Iranian Kurdistan: Venezuelan Author Writes in Memory of Assassinated Kurdish Leader
On 13 July 1989, Dr. A. R. Ghassemlou, former General-Secretary of UNPO Member, the “Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan” (PDKI), and his aide Abdullah Ghaderi-Azar fell victims to a premeditated assassination in Vienna whilst attending negotiations with Iran to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of this tragic event, Venezuelan author Carol Prunhuber has published a second book about the Kurdish leader, fulfilling a personal request extended to her by Ghassemlou himself.
The article below was published by Rudaw. For the video of the full interview, please follow the link provided.
On this week's The Washington Perspective, Roj Eli Zalla hosts Venezuelan writer and journalist Carol Prunhuber.
Prunhuber, 63, is best known among Kurds for her books about legendary Kurdish leader Abdul-Rahman Ghassemlou who fought for Kurdish rights in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat). He was assassinated in Vienna, Austria on July 13, 1989.
The Venzuelan-American journalist first met Ghassemlou in Paris in 1983. She visited Rojhalat in 1985 as a journalist through the French agency Gamma TV.
Her first book about Ghassemlou, 'The Passion and Death of Rahman', was published in Spanish in 1991. It was later translated into both Turkish and Kurdish in 2009.
She has now published a new book on the Kurdish leader, 'The Life and Death of Kurdish Leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou', in English.
"When I met him, I had translated for him an article I had written about an eulogy for Yilmaz Gunay when he died," Prunhuber says.
Ghassemlou subsequently asked her to write the story of his life and his people when he died - a promise she continues to keep.
Photo courtesy of Rudaw
