Mustafa Hijri (, ) is an Iranian-Kurdish politician who is the current leader of the

Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI; , HDKA; ), also known as the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), is an armed leftist separatist movement of Kurds, exiled in northern Iraq with branch offices in Europe. It is banned in Ira ...

(KDPI).

Political life

Born to a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

family in 1945 in the city of

Salmas Salmas () is a city in the Central District of Salmas County, West Azerbaijan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. It is northwest of Lake Urmia, near Turkey. Etymology The original name of Salmas was ...

in the

West Azarbaijan Province West Azerbaijan province () is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, whose capital and largest city is Urmia. It is in the northwest of the country, bordered by Turkey (Ağrı, Hakkâri, Iğdır and Van Provinces), Iraq (Erbil and Sulaymaniy ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, Hijri graduated from the Teachers' College of Agriculture in Urumieh in 1963 and took up a post as a secondary school teacher in

Saqqez Saqqez (; ; ) is a city in the Central District (Saqqez County), Central District of Saqqez County, Kurdistan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Etymology The name Saqqez derives from the Scythian la ...

. In 1970, he started studying

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

literature at

Tehran University The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

, where he obtained a bachelor's degree. On returning to his home town, he restarted teaching at the secondary schools and a college here. Participating in the 4th Congress of the PDKI in 1979, he was elected as a member of the Central Committee, and a few months later, chosen as a member of the Political Bureau, holding steadily on his heavy task ever since Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou was assassinated on 13 July 1989. Following the death of Dr. Ghassemlou, and on late Dr. Sadegh Sharafkandi’s appointment's as General Secretary, Hijri was once more chosen to the membership of the Political Bureau, and Vice-General Secretary. Dr. Sharafkandi having been killed on 17 September 1992, Hijri was appointed as General Secretary, continuing his duty up till 1995, when the 10th Congress of the Party was convened, whereupon successfully carrying out his duties. After the above-mentioned date till the 12th Congress of the party in December 2000, he was chosen as a member of Political Bureau and elected afterwards as the Vice-General Secretary. Since the 12th Congress up to the 13th Congress he unremittingly carried out his duties as a member of Political Bureau. He promotes

federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...

as a model for governance and power sharing in

. In his view, federalism must be based on geography and ethnicity, and this helps in resolving grievances of different ethnic groups in Iran. In addition, he attempted to push for coexistence between

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

and

Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predomin ...

in northwestern

. He was reelected to the position of General Secretary in the 14th Congress of PDKI held in September 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hijri, Mustafa 1945 births Living people Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan politicians People from West Azerbaijan province