November One
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Товарищи, встречу планируется назначить на воскресенье, а сегодня уже четверг. Еще раз прошу всех ранее высказавшихся подтвердить участие и, главное, регулярно и часто заглядывать в эту тему.
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ARiNO, в вашем посте я не согласен с этим:
но хоть моральную то поддержку мы им можем оказать -
Iranian Azeris: A Giant Minority
By Ali M. Koknar
June 6, 2006
Recently in Iran, tens of thousands of Iranian Azeris took to the streets for several days of demonstrations touched off by the May 12 publication of a racist cartoon in the state-run Iran newspaper. (The cartoon depicted an Azeri-speaking cockroach.) Iranian security forces cracked down violently on the demonstrators, killing at least four people (Azeri nationalists claim twenty dead), injuring forty-three, and detaining hundreds of others. These developments indicate brewing discontent among Iran’s Azeri population and should be studied for their implications for U.S. and Western policy toward Tehran.
Deeper Issues at Play
The Iranian regime’s effort to put out this ethnic brushfire by closing the Tehran-based Iran newspaper and arresting its editor as well as the ethnic Azeri cartoonist quickly escalated to the usual strongarm response as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ anti-riot units and Basij militias attacked the Azeri protesters. Iranian security forces cracked down on tens thousands of offended Azeris, who took to the streets in Tehran and in the major northwestern Iranian cities such as Tabriz, Urumieh, Ardebil, Maragheh, and Zenjan. The intelligence service launched a massive detention campaign, rounding up relatives of Azeri Turks previously jailed for Turkish nationalism.
The Iranian deputy interior minister for security affairs, Ali Asghar Ahmadi, admitted that the demonstrations in Tabriz were far more than a mere protest against a newspaper insult. In fact, there is much resentment in Iranian Azerbaijan about the region’s economic and social difficulties. That resentment is fed by the attitudes of ethnic Persians toward ethnic Azeris—an attitude well captured in the phrase “Torki khar” (Turkish donkey), used by Persians in reference to Azeris, whom they regard as the “muscle” of the Iranian economy to be dominated by Persian “brains”.
Azeri Turks, concentrated mainly in the oil-poor northwest of Iran (along the border with Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan), make up an estimated one-fourth of Iran’s population of 70 million. Azeris often claim a population share close to 40 percent, a number that includes ethnic brethren such as the Turkmen, Qashgais, and other Turkic-speaking groups. Unlike other ethnic groups in Iran such as Sunni Kurds and Arabs, the Azeri Turks are Shiites like the Persians. Divided from their kin in Azerbaijan by the 1828 Treaty of Turkmanchai, which gave northern Azerbaijan to Russia (that part of Azerbaijan gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991) and southern Azerbaijan to Iran, the Azeris’ role in the Persian government was significantly weakened when the Pahlavi dynasty came into power in 1925. Contact between the Azeri areas of Iran and the Soviet Union were limited until Soviet forces occupied northern Iran during World War II. In 1945, at Soviet instigation, an Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was proclaimed in Iranian Azerbaijan. It lasted only until Soviet forces withdrew a year later; in the aftermath, some thousands of Iranian Azeris were killed.
Much as did imperial Iran, the Islamic regime has downplayed the ethnic differences between Persians and Azeris. Despite the fact that influential figures in the establishment, such as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are of Azeri descent, the mullahs did not hesitate to crack down hard on Azeri Turkish nationalism, using heavy weapons to put down a 1981 uprising in Tabriz and summarily executing hundreds of Azeris.
Azeris have had mixed relationships with other Iranian minorities. Kurds, who make up around 14 percent of Iran’s population, do not have particularly good relations with ethnic Azeris; several cities in western Iran, such as Urumieh and Mako, are inhabited by both Kurds and by Azeri Turks. In the last decade, the ethnic majority of the Azeri Turks in some areas close to the border with Turkey has been diluted by immigration of Kurds. The attitudes of the Turkic-speaking ethnic Turkmens, who live in the part of Iran near the independent republic of Turkmenistan, are unclear.
Growing Azeri Nationalism
The last fifteen years has seen a boom in nationalist publications for Iranian Azeris and growing interest in both Turkey and the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. A considerable number of Iranian Azeris watch Turkish television broadcasts now available via satellite; this has increased their knowledge of Turkey as well as the Anatolian dialect of Turkish.
