حزب مردم بلوچستان Balochistan People’s Party بلوچستانءِ اُستمانءِ گــَل
World Azerbaijanis Congress,
WAC
P.O. Box 11217, Washington, DC 20008-1217
Tel: 240.620.8802 - Fax: 703.349.3186
Is there a true opposition
group in Iran?
I would like to extend my gratitude to the German Azerbaijani Academic Union
and its President Dr. Ahmad Yazdani for providing the other guests on this
panel and me with an opportunity to tell everyone about the human trauma
suffered by the ethnic groups of Iran.
May 22, 2006 is known as the turning point in the South Azerbaijanis history
in their struggle against the 27 years old Apatite and the Persian
chauvinist government of Iran. Azerbaijani Turks in Iran have been
protesting in the streets of over 30 Azerbaijani cities (Tabriz, Tehran,
Urmiye, Sulduz, Salmas, Khoy, Maki, Marand, Zanjan, Hamadan, Qazvin, Ardabil,
Meshkin-Shahr, Khiyav, Ahar, Astara, Qoshachay, Azer-Shahr, Karaj, Miyana
and others), against the inhumane treatment of Azerbaijani Turks in Iran in
the hands of totalitarian dictator regime of the Islamic Republic. The
demonstrations were peaceful, civil and non-violent. Unfortunately, the
present regime needed an excuse to crash our legal rights to demonstrate.
This was done by planting infiltrators who act illegally and violently and
thus give the government a perfect excuse to crash our movement. The
government forces have opened fire on peaceful demonstrations.
The largest ethnic of Iran, Azerbaijani-Turk’s culture is denied, their
language is forbidden, their history is falsified, their dignity is
insulted, and finally, their whole being is humiliated. Now they are saying
enough is enough. Azerbaijani-Turks are continuing their struggle for
freedom, democracy and demanding equal rights, self determination, and
recognition of our identity, language, history and culture.
In the May 22, 2006 upraise, tens of martyrs, hundreds of wounded, and
thousands of illegal arrests, have not stopped us and shall not, until our
goal is accomplished. We are determined to gain the right of
self-determination granted to nations under the U.N. Article 1541.
On September 21, 2005, the new school year in Iran began. A 6-year old boy
first grader named Mehran Rahimi from the city of Qoshachay (Miandoab) in
West Azerbaijan province asked his teacher “why he was not being taught his
mother tongue Azerbaijani Turkish instead of Persian?” He was beaten up by
his teacher and then sent to the principal’s office for further punishment.
This 6-year old boy ended up with bruises on his body for his “rudeness.” I
personally could identify with this tragedy, because as a young boy, I had
to pay fines and endure punishment for speaking my mother tongue in the
classroom.
We have learned from our experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq that these
countries are multi-ethnic and multi-lingual societies, and neighboring Iran
is no exception. In fact, Iran is a much more diverse society than its
neighbors, and the Persians who currently dominate are a minority in Iran.
Prof. Maurice Copithorne, a special representative of the UN Commission on
Human Rights, in his speech at the 58th session of the Commission on April
16th 2002 in Geneva, said that the Azerbaijanis are Iran’s “biggest ethnic
group” and may number 30 million people. Prof. Copithorne also pointed to
serious instances of human rights abuses of Iran’s Azerbaijani population.
For the past 80 years, the ethnic groups of Iran have been subjected to
systematic assimilation imposed by the central governments of Iran. Iran’s
former president Mr. Khatami talked about the famous “discussion among
civilizations”. When it was brought to president Khatami’s attention that
the discussion among civilizations must start from within Iran and that the
systematic cultural genocide of the past 80 years that had been imposed on
two thirds of Iran’s population (including Azerbaijani Turks, Kurds, Arabs,
Baluchis and Turkmen) needed to stop. President Khatami responded, “There is
no ethnicity in Iran; we all are Aryans, and our language is Persian.” The
current Iran’s president Mr. Ahmadinejad is no different than his
predecessor. In his New Year 1385 (Novruz) message specifically directed
toward the Persian people of Iran, means ignoring the two third of
non-Persian ethnics and also the non-Muslim religious minorities of Iran. Or
in the World Coup event of 2006, under Mr. Ahmadinejad administration, they
chose the national team slogan of “Stars of Persia”. While others like
Brazilian team carried the “No Racism” banner with themselves. As you can
see when it comes to the Iranian government and minority Persians, there is
nothing wrong when it comes to the above mentioned statements & slogans and
they don’t carry any racist message! But for the two third of Iran’s
non-Persian nationalities they are the classic example of racism that
practiced by Iranian government and the minority Persians of Iran. There is
a famous saying, “Sometime it is hard to prove racism but it is easy to see
when there is one”.
