Dokument #1194160
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
Sources consulted by the Research
Directorate do not indicate that the Democratic Party of Kurdistan
(DPK) is an Iranian Kurdish organization separate from the Kurdish
(Kurdistan) Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI).
The phrase "Democratic Party of Kurdistan"
has been incorporated into alternate names for the KDPI which
appear in the documentary record in two examples found by the
Research Directorate. The KDPI is referred to by those initials and
also as the "Iranian Democratic Party of Kurdistan" in the
reference book Extremist Groups: An International Compilation
of Terrorist Organizations, Violent Political Groups, and
Issue-Oriented Militant Movements (1996, 637). The
secretary-general of the KDPI, Sadegh (Sadeq) Sharafkandi, was
assassinated in a Berlin restaurant, the "Mykonos," in September
1992 (ibid.; Deutscher Depeschen Dienst 12 Oct. 1996). "Sadegh
Sharaskandi" [sic] is referred to as the head of the "Democratic
Party of Kurdistan in Iran" in a 1996 article on the trial of the
accused assassins of Sharafkandi and three others (The
Times 21 Aug. 1996).
The KDPI is referred to by the initials
"DPK" in a 29 April 1997 report on the Voice of Iranian Kordestan
which broadcast the text of an open letter from KDPI
secretary-general Abdallah Hassanzadeh ((Abdollah Hasandazeh) to
the chancellor of Austria. In that source the KDPI is also referred
to as the "Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan." The reference
book Political Handbook of the World 1997 (available in
Regional Resource Centres) notes that the KDPI is also known as the
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (DPIK), and that Abdallah
Hassanzadeh was reported to have become its secretary-general in
May 1995 (1997, 389). Abdallah Hassanzadeh is also referred to as
the secretary-general of the "Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran
(KDPI)" in a 6 March 1996 interview in the Spanish newspaper El
Mundo. The initials "DPK" do not appear in that source.
Sources consulted by the Research
Directorate indicate that there is an Iraqi Kurdish organization
known as the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK). Examples
follow.
Several sources refer to the Democratic
Party of Kurdistan (DKP) as an Iraqi Kurdish opposition
organization headed by Mas(ud (Massoud) Barzani and active in
northern Iraq: (DPA 18 Nov. 1997; Zaman 19 Aug. 1997;
Frankfurter Rundschau 18 Feb. 1997; TASS 13 Sept.
1996).
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). 18
November 1997. BC Cycle. "Kurdish DPK Reports Large Territorial
Gains in Northern Iraq." (NEXIS)
Deutscher Depeschen Dienst
[Berlin, in German]. 12 October 1996. "Senior Defector Tells
Germans Iranian Government Ordered Dissident Killings." (BBC
Summary of World Broadcasts 14 Oct. 1996/NEXIS)
El Mundo [Madrid, in Spanish].
6 March 1996. Manuel Martorell. "Iran: Kurdish Leader Says Iran
'Behind All Terrorist Acts.' " (FBIS-NES-97-046 6 Mar.
1996/WNC)
Extremist Groups: An International
Compilation of Terrorist Organizations, Violent Political Groups,
and Issue-Oriented Militant Movements. 1996. Compiled and
Analyzed by Jeffrey A. Builta. Chicago: Office of Criminal Justice,
the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Frankfurter Rundschau
[Frankfurt/Main, in German]. 18 February 1997. Edgar Auth. "Kurdish
Leader Says Regime 'Weakened and Isolated.' " (FBIS-NES-97-033 18
Feb. 1997/WNC)
Political Handbook of the World
1997. 1997. Edited by Arthur S. Banks. Binghamton, NY: CSA
Publications.
TASS. 13 September 1996. Rafael
Bikbayev. "Execution of 25 Members of Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan." (NEXIS)
The Times [London]. 21 August
1996. Ben MacIntyre. "Iranian Exile Claims Death Squad Threat."
(NEXIS)
Voice of Iranian Kordestan [Clandestine,
in Persian]. 29 April 1997. "Iran: DPK Secretary-General's Letter
to Austrian Chancellor." (FBIS-NES-97-120 30 Apr. 1997/WNC)
Zaman [Istanbul, in Turkish].
19 August 1997. Ali Riza Karasu, Zeki Gun, and Soner Gunes.
"Turkey: Democratic Party of Kurdistan Reportedly Warns PKK."
(FBIS-WEU-97-233 21 Aug. 1997/WNC)