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Show Sunday. February !4 Khomeini Can't Ignore Iran's Kurds Bv ROBERT C. RADCLIFFE Natieaal Geographic News Service WASHINGTON The Ayatollah RuhoUah Khomeini may turn his back on world protests over holding those Americans hostage, but he can t risk ignoring a smoldering fire that could ignite all of Iran tut fire bums in the hearts uf the large ethnic minorities of Iran, peoples opposmg the absolute rule of the new Islamic constitution that has sidestepped their hopes of anyone else They know where to tuuunt their snipers, where to set up the ambushes " "They are fantastic marksmen." Woodson went on Their favorite weapon is the Czech Brno nfle, with an accuracy range of 800 yards, far superior in the mountains to the range of the Russian AK-4- 7 assault nfle of the Iraqis, a gun that confronted Americans in Vietnam Measured against Iranian troops, the Kurds may be exaggerating only slightly, Woodson said, with their familiar They are the Kurds and the ethnic boast that "one Kurd is worth 10 Iranians!" Azerbaijani Turks who share Iran northwest corridor bordering Iraq and Peacock Throne After the Shah of Iran was forced off leading to Turkey and the USSR. They are the Baluchis of the southeast the Peacock Throne and into exile, facing the Gulf of Oman at the minorities revived their ancient destrategic entrance to the Persian Gulf mands for autonomy. For the Kurds, and adjacent to Pakistan. And Ihey are that meant autonomy essentially over the Turkomans across the northeastern the rugged province called Kurdistan border with the Soviet Union, and the amid the Zagros Mountains bordering ethnic Arabs of the Iranian oil fields in Iraq the southwest. Khomeini ignored their demands when he authorized the new constituKards' Reseatmest But nowhere in Iran is there greater tion. It gives him absolute power as resentment as a result of ignoring head of Iran's centralized fundamenminorities' than talist Islamic state. among the Kurdish tribesmen who Compounding the disagreement is an periodically since biblical days have old religious schism: Most Kurds are taken up arms to defend their fiercely Sunni Moslems while Khomeini is leader of Iran's Shiite Moslems, who independent ways. "On their own ground and when not comprise only 10 percent throughout overwhelmed by firepower, they are the world cf Islam except in Iran and a pretty much invincible," according to few other countries. Frustrated and angry, the Kurds and LeRoy Woodson Jr., a Washington, DC, photographer who spent nine other ethnic minorities in Iran weeks with Kir dish guerrillas in Iraq protested by refusing to vote in the referendum that ratified the new conwhile on assignment for National stitution. Geographic. "We hoped that Khomeini would give The Kurds, he said, slip like shadows us democracy and respect for our through the mountain crags of the rugged terrain they know better than rights," a rebel said during a recent - 300-yar- d a- Town Faces Development Uncertainty we who late death ' It s a Mergas salute to a legendary reputation won through history The suicidal fury of the Kurds was of violence Continuing flare-up- s almost chronic in Kurdistan add to recorded by the Greek general speculation that the minorities' de- Xenophon as early as 401 B C The mands for autonomy are undermining Kurds probably the ones then known rolled boulders Iran's fragile government and ethnic as the Kardoucboi dows the chffs and devastated the stability. For centuries self determination has ranks of his 10.000 soldiers The Roman Emperor Valerian came been a dream of the Kurdish people Some still talk of a Kurdish nation that to gnef from a Kurdish army fighting would be sandwiched between the oil for the Persians in A D 260 Legend has him skinned and stuffed as a tribal fields of the Middle East aad the Soviet souvenir Union. Richard the Lionhearted. England s Aatoa amy. Nat Savereigaty But most Kurds probably see crusading King Richard I. met his nationhood as too wild a drean. match in the Holy Land in the 12th cenInstead, they raise their voices for tury when he came up against the most autonomy, saying that all they want is famous of all Kurdish wamors. the to live as Kurds, no matter what flag great Moslem leader Saladin. whom he they happen to be under. They say they was never able to defeat conclusively seek autonomy, not sovereignty. They Tall Fair Skinned The Kurds ar . an wish to be left alone, protecting their peoowa culture. ple, as are the Iranians. Many are tall, Today the Kurds are spread over fair skinned and blue eyed, with some 74.000 square miles of mountain aquiline features. They are proud of and valley in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, their culture and language, which they and the Soviet Union the historic struggle to keep alive in the face of region of Kurdistan that fathered the nationalistic pressures of the countries name of the homeland province of in which they live, especially Iraq and Iran's Kurds. Turkey. In a 1965 census the number of Kurds Through the centuries, the Kurds have ranged through the mountains of was put at about 7 million. Current population estimates run to as many as 16 Asia Minor with their herds and raised million, 3 5 to 4 million of them in Iran. crops in irrigated valleys. TraditionalFor more than 2,000 years, they ly, they have ignored national frontiers, frequently and quickly turning to have been fighting intruders and winning a reputation for cunning and blades and bullets to preserve