This revival led to the creation of a new organization, the South Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement (Gamoh), by literature professor Mahmudali Chohraganli. After winning election to the Iranian parliament in 1995, Chohraganli, whose own father was once tortured by the Shah’s secret police for Turkish nationalism, was not allowed to take his seat. Gamoh opposes what it calls “Persian chauvinism,” demanding more cultural rights for Azeris, and a future Iranian government with a federal structure resembling the United States in which Azeris can have their own flag and parliament. Gamoh’s proclaimed support for self-determination, secular government and a pro-Western orientation does not sit well with Tehran. Its apparent popularity has put Gamoh squarely on Tehran’s radar screen.
Gamoh is run as a secret organization inside Iran. Its members, including Chohraganli, who was jailed for two years and released in 1999 after falling seriously ill, are often jailed or harassed by Iranian security forces. Denied visas by both the Turkish and Azerbaijani governments, Chohraganli was allowed to travel to the United States in 2002. In April 2005, bodies of two Gamoh members were found floating in the Aras River, the boundary between Iran and Azerbaijan. In September 2005, the Iranian government blamed Gamoh for the shooting of a government official in Urumieh; Gamoh denied involvement. In March 2006, several Gamoh members attended the Second World Azerbaijanis Congress in Baku. Following that congress, several Gamoh members were arrested in Tabriz, and in April the Iranian Azeri newspaper Navid Azerbaijan was banned.
The plight of Iranian Azeris is followed closely by their kin in Azerbaijan and Turkey. But both the Azerbaijani and Turkish governments take care not to damage their sensitive relations with the Iranian government. Turkey recently stopped allowing a Chicago-based Azeri television broadcaster, Gunaz, from using its satellite link. Gunaz is known for its virulent opposition to Iran’s Islamic regime and its separatist attitude since it went on the air in 2005. On the other hand, Ankara has given Chohraganli permission to visit Turkey soon, and Gamoh has an open presence there.
Azerbaijan is also walking a fine line between sympathy for the Iranian Azeris and its economic and political interests with the Islamic regime. Tehran recently consented to the opening of an Azerbaijani consulate general in Tabriz, Iran’s largest Azeri-majority city. With annual bilateral trade volume of $600 million, Iran is a major trading partner of and an investor in Azerbaijan; Tehran also offers humanitarian aid to the almost one million Azerbaijanis internally displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh after Armenia occupied that part of Azerbaijan in 1993. Yet the Azerbaijani public is largely sympathetic to the plight of Iranian Azeris. “Baku, Tabriz, Ankara. Where are the Persians? Here we are!” chanted the Azeri Turks in Baku this week as they protested the brutal treatment of their ethnic kin by Iranian security forces. Many Azeri nationalists are interested in uniting “North” Azerbaijan (the former Soviet republic) with “South” Azerbaijan (the Iranian provinces).
Ethnic tensions in Iran have been on the rise with unpredictable results, involving not just Azeris but also Kurds, Arabs, and Baluchs. The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has only made these problems worse.
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Grey Wolf, если говорить о письмах, загляните в соседнюю тему ("Наших бьют или почему молчит официальный Баку"). Там достаточно большой список адресов мировых СМИ и переводы обращений на несколько языков. Отступление: все-таки я еще раз хотел бы попросить модераторов выделить информацию об акции протеста в отдельный тред (даже необязательно запиненный), а то, как я понимаю, многие просто не видят ни текстов, ни адресов. Плохо еще и то, что нет возможности редактировать сообщения. Все тексты обращений и ряд списков были, ввиду поступления новой информации, уже изменены и дополнены по сравнению с первоначальным вариантом, и только здесь из-за невозможности редактирования сообщений они остаются в первозданном виде.
Еще, если вы в Баку и хотите обсудить действия в поддержку иранских азербайджанцев, прошу вас заглянуть в тему "Иран сефирлийин гаршысында пикет" (несколько последних страниц).
ARiNO, я с вами не согласен. Если отсутствие официальной реакции еще можно как-то понять, то вот олимпийское спокойствие большинства населения, заметное, к сожалению, даже на форумах, - неслыханный позор. ИМХО, надо делать все, чтобы оказать поддержку, хотя бы моральную.
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Согласен. Прошу всех, кто ранее уже выразил готовность присоединиться к акции, подтвердить участие во встрече. Конечно, было бы неплохо, если бы были еще желающие. Также надо назначить час.
