Party of Free Life of Kurdistan
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Kurdistan Free Life Party
Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê (PJAK) پارتی ژیانی ئازادی کوردستان |
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| Leader | Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi and Evindar Renas |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Armed wing | Eastern Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK) |
| Women's wing | Women's Defence Forces (HPJ) |
| Ideology |
Kurdish nationalism Democratic Confederalism Democratic socialism Libertarian socialism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| International affiliation | Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) |
| Eastern Kurdistan Defense Units Yekîneyên Parastina Rojhilatê Kurdistan (YRK) |
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| Leader(s) | Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi |
| Dates of operation | 2004–2011 |
| Motives | To establish semiautonomous regional entities or Kurdish federal states in Iran, Turkey and Syria similar to the Kurdistan Regional Government, and establish a democratic confederalism as theorised by Abdullah Öcalan. |
| Active region(s) | Iraq, Turkey and Iran |
| Ideology |
Secularism, Kurdish nationalism Feminism, Democratic confederalism |
| Status | Active |
The Kurdistan Free Life Party or PJAK (Kurdish: Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê) is a Kurdish political and militant organisation which has waged an intermittent armed struggle since 2004 against the Iranian government to seek self-determination for Kurds in Iran and Eastern Kurdistan.
Some experts describe PJAK as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Both groups are members of the Kurdistan Communities Union or KCK (Kurdish: Koma Civakên Kurdistan), an umbrella group of Kurdish political and insurgent groups in Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq.
The membership of PJAK's armed wing, the Eastern Kurdistan Defense Units or YRK, is estimated to be 3,000 and come from Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and the Kurdish diaspora. The group is considered a banned terrorist organisation by Iran,Turkey, and the United States, but not by the EU, UN and Russia.
The exact history of PJAK is widely disputed. Turkey and Iran claim that PJAK is nothing more than an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). According to some sources, members of the PKK founded the PJAK in 2004 as an Iranian equivalent to their leftist-nationalist insurgency against the Turkish government.
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Wikipedia