Komala's Internet Website http://www.cpiran.org:80/En/Komala/ , which was last modified in December 1997, provides the following information about Komala's activities:

1. Komala maintains a "Clandestine Organisation Centre," known as Takish, in order to facilitate communication between representatives of the party outside Iran and residents of Iranian Kurdistan. Takish is referred to as a "body," whose "members in the cities and villages of Iran's Kurdistan are contacted either by written correspondence or verbally, by calling them out from Iran and discussing matters with them in person (eg in Iraqi Kurdistan, or Europe)."

2. Komala broadcasts on short wave for three and a half hours a day, and publishes a political magazine called Peshraw and a literary magazine called Peshang.

3. Komala maintains a military force called "Komala's Peshmerga Force."

4. Komala has two camps in Sulaymaniyah province, in Iraqi Kurdistan. These camps "contain some of the departments central to Komala's activities, such as the Executive Committee, the Clandestine Organisation Centre, Radio Broadcasting, Printing, the Health Centre, and the Military Training Centre."

5. Komala holds a conference every two years, the last one having taken place in July 1995. At that conference a 15-member Executive Committee was elected, which holds meetings every three months. The First Secretary is Ebrahim Alizadeh.

In a 29 August 1996 interview with the German newspaper Die Tageszeitung, Ebrahim Alizadeh (Ibrahim Alisadeh) is identified as the "secretary general of the Iranian-Kurdish Komala party."

On 15 December 1997 the Turkish-language television station in Britain, MED-TV, reported that "a preparatory meeting for the Kurdistan national congress was held in Brussels on 13-14 December." Among the participating parties was Komala. In the final communiqué the participants in the meeting condemned "the Turkish state's attack on Kurdistan."

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.

Die Tageszeitung [Berlin, in German]. 29 August 1996. "Germany: Kurd Figure Discusses 'Heterogeneous' Society." (FBIS-WEU-96-171 29 Aug. 1996/WNC)

"Komala: Kurdistan Organisation of the Communist Party of Iran." [Internet]. http://www.cpiran.org:80/En/Komala/ [Accessed on 15 May 1998].

MED-TV [London, in Turkish]. 15 December 1997. "Turkey: Committee Set Up to Prepare Kurdistan National Congress." (FBIS-TOT-97-350 16 Dec. 1997/WNC)