Gonbad-e Turkoman 'WHAT kind of Islam is this?' This appeal from a nurse in Qabus just about sums up the attitude of the population to the Ayatollah Khomeini's referendum on his Islamic Republic.
The nurse was interviewed by phone by a Reuter's corresShe said that were refusing to admit Turkomans wounded in with Khomeini supporters and the army. She was one of a small number provide treatment.
But, 'We have no medicines, no blood, nothing, please help.' The fighting broke out on 26 March after several weeks of sporadic clashes Khomeini's Islamic Revolutionary Guard and the local population.
It seems that the previous La Khomeini militia member had tried to arrest a Turkoman cigarette seller. One cigarette seller's relatives saw the incident and tried to intervene but was shot When Turkomans gathered at their cultural centre the following day to discuss the incident they were fired upon. But they had held onto their guns after the insurrection and were soon returning fire.
Early reports suggested that the Fedayeen guerillas - who still give 'critical support' to the Bazargan government - were fighting on the side of the local But they have since On the other side the army has been put on alert but says it has not taken part in the This was enough to stop the fighting but it will not satisfy either the rank and file Kurdish minas or une mass or une population who are determined that it should be they who determine what relation Kurdistan has to Iran.
In his speech in Sanandaj, Taleghani made it clear that he did not accept this idea. The Kurds, though generally not advocates of total separation, seem adamant on the principle of self-determination.
Ine central government see: the stop-gap Sanandaj formula as a model for its nationalities policy - a sure sign that that policy must fail. On the eve of the referendum assistant Prime Minister Amir Entezam announced that Kurds, Turkomans, Baluchis and other groups would be free to teach and broadcast in their ow languages.
NOW into its second impres sion - Insurrection in Tehran an eyewitness report by Brian Grogan. 15p plus postage from Other Bookship Upper Street, London N1 2XQ But the more significant development the same day was a report of new national unrest among the Baluchis.
In all the oppressed nationalities the referendum is a dead letter - partly because they are in a continuous state of semi-insurrection, but also because the vote offers solution to their problems.
A Shi'a 'Islamic Republic has no future among the minority religious sects which predominate in the oppressed nationalities. Nor does it meet problem sovereign assemblies in each nation — the only way of givin substance to the idea o self-determination.
After the referendum the old army of the Pahlavi state will still be intact. That problem is better resolved by armed struggle on the streets!
And. as the lurkomans an showing, the referendum has no answer to the mass deman to destroy the power of the landlords and hand over the land to those who till it.
In other words, different groups of the oppressed population -and religious minorities, peas and factory workers - are discovering that within the present, capitalist there will be satisfaction for even their most HECHESTES. from the Iranian Socialist Challenge 5 April 1979 page 11
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INSURRECTION IN TEHERAN