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Поддерживаю. Собственно, уже поддержал в одном ЛС. Раз уже больше 10 человек, есть знакомые, и в любой момент могут (надеюсь) подключиться новые посетители, можно встретиться хотя бы для того, что скоординировать действия по проведению всех акций протеста, в том числе и по поводу пикета. Правда, для реального проведения последнего нужно больше участников.
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Итак, уже 11 (в целом, не считая знакомых).
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Да много чего надо бы по идее вынести в отдельный тред и запинить. В первую очередь, все, что непосредственно связано с акцией (тексты, адреса и пр.). Собственно, я изначально открыл отдельный тред, просто его потом объединили с темой "Наших бьют". В общем, это уже на усмотрение модераторов.
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Упс, нет, это моя ошибка, конечно. Ссылки, естественно, были в той же теме, просто сама тема на другом форуме. Вот они:
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Блоги:
http://azadistan-xiyabani.blogspot.com/
http://demoqrafi.blogspot.com/
http://elobaoymaqlarimiz.blogspot.com/
http://ezimi-qedim.blogspot.com/
http://mehran1.persianblog.com
http://sozumuz-turk-dovletler.blogspot.com/
http://www.postci.blogspot.com/
http://www.southazerbaijan.com/
http://www.tebriz-evladi.blogspot.com/
Организации и партии:
http://www.21azer.com/ 21 Azer Təşkilatı **
http://www.achiq.org/ Azərbaycan Federal - Demokrat Hərəkatı **
http://www.adf-mk.org/ Azərbaycan Demokrat Firqəsı ***
http://www.aznf.org/ Azərbaycan Milli Cəbhəsi **
http://www.gaip.org/ Gьney Azərbaycan İstiqlal Partisi ***
http://www.gamoh.org/ Gьney Azərbaycan Milli Oyanış Hərəkatı ***
http://www.hr.baybak.com/ SARHW **
http://www.jarchi.de/ United Independent Azerbaijan Front ***
Информационные и новостные порталы:
http://gunaztv.blogfa.com/ GunazTV News***
http://savlar.southazarbaijan.com/ Az Sav ***
http://www.35000000.com/ 35000000 ***
http://www.azadliq.org/radio/Tabriz_Express.html ***
http://www.azadtribun.net/ Azad Tribun *
http://www.azyurd.com/ Az Yurd **
http://www.baybak.com/ BayBak***
http://www.birolmali.com/ BirOlmali **
http://www.dalgam.com/ Dalgam *
http://www.durna.se/ Durna**
http://www.gunazer.com/ Gьndəlik Azərbaycan ***
http://www.iranisnotpersia.com/turkce.htm *
http://www.navidazerbaijan.com/ Navid Azerbaijan**
http://www.ocaq.net/ Ocaq **
http://www.radist.org/az/ev.htm Radiyo Istiqlal ***
http://www.shamstabriz.com/ Azer Turk İnternational **
http://www.turkmensahra.org/ Turkmensahra **
http://www.voanews.com/azeri VOA in Azerbaijani ***
http://www.yurd.net/ Yurd ***
Форумы:
http://www.atsizcilar.com/forum/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vahidazerbaycan
http://www.danishiq.baybak.com/
ТВ и радио:
www.gunaz.tv GünazTV ***
http://pointers.audiovideoweb.com/asxfiles...winlive2115.asx GunAzTv online
http://www.radioodlaryurdu.com/ Odlar Yurdu **
Видео с демонстраций:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=23...420269&q=tabriz
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Примечания:
Звездочки поставлены мной и отражают мое мнение о дизайне сайтов:
* - не более чем хостинг материалов.
** - можно читать.
*** - в целом неплохо сделанный сайт.
Все новые ссылки прошу выкладывать здесь.
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Да, именно.
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A-turk, ideyalar var, onları yerinə yetirənlərin sayı hələ azdır. Başqa forumdan bir post:
"Итак:
Хочу еще раз напомнить о предложенном ранее списке того, что желательно сделать в рамках проведения акции. Часть уже выполнена, но остается еще целый ряд пунктов. Кроме того, прошу выдвигать собственные идеи.
* Тексты нужно перевести на как можно больше языков. Прошу тех, кто может это сделать, сообщить здесь или в ЛС.
* Призвать азербайджанские СМИ уделить больше внимания этому вопросу.
* Надо найти еще больше ссылок на форумы, гостевые книги и пр. иранских азербайджанцев.
