Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou

Born in Rezaieh, West Azerbaijan, Iran to a wealthy feudal family, his father was Mohammad Vesugh Ghassemlou, a landowning Kurdish nationalist Agha and Khan from the Kurdish Shekak tribe who was born in 1875. His mother was Nana Jan Timsar, an Assyrian Christian. His father was an adviser to the Shah of Iran, who gave him the title "Wussuq-e Divan." He completed his early education in Urmia and then on Tehran. He witnessed the era of the Republic of Mahabad and became a co-founder member of the youth wing of KDP-I at the age of 15. Ghassemlou moved to France to continue his studies at the Sorbonne. He met his wife Helen Krulich in Czechoslovakia. They had two daughters together, Mina (1953) and Hewa (1955).[5][6]

Abd-al-Raḥmān Qāsemlu was fluent in 8 languages; Kurdish, Persian, Arabic, Azerbaijani, French, English, Czech, and Russian. He was also familiar with German, Slovak, and Polish.[7][8][9]

Ghassemlou went back to Kurdistan in 1952 after completing his studies. He then spent several years as an active militant in the Kurdish military fields. In 1973, during the Third Congress of the PDKI, he was elected to the position of secretary general of the party, a position to which he was reelected several times until his assassination.

In 1979, his party supported the revolution which ended in the fall of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Khomeini considered their last hour participation in the revolution as opportunistic. Militants belonging to the party had overtaken the military compounds in the Kurdish areas. Khomeini demanded all armed groups to become part of one revolutionary organization and demanded Kurdish militants to return their weapons. Ghasemlou demanded autonomy for Kurds and refused to lay down weapons. The party boycotted the referendum for the new constitution. Following two bloody confrontation between Kurds and forces loyal to Khomeini the Kurdish rebellion turned into a war. Shortly, after the beginning of the armed Kurdish rebellion, Ayatollah Khomeini declared a "holy war" on the PDKI and Kurdish rebels.[10] This was the start of confrontation of the party and the new state, which ended in a military defeat of the Kurdish rebels. In 1982 Ghassemlou, attempted to overthrow the Shia clerics in an alliance with the former and dismissed president of Iran Abolhassan Banisadr, but Banisadr denied to join his Kurdish alliance fearing secessionist aims of the Kurds.[11] The armed conflict continued up to 1984 in the middle of Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) where both countries supported the separatists in each other's territory.

After the defeat of the armed rebellion Ghassemlou settled in Paris and joined the National Council of Resistance of Iran that was founded by his PDKI and other opposition forces: the Islamist-Marxist People's Mujahedin, the liberal-leftist National Democratic Front, the United Left of small socialist groupings, and the independent Islamist-leftist Abolhassan Bani Sadr, in October 1981.[12]

"Kurdistan and Kurd" is a book on the history of Kurds and their land written by Ghassemlou and published in 1964 in Slovak, 1965 in English, 1967 in Arabic, 1969 in Polish, and 1973 in Kurdish.[13]

"40 Ans de Luttes: Abdul-Rahman Ghassemlou" 2020, French, Préface Gérard Chaliand, Introduction et Traduction de David Tokmatchi https://www.amazon.fr/40-Ans-Luttes-Abdul-Rahman-Ghassemlou/dp/B084DG2K9K/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_fr_FR=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=ghassemlou&qid=1612645629&s=books&sr=1-1

In 1988, after the war had ended, the Iran government decided to meet with him. Several meetings followed in Vienna,[14] on 28 December, 30 December and 20 January 1989. Another meeting was set up for 13 July, again in Vienna.

The Tehran delegation was as before, namely Mohammed Jafar Sahraroudi and Hadji Moustafawi, except that this time there was also a third member: Amir Mansur Bozorgian who was a bodyguard. The Kurds also had a three-man delegation: Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, his aide Abdullah Ghaderi Azar (a member of the PDKI Central Committee) and Fadhil Rassoul, an Iraqi university professor who had acted as a mediator.

The next day, 13 July 1989, in the very room where the negotiation took place, Ghassemlou was killed by three bullets fired at very close range.[15][16] His assistant Ghaderi Azar was hit by eleven bullets and Rassoul by five. Hadji Moustafawi succeeded in escaping. Mohammad Jafar Sahraroudi received minor injuries and was taken to a hospital, questioned and allowed to go. Amir Mansur Bozorgian was released after 24 hours in police custody and took refuge in the Iranian Embassy.[17]

His deputy, Sadegh Sharafkandi, succeeded Ghassemlou as secretary-general until his assassination on 17 September 1992 in the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin, Germany. Abdullah Ghaderi Azar and Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou were buried on July 20 in Paris at Père Lachaise Cemetery.