The Kurdistan Communist Party - Iraq (KCPI) was founded in 1993 by the Kurdish members of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) (Leftist Parties of the World 22 Feb. 2004; Political Handbook of the World: 2000-2002 2002, 525, 527). Several sources reported that the KCPI continued to be closely allied with the ICP following its formation (Political Parties of the World 2002, 255; Kurdish Media 11 Jan. 2002; The Netherlands Apr. 2000, 28). In January 2003, BBC reported that the KCPI was the Kurdish wing of the ICP (13 Jan. 2003).

The KCPI was led by Karim Ahmad (BBC 13 Jan. 2003; Regay 27 Jan. 2000) until 8-10 April 2004, when the third congress of the KCPI was held in Sulaymaniyah, and elected Kamal Shakir as the new leader (Hawlati 14 Apr. 2004). KCPI members participating in the third congress also elected a new central committee, composed of 27 members of which two are women (ibid.).

In August 2003, the KCPI expelled two of its central members, Azad Sayid and Umed Muhammad, after obtaining Ba'ath Party intelligence files that identified these members as spies (ibid. 27 Aug. 2003). Additional information on KCPI leaders and membership could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

In 2002, the KCPI achieved 10 per cent of the vote in the municipal elections of Irbil (AP 22 Feb. 2003). According to an article by the Morning Star, a British socialist daily newspaper (n.d.), as at January 2003, a KCPI minister served in the Iraqi Kurdistan National Assembly (Morning Star 16 Jan. 2003). Additional information on whether the KCPI continues to have representation in the Kurdish National Assembly could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

As at February 2003, the KCPI reportedly had military bases in several cities across northern Iraq (AP 22 Feb. 2003), and as at 2000, it operated in all of Iraqi Kurdistan (The Netherlands Apr. 2000, 29). More recent information on the location of the KCPI and the scope of its operations, as well as on the status of its military bases, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

The KCPI puts out Regay, a Kurdish-language publication, and Kaldu Ashur, an Arabic-language publication for Assyrians (Arab Gateway 3 July 2003).

In January 2002, Kurdish Media, an independent information provider on Kurds and Kurdistan (2004), reported that the KCPI is

...an active political force. The party also has good relations with KDP [Kurdistan Democratic Party] - Iran, and also Kurdish parties and groups in Syria and Turkey. Meetings with delegations of Kurdish parties outside Iraq often take place during international meetings of Communist and Workers Parties and other internationalist events (11 Jan. 2002).

In January 2004, the KCPI along with the Islamic Union, the Islamic Democratic Party, the Workers' Party of Kurdistan and the Assyrian Party called for the creation of the New Kurdistan Front to unify Kurdish concerns, including the promotion of federalism (Iraqi Press Monitor 21 Jan. 2004). The parties also invited and encouraged the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the KDP to join the new organization (ibid.). More recent information on the new organization could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

The party is against "imperialist" intervention (Political Parties of the World 2002, 255) and accordingly, is against the intervention initiated upon Iraq by the United States (BBC 13 Jan. 2003).

In a 2000 interview published by Regay, Karim Ahmad indicated that "[i]n the event of Kurdistani people attaining federalism within a democratic federal system, ethnic groups like Chaldo-Assyrians and Turkomans should enjoy the autonomy of local administration, practise their culture and gain a status within the framework of a federal system in Kurdistan" (27 Jan. 2000). On this issue of terrorism, Ahmad said that the KCPI "condemns and stands against terrorist acts, wherever they are carried out, for whatever purpose and whoever perpetrates them" (Regay 27 Jan. 2000).

References to instances of harassment or maltreatment of KCPI members by Islamic fundamentalists could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, in a 2000 report, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands indicated that as in the case of other communist parties, the KCPI "has in the past encountered problems with the IMK [Islamic Movement in Iraqi Kurdistan]" (Apr. 2000).

In respect of the KCPI's relationship with the PUK, two sources indicate that the KCPI has made various attempts to unify and diffuse rivalries between the PUK and the KDP (Hawlati 8 May 2004; Morning Star 16 Jan. 2003). In 2000, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands reported that the KCPI "remain[ed] on good terms with the PUK" (Apr. 2000).

In June 2004, the secretary-general of the PUK, Jalal Talabani, met with a KCPI delegation, led by Kamal Shakir, to discuss the aspirations and ambitions of the Kurdish people (Kurdsat 9 June 2004). Speaking about the meeting, the KCPI delegation stated that "the views of their party were identical to those expressed by Talabani" and at the end of the meeting both sides emphasized the importance of strengthening ties between the PUK and the KCPI so as to better serve the people of Kurdistan (ibid.).