* Надо наладить контакты с редакторами и посетителями сайтов и форумов иранских азербайджанцев (имеющиеся ссылки - выше), выразить поддержку, пригласить их на форум... ну, в общем, само собой понятно. Нужны люди, владеющие арабской графикой и, желательно, фарси.
* Нужно составить полную базу всех фото- и видеоматериалов о событиях в Иране! Все, кто может помочь с подборкой, - пишите здесь или в ЛС. Потом на эту базу можно будет давать ссылки. Дополнено: хостинг уже есть, и я сейчас пополняю архив материалов и готовлю оформление сайта. Прошу всех помочь в этом деле.
* Информацию об этих акциях надо разместить на самых популярных турецких форумах.
Кроме того, прошу вас связаться с информационными сайтами иранских азербайджанцев, хотя бы для того, чтобы выразить поддержку (уверяю, это никогда не бывает лишним), а еще лучше - чтобы предложить хоть какую-то помощь. Ссылки уже есть в этой теме.
This post has been edited by November One: Yesterday, 17:12"
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Рановато, ИМХО. Пока всего 10 человек, а надо бы минимум еще 5-10. Хотя есть одно но - знакомые. С ними должно быть больше. В общем, предлагаю посмотреть, присоединится ли кто-нибудь еще в эти 1-3 дня; если нет, то все равно что-то уже можно наметить.
ЗЫ. Атропат, в теме "Азербайджанская революция в Иране" sammy предложила неплохую идею.
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Уже 6 (c Lonely Wolf). Вместе с другими форумами - 10 (со знакомыми, думаю, больше, но см. предыдущий пост). Еще?
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Lonely Wolf, 6 (в общем 10). Еще кто-нибудь?
sammy, ОК, хорошая мысль.
Всех прошу отмечаться в теме "Иран сефирлийи гаршысында пикет!"
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_Джин_, пока что основная проблема как раз в том, что людей очень мало. Вы серьезно насчет многих откликов? Откликнулось 4 человека, не считая меня. С другими форумами будет 9. Это даже меньше, чем 15-20 человек, необходимых для проведения пикета. Впрочем, надеюсь, что еще кто-нибудь откликнется. Особенно обидно то на этом фоне, что по поводу карикатур у на лидеров Ирана легко собрали около 50 человек и провели пикет (конечно, там методы организации пикета были, полагаю, совсем другими, но все же).
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Готов перевод на китайский. Прошу вас отослать китайский текст по нижеуказанным адресам ряда китайских СМИ. Если отсылать письмо на несколько адресов одновременно, желательно воспользоваться функцией BCC (Blind Carbon Copy). Список адресов уже преобразован для более удобного использования этой функции.
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尊敬的中国新闻报道局:
最近居住伊朗的阿塞拜僵族人举行了大规模的游行示威活动，而各国的新闻机构均未进行报导。这一点令我们阿塞拜僵族人感到非常遗憾。
生活在伊朗的阿塞拜僵族人在伊朗属于少数民族，主要分布在伊朗西北部的阿塞拜僵省「又叫做南阿塞拜僵」。他们常年受到伊朗政权的歧视和压迫。为了消灭阿塞拜僵族人的民族意识,阿塞拜僵族人至今仍旧被禁止在学校和公共场所使用本民族的语言。
最近伊朗的国家新闻社刊载了一幅将阿塞拜僵族人比做樟螂的漫画，点燃了阿塞拜僵族人常年积压在胸中的怒火。他们在伊朗的阿塞拜僵省首府大不里士，赞詹，乌尔米耶，阿尔达比勒，马拉盖等城市举行了大规模的游行示威活动。这些示威活动甚至波及到伊朗的首都德黑兰。在制止阿塞拜僵族人的游行示威活动中，伊朗政府使用了催泪性毒气，甚至出现了枪击事件。根据现有的情报，在和伊朗军队的冲突中，数十名阿塞拜僵族人被杀。逮捕游行示威者及其家人的活动仍在继续。数千名阿塞拜僵族人被捕后下落不明。
令我门深感遗憾的是各国对这些事件报导很少。作为阿塞拜僵族人的我诚恳的呼吁贵国新闻报导机构能够对这些事件给以重视,并向贵国人民及世界人民如实报导阿塞拜僵族人在伊朗为消除种族歧视而进行的正义斗争。
在此，向具有正义感的中国人民及新闻报导机构致以崇高的敬意。
阿塞拜僵人
这里登载了一些游行示威活动的照片，请点击阅览。
http://www.baybak.com/az/index.php?list=2&page=1
http://www.gaip.org/files/Tabriz_May22.pdf
http://www.azadtribun.net/x622.htm
http://www.azadtribun.net/x629.htm
http://www.azadtribun.net/x643.htm
http://www.azadtribun.net/x627.htm
http://www.azadtribun.net/x628.htm
http://www.azadtribun.net/x633.htm
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Адреса:
mydsb@my_public.sc.cn.info.net,
[email protected],.net,
[email protected],uninet.net,
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Теперь - по последнему выделенному фрагменту. Хорошо бы, если к пикетам и протестам привлечь турецкую, арабскую и вообще мусульманскую оющественность в Западной Европе как можно шире, чтобы подчеркнуть антимусульманский по сути зхарактер репрессий иранского режима. Ведь весь пафос пропаганды Ахмадинеджада, в том числе и его яркого эпистолярного творчества, направлен на привлечение симпатий мусульманской общественности за пределами Ирана и прежде всего в мусульманских диаспорах Запада.
