Whose interests are served by defaming Ghassemlou?

Aso Saleh, rudaw.net

Image from video in article, with caption: KDPI leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou was assassinated on July 13, 1989

Excerpt:

A few years ago, at an event in Erbil, the provincial capital of the Kurdistan Region, the prominent Turkish sociologist Ismail Beşikçi spoke of two of the worst catastrophes in the 20th century affecting the Kurdish people. The first, he said, was the chemical attack on Halabja by the Iraqi state. The second, he added, was the assassination of the Kurdish leader Dr. A. R. Ghassemlou by the Iranian state. ...

Ghassemlou was neither authoritarian nor intolerant. Historical evidence clearly indicates that while he had the opportunity to monopolize power in his capacity as the undisputed leader of PDKI, he in fact did the opposite. Power within the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) was divided between the different institutions of the party. Ghassemlou also had the independent-minded and competent Dr. Sadeq Sharafkandi as his deputy. Ghassemlou stressed the importance of holding party congresses every four years, even under conditions of war with the Iranian state. He also promoted political deliberation within the party. He made sure to send gifted party members abroad for education and to engage in lobbying and public diplomacy [JB emphasis] in Europe in order to prepare them for taking over the leadership of the party. ...

Aso Saleh is a freelance journalist and Kurdish activist