Azerbaijani territory has been a crossroad of different civilizations, and
there is a history of peaceful coexistence among different religious and
ethnic groups. Today, in the Azerbaijani cities of Tabriz, Urmia, Tehran,
the majority Azerbaijani Turks live peacefully with Christians, Jewish,
Bahaiis, and Sunni Muslims. For the past 20 years, Azerbaijani Turks in Iran
have become disillusioned with religious propaganda from Tehran (capital
city) and have tuned in to Turkish satellite TV broadcasts to be inspired by
Turkey’s progress and the strides it has made towards democracy and
modernization. Many Azerbaijanis see Turkey as a role model for the future
Iran or at least a self-governed Azerbaijani state within Iran. Speaking of
satellite TV broadcasts, about 25 Persian TV channels broadcasting from
California systematically ignoring the ethnic rights of non-Persian
nationalities of Iran. During ethnic riots in the city of Ahwaz by ethnic
Arabs protesting the central government’s policy of forced exile of the
native population; one of the Persian TV broadcasts from California
encouraged ethnic cleansing and clearly announced that the native people of
Ahwaz had no right to protest against the central government. This example
demonstrates that when it comes to ethnic rights the Persian opposition
groups outside Iran is on the same side as the current terrorist government
in Iran.
One might ask how this situation is possible when the supreme leader himself
is an Azerbaijani Turk and also many Azerbaijani Turks are now and in the
past were part of the establishment. That is true. But these people in the
establishment have shown no interest in pursuing human rights for their own
ethnic group. They are merely hired guns for the central government that are
used to implement the government’s chauvinistic and racist policies. For
those Azerbaijanis who served to the past or present governments of Iran,
material gain is more important than human rights, unfortunately.
Azerbaijanis in Iran are not against Persians or any other ethnic group. We
are against the chauvinistic policies that have been implemented over the
past 80 years by different governments of Iran. The fact is that Persian
opposition groups indirectly help to empower the Islamic Republic of Iran by
opposing the federalist system and supporting the centralized system. These
groups don’t have the power to overthrow the Islamic Republic. By opposing
the federal system, they are showing that their only concern is maintaining
their dominance.
In conclusion, I would like to note that waves of democracy and human rights
from neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq have already affected Iran. Federalism
is the only way for Iran to move away from extremism and nuclear horror. Of
course, in the same manner as Sunni Arabs in Iraq, some Persian opposition
groups will furiously oppose federalism in Iran. Two major obstacles to
federalism exist: one is the central Islamic government, and the second is
the Persian opposition groups outside of the country. Both of these groups
ignore and deny the existence of different ethnic groups in Iran. I fear
that for Iran, ignoring democracy and federalism could lead to a violent
Balkanization of the entire region. One might ask “What can the European
Union, member countries and the United States do? “ I believe in a critical
days like now, all the events which takes place in the non-Persian ethnics
of Iran must be paid more attention. Through the official statements by
international organizations such as UN, EU & AI, Iranian government could be
pressured to release all the political prisoners and ask to have more
respect for the human rights of two third of Iran’s non-Persian ethnics.
Azerbaijanis in Iran demand equal treatment in every aspect of their life.
And the EU, UN and the United States’ government as the promoter of human
rights throughout the world must not neglect the South Azerbaijanis and the
other ethnics of Iran and rather should be counted heavily on them as a true
and effective opposition groups which exists against the Iranian government.
In order one to believe me, it is enough to review past 100 years of Iran’s
history. Starting from early 1900 all the major movements started from
Azerbaijan and ended up with success and a huge change and transformation
through out Iran. Therefore today is no exception, without South
Azerbaijanis involvement for any change in Iran; it is hard to imagine
overcoming the Apatite and chauvinist Islamic Republic of Iran.
Rahim M. Shahbazi
Vice President
World Azerbaijanis Congress, WAC
Virginia, USA
rshahbazi@cox.net