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qurk, я уже предлагал. В соседней теме про пикет.
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Да, о "Smart Filtering" в Иране писали многие. См. хотя бы здесь:
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Six more journalists arrested in north following unrest over cartoon
Reporters Without Borders today called for the release of six journalists who have been detained in northern Iran in the past eight days as result of unrest among members of the Azeri ethnic minority that was sparked by the publication of a controversial cartoon.
Vahid Dargahi, the editor of the weekly Avay Ardabil, Ali Nazari, the editor of the weekly Araz, and Reza Kazemi, its manging editor, were arrested on the street on 27 May. Their families have received no word of them since their arrest and it is not known what they are charged with.
The managing editor of Shams Tabriz, a newspaper that was closed down in 2000, was arrested on 28 May. He had been writing for other local newspapers. His website has been suspended since the day of his arrest.
Orouj Amiri and Amin Movahedi were arrested on 25 and 26 May following a demonstration by members of the Azeri minority against the government in Tehran.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=17813
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Iran's volatile ethnic mix
By Brenda Shaffer International Herald Tribune
FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 2006
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts Several northwestern cities in Iran have recently been rocked by demonstrations and riots by ethnic Azerbaijani citizens. They were protesting a cartoon published in an official government newspaper that depicted the Azerbaijani minority as a cockroach and instructed people to deny it food until it learns to speak Persian.
Last Sunday, thousands of Iranian Azerbaijanis gathered outside Parliament in Tehran to chant in their native Turkic language and demand the rights to operate schools in their own language. As his police forces heavy-handedly dispersed the demonstrators, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised the loyalty of the Azerbaijani citizens and thanked them for "supporting the Islamic Revolution."
The massive Azerbaijani response to the cartoon is the latest in a string of ethnically based protests and violence that have occurred in Iran this year, highlighting the country's multiethnic nature, which is little appreciated in the West. Fully half of Iran's population is non-Persian.
Western policy makers need to take into account the fact that ethnic politics influences Iran's foreign policy choices and will be a factor in the current regime's future stability.
Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and Baluch are concentrated on Iran's peripheries, sharing ties with people in neighboring Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The presence of relatively large groups of ethnic minorities directly across the border from ethnic majorities in neighboring states significantly affects Tehran's bilateral relations with its neighbors.
Since ethnic Azerbaijanis make up a third of Iran's population, for example, Tehran is fearful that neighboring Azerbaijan could become a source of irredentism for its own Azerbaijani population. It has therefore supported Armenia in its war with Azerbaijan over the disputed province of Nagorno-Karabakh, even though Azerbaijan and Iran are among the few states with a Shiite Muslim majority.
Encouraged by the gains of their ethnic fellows in neighboring states, such as the Kurds and Turkmen who are playing a primary role in the new Iraqi government's political process, many of Iran's minorities have been demanding their rights recently.
In the last six months, at least 30 people have died and hundreds have been arrested in scores of violent confrontations between government forces and Kurds, who make up close to 10 percent of the population of Iran.
The Arab-populated provinces in Iran's southwest have experienced a large number of terrorist attacks in the last year, and in recent months the government has arrested and killed scores of people in the region. And for many years, the Baluch-populated regions bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan have been a danger zone for Iran's security forces, more than 20 of whom were killed there last month.
