Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI or PDKI).

The KDPI operates in western Iran in areas populated with ethnic Kurds.

The KDPI says it wants a more secular and autonomous region under Kurdish control within Iran. The group supports the national struggles of Kurds in other countries and has backed an independent Kurdistan, uniting regions of Iraq, Turkey and Iran. KDPI maintains that it rejects all acts of terrorism.

The KDPI has claimed as many as 10,500 fighters.

The KDPI has contacts with other Kurdish groups such as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdish Communist Party of Iran (Komala). However, the KDPI has often fought with Komala. There has been a easing of relations between KDPI and Komala since the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

The group previously received arms from the Soviet Union and Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein. Since the breakup of the U.S.S.R. and the fall of Hussein, the group has looked to the black market for supplies. Kurds in northern Iraq may supply the group with arms.

The KDPI has several front organizations, such as the Democratic Youth Union of Iranian Kurdistan and the Democratic Women's Union of Iranian Kurdistan.

The KDPI has long used guerrilla tactics against Iranian forces in an attempt to weaken Tehran's control over Kurdish regions. The shah of Iran and the religious leaders following the 1979 revolution largely held down its influence. Kurdish KDPI guerrillas have exerted a limited level of control over countryside areas and an occasional village or town.

According to statements by KDPI leader Mustafa Hijri in September 2007, the group uses "all means, with the exception of terrorism" to achieve its objective. "But, for the time being, we have not engaged in armed confrontation," he said.

The KDPI is a Kurdish guerrilla group that is focused on creating a socialist, secular and autonomous region for Kurds in western Iran. It was created in August 1945 to replace the Council of Kurdish Insurrection, established three years prior. The short-lived Republic of Kurdistan (Republic of Mahabad), founded in January of 1946, was overrun by Iranian forces by the end of the year. Up to 20 leaders, including party head Ghazi Mohammad, were hanged.

The KDPI re-established itself in 1948, but the shah was able to suppress its activities. The KDPI suffered setbacks in 1959, 1964 and 1968, the latter after an 18-month revolt. In 1959 and 1964, police forces arrested about 300 KDPI supporters. Fighting from 1967-1968 was concentrated in the mountains between Mahabad and Sar Darsht. Following the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Republic also dealt harshly with the KDPI.

In August 1979, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini declared a holy war against the Kurds. Entire villages and towns were wiped out. The Kurdish rebellion was ended, but the Kurds were able to control some of the countryside and occasionally -- during the Iran-Iraq war -- maintain a brief hold on some towns. Post-revolutionary Tehran assassinated a number of KDPI leaders over the years, drying up support for the group.

The 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq changed the political outlook. The Iraqi-based PUK offered an olive branch to the KDPI, with Jalal Talabani declaring the group was welcome in Iraq if it would refrain from using the country as a base for operations against Iran. A 2004 congress in Koy Sanjaq elected a new KDPI leader, Mustafa Hijri, replacing Abdullah Hassanzade.

The congress also formulated a new political goal for KDPI. The group said it would work toward the creation of a federal Iran that respects the rights of Kurdish and other minorities. The KDPI also allocated greater representation on its central committee to those Kurds living outside of Iran. Its new emblem is the same as the flag of the Kurdish regional government in Iraq.

KDPI representatives in the U.S. and Europe make frequent appearances at public forums, part of the group's efforts to display a non-threatening image. KDPI has an Internet Web site, and Sharif Behruz, the group's U.S. representative, maintains his own Internet blog.

1945
Aug. 16: KDPI was founded.

1946
KDPI leaders were imprisoned when Iranian forces moved into Kurdistan.

1948
KDPI renewed efforts to create a Kurdish state, but Iranian forces were able to suppress the group.

1967-68
A Kurdish insurrection was put down by military forces of the shah of Iran, significantly weakening the KDPI's strength.

1978
Local Kurdish leaders seized key towns in Iran. That control proved to be temporary.

1979
The Islamic Republic continued to suppress the KDPI, using agents to penetrate its foreign networks.

1989
July: KDPI leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou was assassinated in Vienna. He was scheduled to negotiate with representatives of the Iranian government.

1992
September: KDPI leader Sadegh Sharafkandi and two other senior KDPI officials were assassinated by an Iranian agent during a Berlin meeting of the Congress of the Socialist International.

November: Iranian air force aircraft attacked a KDPI base in Erbil, in northern Iraq, in an attempt to kill top KDPI military officials.

1994
August: KDPI Central Committee leader Rafour Hamzai was assassinated in Baghdad.

1996
September: KDPI was given observer status at the Socialist International.

2003
December: KDPI member Jalil Zewal was reportedly executed by Tehran after nine years in prison. Party member Ramin Sharifi, arrested in July 2003, was also executed.

2004
July: Mustafa Kijri was elected secretary-general of KDPI.

2005
KDPI was given consultative status with the Socialist International.

2006
Dec. 6th: The KDPI reportedly splintered into two competing factions, both claiming to be the legitimate representatives of the group.

2007
Jan. 11: U.S. military forces raided an Iranian consulate in Irbil, Iraq, capturing five alleged Iranian agents linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who were said to be supplying arms to Iraqi insurgents. One of the individuals reportedly captured was Mohammad Jaafari Sharoudi, wanted in Austria on charges that he participated in the 1989 assassination of KDPI party leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou.

Feb. 1-3: The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, meeting in Brussels, admitted the KDPI as a member.

Dec. 5: The KDPI signed an international treaty banning the use of anti-personnel land mines.

2008
June 25: Iranian security forces killed one KDPI member and arrested another in a clash in Saqez, a border town in northwest Iran, according to Iran's state-run Press TV.

July 16: Iranian authorities detained at least 86 Kurdish civilians following a general strike on the anniversary of the assassination of KDPI leader Abdul Rhaman Ghassemlou. KDPI called upon the international community and human-rights organizations to pressure Tehran to release the detainees.

July 2008: Mostafa Hejri, secretary-general of the KDPI, publicly rejected the use of aggressive terrorism tactics.

2009
April: KDPI's U.S. representative appeared before a subcommittee of the Canadian Parliament. Sharif Behruz described the human-rights violations by Iran, calling for international pressure to reverse Tehran's actions.

July 13: Inhabitants of the four largely Kurdish provinces in the northwest of Iran engaged in a general strike to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the murder of Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou.

Nov. 18: KDPI Secretary-General Mustafa Hijri wrote the United Nations to protest the execution of Ehsan Fatahian, a 27-year-old political activist, by the Iranian government. Hijri noted that many other detainees were awaiting execution. He also condemned the regime's "brutal crackdown" following mass protests that followed the June 2009 elections.

2010
Feb. 24: Three KDPI members were arrested in West Azerbaijan, which shares a border with Iraq, Turkey and Azarbaijan. Iranian border guards detained the trio near the northwestern city of Sardasht. A security official claimed the group were trained outside of the country and were planning to carry out an attack in Iran. The security official also said that border guards had been monitoring the rebel activities for several months.