Iranian Kurdish party rejects attacks on Iranian embassies

The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) on Monday rejected claims it attacked Iranian embassies after activists burned the Iranian flag in Paris and an anarchist group targeted the Iranian embassy in Greece.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) on Monday rejected claims it attacked Iranian embassies after activists burned the Iranian flag in Paris and an anarchist group targeted the Iranian embassy in Greece.

“The PDKI does not condone attacks on Iranian embassies anywhere in the world. Our values and actions separate us from the Islamist regime in Iran. We cannot act like the regime does and hope for a better and different future,” the Kurdish opposition party said in a statement on Monday. 

An anarchist group called Rubicon group attacked the Iranian embassy in Athens early Monday, AFP reported, smashing windows and throwing red paint into the courtyard in protest of Tehran’s treatment of its Kurdish population, police said.

In a statement on the internet, the Rubicon group claimed the attack as a gesture of solidarity with the “Kurds of Iran.”

Moreover, on Friday some Kurdish activists burned the Iranian flag in front of the Iranian embassy in France and broke some windows with stones.

The Iranian government media outlet Tasnim News Agency blamed the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhilat) for the incident in Paris.

However, Komala rejected the accusations.

“Komala rejects the accusations of being behind the attack on Iran’s embassy in Paris,” Komala said in a statement Kurdistan 24 received.

The party noted that its members in France took part “in a peaceful gathering outside the Iranian embassy to protest Iran’s despicable actions against the Kurdish nation” on Sep. 8, in reference to missile strikes on the headquarters of Kurdish opposition parties in the Kurdistan Region.

“Unfortunately, some individuals started to defile the embassy, and even if we understand people’s anger, we completely condemn this type of uncivilized acts.”

Azad, 44, the pseudonym of a Kurdish activist in France, rejected the allegations by Tehran, arguing that Iran’s missile attacks and execution of political prisoners angered people.

“The Iranian regime knows Komala didn’t do it,” he said. “There was no organization or political party behind it. People were angry and gave a political message by protesting at the Iranian embassy.”

The protests and accusations came after a ballistic missile attack last weekend claimed the lives of 15 and injured 42 more members from two opposition parties, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party – Iran (KDP-I), whose headquarters reside in the outskirts of the Kurdistan Region’s town of Koya.

Moreover, Iran has executed six Kurdish political prisoners in the past week.

Monday marks the 26th anniversary of the assassination of former PDK-I leader Dr. Sadegh Sharafkandi, and three others in Berlin by Iranian agents on September 17, 1992.

Editing by Nadia Riva