The 28th of Gelawêj 1358 in the Solar Hijri calendar is not merely a date in the historical memory of the Kurdish nation; it marks the beginning of one of the bloodiest periods in the contemporary history of Kurdistan.
On this day, Khomeini, the leader of the Iranians, issued a direct order instructing the army, the gendarmerie, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the other armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran regime to move towards Kurdistan with all their military equipment, including artillery and tanks.
This order did not mark the beginning of a limited military operation or action. From the first months of its establishment, the newly founded Islamic Republic regime responded to the Kurdish nation’s political and national demands with the language of violence and defined the demands for freedom, autonomy, equality and the right to self-determination as “separatism,” “moharebeh” and hostility towards God and Islam.
Following this order and fatwa, the cities and villages of Kurdistan were targeted one after another. Paveh, Marivan, Sanandaj, Saqqez, Mahabad, Sardasht and other areas of Kurdistan witnessed extensive military deployments, military sieges, artillery bombardments, mass arrests, field executions and summary firing-squad killings.
Sadegh Khalkhali was sent to Kurdistan with Khomeini’s direct support. Courts were established in which there were no defence lawyers, no fair trials and no right to defence or appeal. People’s fates were decided within a few minutes, and death sentences were immediately carried out.
The victims included women and men, political and civil activists, doctors, teachers, workers, young people and even children. Many were sent to the gallows solely for being Kurdish, defending the rights of their nation or helping the wounded.
The executions at Sanandaj Airport, the shooting of prisoners in Saqqez and Marivan, and the massacres of unarmed civilians in the villages of Qarnê, Qalatan, Inderqash and others were parts of a planned policy. Its purpose was to break the will of the Kurdish nation, destroy political and civil organisations, reimpose military rule over Kurdistan and occupy this land.
In Qarnê and other villages of Kurdistan occupied by Iran, women, children, elderly people, young women and defenceless civilians were killed in their homes and in the village streets. These massacres were not committed during a military battle but were carried out as collective punishment against the Kurdish nation. To this day, none of the principal commanders and perpetrators of these crimes has been independently and fairly prosecuted. They have not even faced the slightest inquiry; instead, the regime has awarded them medals of honour and pride.
The Kurdistan Independence Party considers Khomeini’s order and the operations and actions that followed it to be part of a state-sponsored genocide against the Kurdish nation.
Targeting a nation because of its national identity, land, language, political organisations and demand for the right to self-determination is not merely a political or military conflict.
These crimes were committed with the purpose of creating fear, destroying national resistance, erasing the political presence of the Kurdish nation and forcing the society of Kurdistan and the Kurdish nation to surrender.
The execution of children, the massacre of civilians, attacks on villages and cities, and the use of religious concepts to legitimise killing were clear elements of this genocidal policy.
From the beginning of its existence, the Islamic Republic demonstrated that it was not prepared to recognise the Kurdish nation as a nation possessing political, national and historical rights. Instead of dialogue and acceptance of the right to self-determination, this government chose the path of military occupation, repression, execution, imprisonment and terrorism.
The policy that began in Gelawêj 1358 did not end in that same year. The execution of Kurdish political prisoners, the assassination of Kurdish leaders and activists inside and outside the country, the militarisation of Kurdistan, economic destruction, the suppression of the Kurdish language and culture, and the killing of protesters are continuations of the same policy whose foundations were laid by Khomeini’s jihad order.
The Iranian regime has attempted to distort these crimes or define them within the framework of “confronting the counter-revolution.” However, no political or religious label can justify the massacre of unarmed civilians, the execution of children, trials lasting only a few minutes, or attacks on the cities and villages of a nation.
On the anniversary of these crimes, the Kurdistan Independence Party emphasises the necessity of establishing an independent international fact-finding body to investigate the orders that were issued, the executions, the massacres of villages and the Islamic Republic’s military operations in Kurdistan.
We call upon the United Nations, international human rights institutions and the democratic states of the world to investigate the Islamic Republic’s crimes against the Kurdish nation within the frameworks of genocide and crimes against humanity.
The names and life stories of all victims must be recorded. Mass burial sites and the graves of those who lost their lives must be protected. Testimonies from survivors must be collected, and the Islamic Republic’s military, security and judicial archives concerning these crimes must be made available to independent investigations and researchers.
The commanders and perpetrators of these massacres must be held accountable, regardless of their rank, position or place of residence. Crimes against humanity and genocide are not forgotten with the passage of time, and criminal responsibility does not disappear with the death of the perpetrators and leaders or with changes in their positions.
We call upon all parties, organisations, institutions and figures in Kurdistan to cooperate in preparing a joint, documented case file suitable for submission to international institutions.
The Kurdish nation has neither forgotten Khomeini’s jihad order nor will it forget the victims of Paveh, Sanandaj, Marivan, Saqqez, Mahabad, Sardasht, Qarnê and the other cities and villages of Kurdistan.
The Kurdistan Independence Party once again emphasises that the Kurdish nation’s right to self-determination, independence and political sovereignty is a natural, historical and non-negotiable right. No government, army, fatwa or court can criminalise a nation for seeking freedom and sovereignty over its own land.
May the memory of all those who lost their lives in the genocide and occupation of Kurdistan be honoured and held high.
We do not forget, we do not forgive, and we do not abandon our pursuit of justice.
Kurdistan Independence Party
28 Gelawêj 2726 in the Kurdish calendar
19 August 2026
