Matin Research Journal

Matin Research Journal

Iranian Kurds Movements for Independence after the Islamic Revolution: Investigating an Impossible Wish

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Associate Professor, Department of Iranian Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/matin.2025.533463.2376
Abstract
Ethnical independence movements have been one of the challenges faced by the Islamic Republic after the revolution, among which Kurds independence movement made more cost for the republic and continues till now. This movement tended to be an armed movement only one week after the revolution, and supported by the Iraqi enemy during the war period. After the war the movement continued and the Kurds take every opportunity to seek their independence as one of counterrevolution forces. The main question raised in this paper is whether the wish of independence is democratically possible or it is only a cover for foreign governments and regional rivals to weaken Iran and motivate its cessation. Employing situational analysis and taking into account that ethnical identity like other social identities is usually manipulated by power institutions for their purposes, this paper shows that Iranian ethnical independence is democratically impossible. In conclusion, any sort of federal systems for a country like Iran with multiple ethnicities and thousands of years history is not viable.
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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 11 October 2025