While Tehran likes to portray itself as the champion of the world's downtrodden Muslims, it denies its mostly Muslim ethnic minorities the most basic rights, such as the right to operate schools, and enforces extreme limitations on newspapers and other media that use languages other than Persian. The Special Representative of the UN Commission on Human Rights has stated that "there can be no doubt that the treatment of minorities in Iran does not meet the norms set out in the Declaration on Minorities or in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, cross-border ties between ethnic minorities in Iran and post-Soviet neighboring states have increased significantly. Much of this cooperation concerns trade, education and science and takes place directly between provinces in Iran and neighboring states, thus circumventing Tehran. Representatives of Iran's ethnic groups are also beginning to look toward the United States and other countries.
Tehran discredits these movements by labeling them secessionist. Many of Iran's reformists view implementation of full democracy in the state half- heartedly - they know that this will lead to demands to grant full cultural and language rights to ethnic minorities, which is a development that they prefer to avoid. But promotion of cultural and language rights does not necessarily lead to secession and can sometimes contribute to the stability of the state. In Iran, most ethnic groups seeking expansion of their cultural rights view themselves as Iranian citizens and seek to change Tehran's policies, not Iran's borders.
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has blamed the United States for instigating the Azerbaijani demonstrations, even though Washington has not attempted to play the ethnic card to destabilize Iran. No external force can create a grassroots demand for rights unless people actually feel a sense of alienation and deprivation. External factors do, however, have a role to play: Many members of Iran's ethnic minorities feel empowered by what they view as Tehran's increasing isolation and vulnerability because of the international confrontation over the Iranian nuclear program.
Western policy makers should consider the response of ethnic minorities when assessing regime stability in Iran. Policy toward Iran should include strategies to deal with the political demands of Iranian ethnic groups - demands that are only likely to grow.
Brenda Shaffer, research director at the Caspian Studies Project at Harvard University, is the author of "Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity."
http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file...n/edshaffer.php
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Ethnic Upheaval Boosts Calls to Oust Iranian Regime
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
June 02, 2006
(CNSNews.com) - Ethnic unrest continues in parts of Iran, prompting some exiled members of Iranian minorities to step up calls for a concerted effort to topple the clerical regime.
Largely eclipsed by the international attention on Tehran's nuclear program, the latest spate of protests -- and the violent state response -- was sparked by the publication last month of a newspaper cartoon deemed insulting by members of Iran's large Turkic Azeri minority.
The Persian (Farsi)-language Iran Daily, produced by the official Irna news agency, printed a sketch in a children's supplement depicting a boy speaking in Persian to an uncomprehending cockroach, which asks "What?" in the Azeri tongue.
The accompanying text discussed ways of dealing with cockroaches -- first attempt civilized discourse, but if the bugs don't understand, then cut off their "food source" of human excrement.
Azeris, who are prohibited from using their language in Iranian schools and view their ancient culture as being under threat, reportedly were incensed. (Azeris comprise between one-quarter and one-third of Iran's 68 million people, 51 percent of whom are Persian.)
Protests erupted in Azeri regions, prompting a harsh security force response. According to independent Iranian media, exiled groups and news outlets in neighboring Azerbaijan, many protestors have been injured and detained, and unconfirmed reports say up to 20 were killed.
The independent online news service Rooz said the focus on protests then shifted from the newspaper to official symbols, with demonstrators attacking government buildings and demanding the resignation of local officials and police officers.
In a bid to defuse the crisis, authorities apologized, suspended the newspaper and arrested the cartoonist and editor.
"Based on their response, Iranian officials fear domestic unrest could destabilize the ruling regime in Tehran," said Azeri political analyst Taleh Ziyadov, writing in the Jamestown Foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor on Wednesday.
"Leaders were quick to play up ethnic harmony inside Iran and argue that only an outside force could disrupt that unity."
Senior officials have accused foreign elements of instigating the protests and linking them to Western pressure over Iran's nuclear activities.
"Those who have failed to block Iranians from achieving progress through pressure, conspiracies, and misuse of international organizations have now launched a strategy to foment discord and disillusion among Iranians in order to prevent them from realizing their goals," Irna quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying last week.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader who is himself an Azeri, said in a televised speech Iran's "desperate" enemies were resorting to provoking ethnic unrest.
But observers say Azeris have long-held and legitimate grievances.
