The Kurds, June Pres Elections and the Aftermath

Well before the presidential elections for the tenth president in Iran, on June 12, 2009, the issue of participating or not in the elections was a hot question among the Kurds leading to debates and discussion among their political and social circles. These discussions grew in intensity after candidate Mehdi Karoubi issued a statement on the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, and candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s green light regarding the importance of the participation of “ethnic groups,” along with his references to this in his talks, and also the presentation of a plan to Iran’s Supreme Cultural Revolution Council proposing that native local languages be used in schools as the instruction media, which was attributed to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s campaign activities. The question at the time of course was why were the presidential candidates, who did not have very good relations with the ethnic groups and particularly the Kurds, suddenly focusing on them and stressing their rights and also the implementation of constitutional provisions in this regard that had not been implemented.

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