Tribalism and early nationalism Simko's first revolt (1918–1922) The
Simko Shikak revolt was an armed
Ottoman-backed tribal Kurdish uprising against the
Qajar dynasty of
Persia (
Iran) from 1918 to 1922, led by
Kurdish chieftain
Simko Shikak. This tribal rebellion is sometimes regarded as the first major bid for establishing an
independent Kurdish state in
Persia, but scholars view the revolt as an attempt by a powerful tribal chief to establish his personal authority vis-à-vis the central government throughout the
region. While elements of
Kurdish nationalism were present in this movement, historians agree these were hardly articulate enough to justify a claim that recognition of Kurdish identity was a major issue in Simko's movement, and he had to rely heavily on conventional tribal motives. Still, some Kurds today revere Simko as a hero of the independence movement.
1926 Simko rebellion in Persia By 1926, Simko had regained control of his tribe and begun another outright rebellion against the state. When the army engaged him, half of his troops defected to the tribe's previous leader and Simqu fled to Iraq. The tribal revolt erupted in the general atmosphere of anarchy throughout Iran, with its main faction led by Muhammed Rashid. The first stage of the revolt revolt lasted from late 1941 till April 1942 and the second stage began in 1944, but ultimately resulted in Rashid's defeat. It has been considered as one of the leading factors of the establishment of the Kurdish political
independence movement.
Political separatism Mahabad crisis The possibility of secession in modern Iran became evident shortly after the
Second World War when the
Soviet Union refused to relinquish
occupied northwestern Iranian territory. to establish a
Soviet puppet government, and declare the
Republic of Mahabad in
Iranian Kurdistan (today's southern part of
West Azerbaijan Province). It arose along with another Soviet puppet state known as the
Azerbaijan People's Government. The state itself encompassed a very small territory, only including
Mahabad and its adjacent cities. This state couldn't incorporate southern Iranian Kurdistan as it fell inside the Anglo-American zone and also failed to attract the tribes outside Mahabad to the nationalist cause.
1967 Kurdish revolt During the mid-1960s, a series of
Kurdish tribal disturbances erupted in
Western Iran as they were fed up by the revival of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDP-I).
Twenty-first century 2004 ;PJAK insurrection The
Iran–PJAK conflict is an ongoing rebellion of
PJAK in which hundreds of Kurdish militants and Iranian forces as well as civilians have died, officially beginning from April 2004. though PJAK themselves tend to neglect this alleged relation. Although sometimes described as an organization demanding human rights for Kurds in Iran, it is regarded as a separatist organization by
Iranian media and various Western analysts. The PJAK goal is an establishment of Kurdish autonomy and according to Habeeb, they do not intend to pose any serious threat to the regime of the Islamic Republic.
Renewed insurgency fighters. In January 2014, Iranian forces killed a KDPI party member while he was disseminating leaflets. In September 2014, the KDPI engaged Iranian security for the first time in many years, killing at least 6 Iranian soldiers. It was unclear whether this was a result of change of policy by the
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (which avoided violence since 1996) or an isolated sequence of incidents. In May 2015, a suspected Iranian attack (allegedly disguised as PKK fighters) on PJAK forces on the Iran–Iraqi Kurdistan border resulted in 6 killed—2 KDPI and 4 PKK (or allegedly Iranian agents). On 7 May 2015, ethnic Kurds rioted in
Mahabad,
Iran, following the unexplained death of Farinaz Khosravani on 4 May 2015, a 25-year-old Kurdish hotel chambermaid. Unrest and violence spread to other Kurdish cities in Iran, such as
Sardasht, where police clashed with hundreds of protesters on 9 May 2015, where one protestor was reportedly killed. Soran Khedri, a former PJAK official, stated that PJAK had attacked an Iranian checkpoint, killing two Iranian personnel. According to ARA sources, as of 11 May, the death toll rose to 6 protesters killed. The incidents prompted harsh responses from other Kurdish opposition parties, including the
Kurdistan Freedom Party and the
PDKI. In June 2015, a KDPI attack on the Revolutionary Guard forces reportedly left 6 people dead.
Low-level insurgency (2016–2023) Military clashes in West Iran refers to the ongoing military clashes between Kurdish insurgent party
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which began in April 2016. The
Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) and
Komalah expressed their support to the
Kurdish cause of PDKI as well, with both clashing with Iranian security forces in 2016 and 2017 respectively. In parallel, the leftist Iranian Kurdish rebel group PJAK resumed military activities against the IRGC in 2016, following a long period of stalemate. The 2016 clashes came following a background of what the
PDKI described as "a growing sense of discontent and alienation in Rojhelat". The commander of the PAK military wing described their engagement and declaration of hostilities against the Iranian government were due to the fact that "the situation in eastern Kurdistan (
Iranian Kurdistan) has become unbearable, especially with the daily arbitrary executions of Kurds [in Iran]". Iran has periodically launched strikes against the KDPI and other Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in the frontier of the
Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In March 2023, Iraqi Prime Minister
Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani, who came to power via a coalition of Iranian-backed parties, signed a border security agreement with Iran to tighten up the frontier between the two countries. On 28 August, Iraq agreed to disarm and relocate these groups to camps near
Mosul by 19 September. According to the
New Arab, these groups were not disarmed , nor did Iraq seem to have the capability to do so.
2026 Kurdish–Iranian crisis In 2026, following the
2025–2026 Iran protests and subsequent
United States military buildup in the Middle East, major Iranian Kurdish parties created the
Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan (CPFIK), to "bring down the Islamic Republic of Iran and realize the
Kurdish people's right to
self-determination." ==See also==