ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Dozens of Kurdish lawyers in Tehran have come together to form an organization to foster unity and enhance cooperation.
The Kurdish Lawyers Group was established during a meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, in the presence of 82 lawyers - all Kurds and members of the Tehran Bar Association. The group quickly grew to 148 members from across the western regions of Iran, known to Kurds as Rojhelat.
"A group was established under the name Kurdish Lawyers Group 20 years ago here in Tehran. The group had members from Urmia, Sanandaj, Kermanshah, and Ilam provinces. The group, however, became weak after lawyers from other provinces split from the Tehran Bar Association and it lost members," board member Osman Muzaiyan told Rudaw.
He was one of eleven members of the group elected to the board of directors.
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Three others were selected as alternates. Two of the board members are women.
Headquartered in Tehran, the Tehran Bar Association has 20,000 members and is the largest bar association in the country, with responsibility for the central province along with six others.
Muzaiyan said the decision to establish the Kurdish Lawyers Group in Tehran stemmed from the idea that "all affairs related to Kurdish lawyers in Tehran must be better and more organized."
"We want Kurdish lawyers to participate in the Tehran Bar Association in unity and have a greater role in the management of the center," he said.
The group will focus on legal issues related to Kurds and provide assistance to Kurds in need of legal representation or advice, especially in Tehran, he added.