References to instances of harassment or maltreatment of KCPI members by the PUK could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, in April 2003, Hawlati, a Sorani Kurdish-language, independent newspaper, reported that the forces of the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq organization, which had been based in Iraq since 1986, had been fighting against peshmerga forces (24 Apr. 2003), or "Kurdish guerrilla organization[s] that fight for a free Kurdish state" (BlueRider 2004), thereby killing PUK and KCPI pershmergas (Hawlati 24 Apr. 2003). No additional information could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

In 2000, the Iraqi Workers' Communist Party (IWCP), which was established in 1993 by members belonging to four small communist groups, alleged that the PUK was "attacking the organization's office in Sulaymaniyah" and, in 2002, the PUK allegedly prevented the IWCP from holding a conference (BBC 13 Jan. 2003).

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 for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Arab Gateway. 3 July 2003. "Iraq Media." http://www.al-bab.com/arab/countries/iraq/media.htm [Accessed 10 June 2004]

Associated Press (AP). 22 February 2003. Borzou Daragahi. "Iraqi Opposition Leaders Gather for Key Meeting in Northern Iraq." (NEXIS)

BBC. 13 January 2003. "Profile: Kurdish 'Satellite' Parties." Google Cache. http;//news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/not_in_website/syndication/monitoring/media_reports/2588651.stm [Accessed 10 June 2004]

BlueRider. 2004. "Peshmerga." http://peshmerga.bluerider.com/wordsearch/peshmerga [Accessed 16 June 2004]

Hawlati [Al-Sulaymaniyah, in Sorani Kurdish]. 8 May 2004. "Source Says No Serious Efforts to Unify Two Iraqi Kurdish Administrations." (FBIS-NES-2004-0508 10 May 2004/Dialog)

_____. 14 April 2004. "Iraq: Kurdistan Communisty Paryt Elects New Leader." (FBIS-NES-2004-0414 15 Apr. 2004/Dialog)

_____. 27 August 2003. "Iraqi Kurdish Communist Party Expels Two Ba'th Party 'Spies'." (FBIS-NES-2003-0831 2 Sept. 2003)

_____. 24 April 2003. "Iraqi Kurds Say Iranian Group Continues Action Despite Accord with US." (BBC International/Dialog)

Iraqi Press Monitor. 21 January 2004. No. 3. "Kurdish Parties Call for United Front." Http://www.iwpr.net/archive/ipm/ipm_003.html [Accessed 16 June 2004]

Kurdish Media. 2004. "KurdishMedia.com United Kurdish Voice." http://www.kurdmedia.com/about.asp [Accessed 16 June 2004]

_____. 11 January 2002. Suzan Quitaz. "We Continue to Believe that the Best Protection, or the Best Alternative to the Present State of Protection, is to Get Rid of the Dictatorship and its Evils." http://www.kurdmedia.com/inter.asp?id=45 [Accessed 10 June 2004]

Kurdsat [Al-Sulaymaniyah, in Sorani Kurdish]. 9 June 2004. "Iraq: PUK Leader Talabani Highlights Kurds' Gains After Fall of Saddam." (FBIS-NES-2004-0610 11 June 2004)

Leftist Parties of the World. 22 February 2004. "Iraq." http://www.bradleft.org/iq.htm [Accessed 10 June 2004]

Morning Star [England]. 16 January 2003. "Iraqi Communists Call for Peaceful Solution." http://www.pww.org/article/articleprint/2848/ [Accessed 11 June 2004]

_____. n.d. "Frontpage." http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/ [Accessed 15 June 2004]

The Netherlands. April 2000. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Official General Report on Northern Iraq." http://www.ecoi.net/pub/ms64_neth-nirq0400.pdf [Accessed 10 June 2004]

Political Handbook of the World: 2000-2002. 2002. Edited by Arthur S. Banks, Thomas C. Muller and William R. Overstreet. Markham: International Press Publications Inc.

Political Parties of the World. 2002. 5th ed. Edited by Allan J. Day. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group.

Regay [Arbil, in Sorani Kurdish]. 27 January 2000. "Iraq: Communist Leader Condemns Violence Against Christians in Kurdish Region." (NEXIS)

Defense and Foreign Affairs Handbook. 15th ed.

The Europa World Yearbook 2003

Internet sites, including: Al-Jazeera, Amnesty International (AI), Dialog/WNC, European Country of Origin Information Network (ECOI), Freedom in the World 2003, Google, Human Rights Watch (HRW), Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), Iraqi Kurdistan National Assembly, Kurdistan Communist Party (in Kurdish), Kurdistan Observer, United Kingdom - Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND).