[Militant, No 451, 13 April 1979, p 11]
The overwhelming vote for the creation of an Islamic Republic in Iran in the recent referendum has not been able to cover the enormous problems facing the country. As explained in last week’s Militant the Islamic Republic means different things to the different classes in Iran. The events of the past few weeks have rumly shown that the Iranian masses are determined to continue their struggle for a fundamental change in their conditions.
The fighting in Kurdistan and Turkoman has shown both the determination of the national minorities to end their oppression and the resistance of both Bazargan and Khomeini to the democratic demands of these peoples.
The battles in Gonbad in Turkoman were a result of the central governments attempt to prevent the Turkomans arming themselves, a refusal to answer the Turkomans‘ demands and instead concentrated real power in the area in the Khomeini’s local Revolutionary Islamic Committee made up of Farsi [Persian] speakers.
The main Turkoman demands are for autonomy and the return of their lands seized by the Shah in 1963 and distributed amongst the Royal Family, generals and police chiefs. Already huge areas of Government owned grazing land have been seized by the Turkomans. The actual fighting itself was sparked off by the killing of a street trader after an argument by Khomeini’s militia. Claiming that the Turkomans were either former secret policemen or „communists“ the Government and Khomeini seat a force of militiamen backed up by jets and a helicopter gunship to suppress the movement.
But while this force was able to control the town, the government was forced to grant the Turkomans the same concessions recently given to the Kurds – the right to teach and broadcast in their language.
Although the fighting may have stopped for the present, the fundamental problems still remain. The social crisis continues and the social, economic and political demands of the peoples, especially the minorities, have not been met. The particularly harsh opposition of Khomeini and his militia, to the Turkomans shows that an Iran under their control would not be able to solve the national question. On the contrary their rule could lead to the intensification of the national struggles in Iran.
Only the formation of an independent workers party, fighting for the interests of the minorities and their right to self-determination, alongside the demands of the working class as a whole, can unite the people of Iran against their real oppressors, Iranian and world capitalism, and begin to create a socialist Iran.
By our correspondent
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