The armed struggle of the 1980s in Iranian Kurdistan: a space for survival

Abstract

ABSTRACT The armed struggle of the entire decade of the 1980s in Iranian Kurdistan is an understudied subject. It deserves scholarly attention for its significance for the continuation of the post-1979 Kurdish movement and the way militarization made violent forms of resistance attractive. The armed struggle was triggered by the remilitarization of Kurdistan, vigorously defying the new Islamic regime which had suppressed the opposition across Iran by the early 1980s. In contrast to powerful discourses and prevalent assumptions, armed struggle is not intrinsic to Kurdish political movements, nor does it constitute an integral part of the plan to achieve political and cultural rights. Based on the events following the 1979 Revolution, this article presents armed struggle as a space for the continuation of the Kurdish movement when de facto self-rule is terminated by militarization and dictatorship. It analyses several significant aspects of the armed struggle of the 1980s in order to make a connection between the past and the present. Methodologically, the article follows a comparative analysis of various forms of armed struggle around the world to analyse the characteristics of the Kurdish armed struggle.