"When, despite their pride in their language, the Turkish-speaking Iranians are denied the right to officially learn their language and read their books ... it is only natural for a cartoon to be the catalyst and spark for deeply suppressed feelings and pain in the chest of every Azeri," wrote prominent reformist Ali Afshari in a Rooz column.
Azeris have played an important role in major events in Iran's history, including the 1979 revolution, but their influence has been curtailed under the Islamic Republic.
There are about three times more Azeris in Iran than in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan itself, and since the Soviet Union's collapse, Tehran has worried that the presence of an independent Azerbaijan on Iran's north-west border could inflame nationalism and secessionism among Iran's Azeris.
"Tehran believes that increased ethnic awareness among ethnic groups in Iran could weaken the religious and national (Iranian) identities -- two pillars of Iran's current establishment," said Ziyadov.
"It could also lead to domestic disorder and threaten Iran's territorial integrity," he said.
"But what scares Tehran the most is the fact that some U.S. observers view the Azeri community in Iran as a domestic force that could potentially bring about regime change in Iran."
Multiple challenges
In another internal headache for Ahmadinejad, student protests flared up again at Tehran University late last month, and Rooz reported Thursday that "a large number" of student activists have been detained.
Tehran also faces challenges from other ethnic minorities.
Anti-regime protests have been held this year by ethnic Kurds, who comprise nine percent of the population.
In Khuzestan, an oil-rich region bordering Iraq, bomb blasts and sabotage occurred in mid-2005 and again last October. Khuzestan is home to Iran's ethnic Arab minority (three percent of the total population.) Tehran blamed the West, but the region has experienced unrest linked to Arab fears the government would flood Khuzestan with non-Arab Iranians.
Yet another minority claiming discrimination, the Sunni Turkmen (two percent), is also restive.
The Azeri Press Agency this week published a statement from a Iranian Turkmen nationalist movement expressing support for the Azeris, and accusing "Farsi chauvinists" of trying to carry out a policy of assimilation against ethnic minorities.
The Turkmensahra Liberation Organization said current developments around Iran showed that ethnic minorities were ready to defend their identity and heritage.
"The accumulation of such reactions will soon destroy the dominant Farsi leadership."
In Washington this week, organizations representing Iranian minorities held a conference to discuss the "road to democracy" in Iran.
One of the participants, Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (IKDP) secretary-general Mustafa Hejri, called for the international community to "speak with one voice" on Iran.
"So far, the regime has gained the most from the differences in approach between Europe and America in dealing with Iran," the Turkish Daily News quoted him as saying.
"They must redirect their support to the democratic opposition forces both inside and outside Iran."
Hejri said the peaceful removal of the terrorist-sponsoring regime in Tehran would help stabilize the region, particularly Iraq.
Another group taking part, the Kurdish American Committee for Democracy in Iran, said in a statement that Iranian Persians as well as ethnic minorities had been deprived of their freedom.
"Ethnic opposition groups and sectarian political parties must unite to bring an end to this reign of terror in Iran," it said. "This responsibility is even greater now with the looming danger that this regime might develop nuclear weapons in the near future."
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus....T20060602a.html
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Iran: Cartoon protests signal Azeri frustration
The past few days have seen a string of deadly protests in predominantly Azeri northwestern Iran. What officially triggered the turmoil was the publication in the 19 May weekly supplement to the Tehran-based 'Iran' newspaper of a controversial cartoon showing an Azeri-speaking cockroach. Although "Iran" is a government-owned periodical, authorities blame alleged 'enemies of the country' - a term generally used to describe the United States, Israel, and Britain - for the ethnic unrest. But regional observers believe the controversial cartoon served as a catalyst for Iran's Azeris to press anew for social, economic, and political demands.
Jean-Christophe Peuch for RFE/RL (01/06/06)
The publication of the controversial cartoon prompted a swift response from Iran's central authorities. Cabinet ministers condemned the caricature, describing it as "an offense to the Iranian people as a whole".
A foreign plot?
On 23 May - the day after the first protests broke out in Tabriz - the country's judiciary ordered the indefinite closure of "Iran" and the arrest of its editor in chief and its cartoonist.
But this did not help defuse tensions in the northwest.
As new protests were reported, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad alleged in a 25 May television address that the unrest was part of a foreign plot aimed at disrupting Tehran's efforts to acquire "peaceful nuclear technology".
On 28 May, it was the turn of the country's supreme leader to enter the fray.
In an address to Iran's parliament, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested a link between developments in the northwest and a recent announcement that US President George W. Bush's administration is seeking a multimillion-dollar bill in Congress to promote democracy in Iran.
