Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) released a statement regarding the increasing repression of the Iranian regime against peoples amidst the latest wave of arrests and cases of disappearance.

The KNK statement includes the following:

“2020 was an exceptionally difficult year, especially for the peoples of Iran. Under the dictatorial regime of the Islamic Republic, Iran’s struggling economy continued to deteriorate, and the coronavirus pandemic added to all other hardships that the country’s people been endured for decades. Over 40 years after establishment of the Islamic regime, high unemployment, poverty, and destitution persist, while the regime continues to spend heavily on its military and other security forces, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to quell internal dissent and coordinate the regime’s military interventions on various fronts beyond Iran’s borders including Iraq and Syria.

The Iranian people, and especially the people of Kurdistan, have been condemned to live under an oppressive system which has affected all areas of society, disrupting the relationships between Iran’s various peoples and promoting racism and discrimination against non-Persian ethnic groups, including the Kurds and others. The regime’s policies have provoked and promoted internal conflicts and specifically targeted those who call for freedom and democracy as well as food and water. The regime fears those who make such demands, labels them evil and nonbelievers or infidels, and brutally persecutes them.

In the first three weeks of January 2021, nearly 100 people have been detained or disappeared, many of them women. They are given no opportunity to consult with lawyers and are treated without regard to even the laws of the state. In this atmosphere of dictatorship and theocratic sectarian fascism, unemployment, poverty, and lack of basic infrastructure and public services have left the people miserable and hopeless. Driven by low standards of living and powerlessness, suicide is commonplace, most often among women. The regime ensures that there are no opportunities for work, and, through starvation, the helpless masses are forced to surrender to the state. The various challenges experienced within families which destroy the fabric of society are an intended consequence of the state’s malevolent economic policy.

During these difficult times, the Kurdish people and other peoples of Iran should not abandon their goals and must not allow themselves to be manipulated by the regime. The unity and solidarity of the people of Kurdistan is the force that will bring us forward on the path to a better future. Those who struggle for Kurdistan now have the important responsibilities of working to gain allies to work for liberation, and bringing attention and support to the Kurdish cause.

Both the Iranian regime and Turkish state are in the midst of serious economic and political crises and are increasingly isolated and insecure on the international stage. The Islamic Republic of Iran is trying to convince the peoples of Iran and the outside world that this is not the case by intensifying its campaign of intimidation, persecution, and violence against all forms of real and perceived dissent.

At this pivotal time, the KNK calls on all parts of Kurdistan to show support for the struggle and sacrifice of eastern Kurdistan and continue to work for national unity throughout all of Kurdistan. The political prisoners of Kurdistan are the pride of our nation and our struggle. Victory in any part of Kurdistan is a victory for us all, and any injury or loss is a felt by all of Kurdistan.

The forces of oppression will be defeated and our people’s struggle for freedom will be victorious!”