“We Welcome the U.S. and Israel Attack on the Islamic Republic — PAK Has Been Waiting for This Day for Decades”
Yekiti Media
General Hussein Yazdanpanah, Commander-in-Chief of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), told ME24:
“We have been fighting against the Islamic Republic for a very long time. Tens of thousands of our people have been sacrificed. I myself have lost two brothers and hundreds of friends. We appreciate that, finally, the U.S. and Israel are taking serious action against the Islamic Republic. For us, before even arming us, we need political support. The Kurds need assurances that they will not simply be used as a reactive fighting force, whose sacrifices will be in vain once the battle is over. We need the U.S. and its allies to treat us as equal political partners.”
He added: “The future governance of Iran must not reproduce a new dictatorship or domination against us and other ethnic minorities.”
Gen. Yazdanpanah continued: “We have been waiting for this day for decades. We want to liberate Kurdish cities and towns from the iron grip of the mullahs. Our fighters are fierce warriors. So far, no external actor or state has supplied us with weapons. If we had political and military backing, we could break the Islamic Republic’s siege on many cities and towns across Iran, not only in Rojhelat.”
He also noted: “Iran is a multinational state. Persians make up about 48% of the population, while Azeris and Kurds are the largest ethnic minorities. The Kurds number roughly 15 million and live across western provinces. PAK originates from Iranian Kurdistan, but over the years many fighters have moved their bases to the Kurdish region in Iraq, as they were frequently targeted by Iranian security forces.”
ME24 – Middle East 24
