Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 6 / Trend , D.Ibrahimova, T.Jafarov /
The U.S. did not aim to improve the ties with Iran by branding the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) as a terrorist organization. Nevertheless, this step might play a positive role in improvement of relations.
The Free Life Pary of Kurdistan (PJAK), a Kurdish group operating in the border region between Iraq and Iran has been controlled by the Kongra-Gel (KGK, aka the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK) and fights for creation of an independent Kurdish state. Its camp is located in the north of Iraq - in the Kandil mountains.
PJAK carries out terrorist acts in the territory of Iran. Six servicemen and two policemen were killed as a result of the assault on militaries of Sepah on May 29, 2008.
"Including PJAK to the list of terrorist organizations not necessarily should be regarded as a "friendly gesture" from the United States to Iran," an American expert on the Middle East Stephen Zunes told Trend .
The U.S. Under Secretary for Finance Stewart Levey said that Washington exposes between PJAK and PKK by taking this step and supports Turkey's attempts to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks.
Zunes said that the new U.S. administration tried to make corrections to the policy of ex-President Bush.
"It was more like a correction of a Bush administration's reckless policy of secretly arming PJAK, heedless of the fact that in doing so, they were essentially arming the PKK as well, which was already listed by the United States as a terrorist organization," Zunes told Trend via e-mail.
Iranian officials have repeatedly made statements that the U.S. is providing financial support for this organization. One of the chairmen of the PJAK factions Babryar Gabar in an interview with New York Times said that the organization receives financial support from the United States. Turkish ambassador to the United States Nabi Shansoi in 2007, said that Washington provides armed PKK, but American officials denied these allegations.
Adding PJAK to the terrorist organizations list causes nations' common threat of groups eager to use violence to achieve their objectives. This step demonstrates that the U.S. administration officially recognizes terrorist organizations regardless of relationship with the state or population targeted by that group," the American Combating terrorism Center Director James Forest said to Trend .
According to Iranian experts, the U.S. tries to give a signal to Iran Washington's attitudes toward Iran is friendly.
By adding PJAK to the list of terrorist organizations, Washington wants to explain Teheran that the U.S. does not want to have a conflict with Iran and tries to improve the American-Iranian ties," the France based Arab-Iranian Research Centre Chairman Ali Nourizadeh said to Trend .
American expert Bahgat Gawdat also believes that the U.S. step is a signal that Washington and Teheran are changed. "Since taking office January 20th, President Obama has sent mixed signals to Iran. On one hand he said if Iran "unclenched its first," Washington would respond positively. On the other hand, President obama has used some of the language his predecessor, President Bush, used with regard to Iran," Gawdat, director of the Indiana University Centre for Research in the Middle East, said to Trend via e-mail.
The fact that PJAK was branded as a terrorist organization will not serve the improvement of the American-Iranian ties.
At one point, sooner or later, the two sides will start talking to each other directly, Gawdat said .
American expert Zuns believes that the branding of PJAK in the U.S. list of terrorist organizations can have positive effects, but the two countries still have a lot of work to ensure that visible improvements occurred in their relations. "This step has decided only one problem of the huge list of mutual claims among countries," he added.
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