

In 1609, the ruined structure was rebuilt by Emîr Xan Lepzêrîn ("Golden Hand Khan"), ruler of Beradost, who sought to maintain the independence of his expanding principality in the face of both Ottoman and Safavid penetration into the region.

After a long and bloody siege led by the Safavid grand vizier Hatem Beg, which lasted from November 1609 to the summer of 1610, Dimdim was captured.

[14][15][16] Kurds took advantage of the Afghan invasion of the Safavid realm in the early 18th century, and conquered Hamadan and penetrated to the area near Isfahan.

[18] In the early 20th century, Ismail Agha Simko took advantage of the chaotic situation in the aftermath of World War I and rebelled against the Iranian government.

[19] The weakness of the Iranian government during World War I encouraged some Kurdish chiefs to take advantage of the chaotic situation.

[20] When Allied troops entered Iran in September 1941, the Iranian Army was quickly dissolved and their ammunition was seized by the Kurds.

Since the minuscule entity extended no further than the small cities of Mahabad, Bukan, Piranshahr, and Oshnaviyeh in Iran, not even all of Iranian Kurdistan supported the experiment, let alone the Kurds in other states.

[22] The Republic of Mahabad, as it is often called, lasted less than a year, as the end of the war and the withdrawal of the occupying Soviet forces allowed the central government to defeat the separatists and return Kurdistan to Iran.

Kurdish political organizations were enthusiastic supporters of the revolution against Mohammad Reza Shah, which brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power in February 1979.

The Kurds, with their different language and traditions and their cross-border alliances, were seen as vulnerable to exploitation by foreign powers who wished to destabilize the young republic.

[23] The wave of nationalism engulfed eastern Kurdistan after the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in line with a series of anti-revolutionary revolts across the country.

[25] David McDowall has argued that since the 1990s Kurdish nationalism has seeped into the Shia Kurdish area partly due to outrage against government's violent suppression of Kurds farther north,[26] but David Romano reject such claims noting that there's no evidence of an active guerrilla insurgency in the area.

In February 1999, Kurdish nationalists took to the streets in several cities such as Mahabad, Sanandaj and Urmia and staged mass protests against the government and in support of Abdullah Öcalan.

Even before the elections, Kurdish rebel groups – specifically the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan or PJAK – have taken up arms against the state.

In November 2009, Iran executed Ehsan Fattahian – the first of over a dozen political prisoners on death row – despite an international campaign calling for his release.

Fattahian never confessed to carrying arms and was not given a fair trial, nor was he permitted access to his lawyer, and the Komala – the illegal organization he was accused of associating with – claimed that he had left the group a long time ago.

[43] Without notifying the families or lawyers of the political prisoners, Iranian authorities ordered the execution of four more Kurdish political prisoners – Ali Heydarian, Farhad Vakili, Mehdi Eslamian, Shirin Alam Hooli, and Farzad Kamangar, a teacher who received a lot of attention internationally following his arrest – in Iran on May 9, 2010.

The four political prisoners suffered severe torture at the hands of Iranian authorities and were also forced to confess their memberships in an illegal organization – namely PJAK.

"[44] Despite repeated international calls demanding the release or retrial of these four political prisoners, all were executed without any prior notice or warning.

Feb 4, 2009, Stuart Levey, U.S. Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence stated "With today's action, we are exposing PJAK's (Free Life Party of Kurdistan) terrorist ties to the PKK and supporting Turkey's efforts to protect its citizens from attack.