ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Region’s Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) summoned Iran’s acting consul general in Erbil to answer for an article that appeared on a consular website, describing Iran as the “motherland” of the Kurds, calling the Kurdish language a “dialect” and making other references considered insulting to Kurds.

Mohsen Bawafa, Iran’s acting consul general in Erbil, was summoned by DFR head Fallah Mustafa and spokesman Safin Dizayee, to answer for the comments that appeared in an article posted on the website of the Iranian consulate in Sulaimani.

The article, which tells the history of Iranian-Kurdish relations from a purely Iranian point of view, referred to the Kurds as “ethnic minorities in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria,” while mentioning Iran as “their true great house and motherland.”

The statement, posted last week, also referred to the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad as the “short-lived Communist government.” It added that, “some groups, which are considered Kurdish extremists by the Iranian authorities, want to use the Kurdish Republic to construct their own nation, culture, language and history.”

It also called the Kurdish language a dialect: “Kurdish is not a language, but a dialect of the many Persian languages, which has been created through mixing Arabic, Turkish, and Persian languages.”

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said Tuesday that an official protest had been conveyed to the acting general consul in Erbil. The DFR demanded an official clarification by the Iranian government.

“These are not the policies or the stance of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said Bawafa. But the KRG demanded that he convey Erbil’s protest to concerned officials in Tehran.

A large portion of the article shed light on the bilateral ties between Iran and the KRG, illustrating Iran’s role in supporting and enhancing the struggle of the Kurds for freedom in Iraq.

“The Iranian monarch stopped his support to the Kurds in Iraq, but the Iranian revolution in 1979 has been a pivotal point in reviving the ties with the Kurds in Iraq,” said the article.

“In 1991, Iran wanted to form better ties with the ethnic-Iranians (the Kurds) in Kurdistan region, therefore instead of opening one consulate, Iran opened two consulates in Erbil and Sulaimani,” the article stated.

It went on to outline the numerous red lines that the Kurds must not cross in order to have good relations with Iran. It clarified that the territorial integrity of Iraq is Iran’s main strategy, while maintaining ties with Erbil.

“If the Kurdish activities were directed towards increasing their options and creating the atmosphere to secede from Iraq, then Kurdish relations with Iran will suffer. But the ties will become stronger if the Kurds choose to increase their strength within the Iraqi framework and become true partners in the Iraqi central government,” said the article.

It also advised that the Kurds must refrain from talking about a united Kurdish homeland.

According to the article, the Iranian Kurdish parties have caused instability inside Iran, and urged the KRG to ban them.

“Iran demands the banning of activities of the Kurdish political groups from Iran, because these groups have caused instability in the cities across the borders with Iran, and if KRG prohibits these groups, then Iran will trust the Kurdistan region more.”

Rudaw