Turkmen People's Cultural and Political Society

Turkmen People's Cultural and Political Society
Also known asTurkmensahra Councils Central Headquarters
Dates of operation1979–1980
CountryIran
HeadquartersGonbad-e Kavus, Mazandaran Province, Iran
NewspaperIlguji
Active regionsTurkmen Sahra
IdeologyCommunism
Marxism-Leninism
Agrarian socialism
Political positionFar-left
AlliesOrganization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas
OpponentsGovernment of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Battles and warsConsolidation of the Iranian Revolution

The Turkmen People's Cultural and Political Society (Turkmen: Türkmen Halk Medenli we Syýasy Ojak, Persian: کانون فرهنگی و سیاسی خلق ترکمن), also known as the Turkmensahra Councils Central Headquarters (Persian: ستاد مرکزی شوراهای ترکمن‌صحرا), was a Marxist-Leninist and ethnic insurgent group based in Gonbad-e Kavus, Iran.

It was established in the immediate aftermath of the Iranian Revolution and mobilized Iranian Turkmens who mostly follow Sunni Islam.[1] It was closely associated with the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (OIPFG) in terms of political bent.[1][2] The two organizations waged an armed rebellion in Turkmen Sahra against the post-revolutionary government in two spells.[3] The first phase began on 26 March 1979 in an attempt to demand for local land reform, but soon a ceasefire was brokered with the Interim Government of Iran.[3] The second phase erupted in February 1980 between the two sides, but it was suppressed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.[2][3] Kidnapping and murdering leaders of the group led to a major blow to the organization that it could not recover from.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Sultan-Qurraei, Hadi (2008). "Turkmen and Turkaman Sahra". In Kamrava, Mehran; Dorraj, Manochehr (eds.). Iran Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Islamic Republic. Vol. 2. Greenwood Press. p. 489. ISBN 978-0-313-34161-8.
  2. ^ a b Lob, Eric (2020), Iran's Reconstruction Jihad: Rural Development and Regime Consolidation after 1979, Cambridge University Press, p. 76, ISBN 978-1-108-48744-3
  3. ^ a b c Vahabzadeh, Peyman (28 March 2016) [7 December 2015]. "FADĀʾIĀN-E ḴALQ". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica. Bibliotheca Persica Press. Retrieved 1 August 2016.