The Kurdish-led administration in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) has described the anti-government protests in Iran as “an uprising against tyranny,” warning against the start of a civil war similar to Syria if violent crackdowns continue.

The Kurdish-led administration joins the Syrian Kurdish National Council (ENKS) who expressed support for demonstrations in Iran earlier this week.

“What is happening in Iran today represents the uprising of an oppressed people exploited of freedom and democracy,” the self-ruling administration in Rojava said in a statement.

“It is the moral and political right of Iranian people to demonstrate in a just cause against corruption, domination, and exploitation,” the statement added.

The Kurdish-led administration of Rojava also noted the “tyranny” of the Iranian regime who “resort to violence against our Kurdish people only because they demand the minimum limits of their rights.”

Iran is one of the few countries which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the suppression of opposition groups in Syria, including the Kurds.

The self-ruling administration called on Iranian authorities to stop “brutal actions” against demonstrators, comparing the crackdown on protestors to that which sparked the Syrian civil war in 2011.

“The killing of civilians cannot be justified,” the statement said. “This will lead to a labyrinth that will plunge the country into a major conflict.”

On Wednesday, Iran deployed their Revolutionary Guards forces to three provinces to crackdown on anti-government protests following six days of country-wide demonstrations which left 22 people dead and hundreds more arrested.

The protests, which started in late December, quickly spread to cities across the country as demonstrators protested high unemployment, income inequality, and corruption within the Iranian government.

In response to the unrest, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite force of the Shia-dominated theocracy, were dispatched to the provinces of Hamadan, Isfahan, and Lorestan to address what they called “the new sedition.”