their ruthlessness. The Kurdish guerrillas freedom. who sweep down from their lofty They struggled for the right to govern redoubts in Iran and Iraq have been themselves against the Seljuk Turks in called the world's greatest mountain the Middle Ages and the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. fighters. call Pesh themselves Following World War I. the ap-Proudly, they outbreak in Kurdistan "Instead, all he is giving us is another dictatorship shrouded la ideaology " Indo-Europe- f ? -- W Ju " , , a r, tw . - " - ' " 00S KURDISH GUERRILLAS are legendary as the world's greatest moaataia fighters, a repatatioa reinforced ia recent years as they swept fram their lofty redoubts la lraa aad Iraq. The fierce ladepeadeace of their fi lit taw St m st h. "to hp central bonk fetrut Central Utah PROGRESS is Member FDIC Ww.w.w.v ft Ij 4 acmadic past his driven the Kards through centuries of wina-ia- g respect from soldiers of tides t Greece, crataders hi the Holy Laad aad forces of saltaas, saaka aad stroag mea. With the defeat of Turkey, the Treaty pearance of a delegation of sunburned, turbaned Kurds, each with a bushy of Sevres in 1920 provided for the creamustache, caused a minor sensation at tion of an autonomous Kurdish state. the Paris peace conference. They had But within two years the Kurds saw the come to pursue a promise of autonomy idea canceled by another agreement, set forth in President Woodrow and the world again chose to drop the Wilson's program for world peace. question of Kurdish nationalism. GMl "Here in Highland we have the prime opportunity control our area, and let's face it, there aren't many more places we can move to if Highland is ruined," said Harrison. Both political parties generally agree that the city needs to purchase land for a future civic center. A three vear capital improvement project in which surplus city funds. Federal Revenue sharing money and parks fees will be used to buy land was approved last June. Former Councilman LaMond Tullis, a spokesman for the Progressive Party said at the June budget hearings that the city must buy ground now or "otherwise inflation will be as hard on the city in future years to acquire land as it is for young families today to buy their first home." Tullis said the council is planning for future city needs. ) ;.'r.y. ft IK1)111 1 SB ge wi ing. Growth and Utah-Pa- - ' Alpine-Highlan- north-sout- Frwo - com-meric- al came after 1959 whea culinary water became available. Before that the 52 area families drew their household water from ditches or wells and home morgages were almost impossible to obtain because there was no piped water. But less than two decades after the private Highland Water Company drilled the first well (and laid large eight-inc- h lines) this 100 year-ol- d community was able to incorporate into an official town. "There was a vacuum here," said Yukus Inouye, president of the Highland Water Company. "The availabillity of water and low land prices drew the growth. We prepared for growth 20 years ago and today people are benefiting from that planning. I just hope somebody is preparing for all the kids who are growing up here now. Recently three families moved that's a into Highland with a total of 23 children classroom full." Newly elected councilman Brent Harrison who headed a committee that petitioned the last council to stop commercial development said this area is a prime target for endless strip commercial districts: The bench is flat with no natural protection and two east-wemajor highways dissect the town's heart THE HERALD. HM4 i By DAWN TRACY Herald Correspondent HIGHLAND Growth is the name of the game in Highland but how development will be directed is the $64 question here. Progressive Party candidates opposed to development saying sales taxes do not cover costs of city services to local businesses were elected with 55 percent of the vote. The winning party also favored single dwellings on one acre density developments over granting housing on half-acr- e lots because candidates said a lower population density wotld keep Highland rural. The defeated Citizen's Party said city planning would alleviate problems and that attempting to limit growth is not the answer. "Even if we only allowed one acre lots, there are about 4,000 acres in Highland and if a family built on every acre we'd have maybe 20,000 people," said defeated candidate Reed Thompson. "The answer is to plaa." Mayor Donald LeBaron, a member of the Citizen's Party, said the Progressive Party won the election because many Highlanders moved here from overcrowded cities that had uncontrolled ugly strip commercial districts. "There'' probably isn't a person in Highland who would be opposed o a doctor's office moving into town or even a small business district," said LeBaron. "But many people are afraid the city does not have the power to control development. Because of the last elections I do not see commercial districts here in the next decade or housing on less than an acre except on lots approved by Utah County prior to our incorporation." Currently the town has one gas station grocery store and a newly built elementary school that is filled comfortably to its capacity of 600 students. Harold Jacklm, administrative assistant of the Alpine School District said the district has secured two more elementary school sites in the city and is in the process of obtaining a third site. The district and area having a high ticipates the school in the next 15 years. and growHighland's populations is about 2,800 ! |