"This tumult - these ethnic and religious instigations - are the last arrow left in the quiver of the enemies of the People's Islamic Republic of Iran," he said. "They are wrong when they plan to spend money with a view to stirring ethnic groups, social classes, and the youth. As a rule their plans are based on a wrong assessment of the situation. And now they've decided to turn to Azerbaijan."
Stirring up Arabs and Kurds, too
This is not the first time Iranian authorities have blamed domestic unrest on foreign countries.
Tehran accused Britain last year of instigating bomb attacks in the southwestern Khuzistan Province, a region with a large Arab population. It also blamed the United States for allegedly stoking unrest among ethnic Kurds.
Touraj Atabaki teaches at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. This expert on Iran's Azeri minority says there might be some truth behind Iran's claims of a foreign plot. Yet, he tells RFE/RL he believes responsibility for the unrest lies first and foremost with the central government.
"Of course one cannot confirm that foreign agencies or [individuals] from [neighboring] Azerbaijan or Turkey, or from the US, are involved," he said. "This is very difficult to [make such accusations]. There might be some foreign involvement. But one can neither confirm nor deny this. Yet, the [approach] of the Iranian [authorities] toward social protests is very security-oriented and based on conspiracy theories. They immediately come to the conclusion that protests are instigated by foreign powers and they don't want to see the social, local [reasons] of these protests."
Ever since Tehran quelled the short-lived autonomous government of Tabriz in 1946, Azeris - who make up to one quarter of the country's population - have been demanding more rights in line with Iran's constitution.
In the late 1990s, President Mohammad Khatami introduced reforms aimed at giving ethnic minorities more control of their respective regions' political life. But Atabaki says Ahmadinejad, who took office in August of last year, is in the process of reversing this policy.
Ahmadinejad reversing previous policy
"What Khatami did was to try to bring more local people into the political establishment. Governors, mayors, and local officers were elected or appointed from [amongst] various ethnic groups and that was a trend that started some eight years ago. But now, [under] the presidency of Ahmadinejad, we see that those officials who were appointed [over] the past eight years [are being] replaced with people coming from [other] geographic areas. Those are mostly people who have links with the Revolutionary Guard."
Ali Hamed-Iman is the director of "Shams-e Tabrizi", a reformist electronic newspaper that has its office in the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. He tells Radio Farda the controversial cartoon served as a catalyst for the country's Azeris.
"This caricature became an excuse for Turkic-speaking students and people all across Iran," Hamed-Iman said. "It was a spark that blew up the gunpowder of the Azerbaijani national movement. It was like a knife stuck in the back of the [Azeri] people, or to put it differently, in the back of the Azerbaijani national movement."
That Azeri protests are going beyond the cartoon controversy is confirmed by reports from Tehran.
As Khamenei was preparing to address the legislature on 28 May, dozens of Azeris marched on the parliament before being dispersed by police. Iran's student news agency (ISNA) said they were demanding that their language be taught in Iranian schools and that an Azeri-language television channel be established.
Difficult to determine
Meanwhile, what really happened in Iran's northwest remains shrouded in secrecy.
Authorities initially said the protests were limited to Tabriz and that one person was wounded and another 54 people arrested during the unrest.
Subsequent reports, however, suggest the disturbances were on a much broader scale.
On 28 May, the top security officer of West Azerbaijan Province, General Hassan Karami, said four people were killed in the town of Naqadeh, some 150 kilometers southeast of Tabriz.
Various accounts offered
This official death toll pales in comparison to that given by the Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement (Guney Azerbaycan Milli Oyanis Harekati - or GAMOH).
The Baku-based GAMOH advocates unification of Azeris living on both sides of the Araxes River, which separates Iran from Azerbaijan.
The group says unrest spread across Iran's north and that deadly clashes in Tabriz, Urumiyeh, Ardabil, Maragheh, Zanjan, Khvoy, Bukan, and other towns left at least 20 dead and scores of wounded. It also claims security forces made hundreds of arrests and sustained a few casualties at the hands of protesters.
The World Azeri Congress last week released a list of casualties that indicated that some of the deadliest clashes took place in Sulduz (Fesanduz, in Persian), a town GAMOH claims fell briefly into the hands of insurgents.
Given the political agenda of those two organizations, independent observers may find it hard to give credence to their claims.
Yet, Atabaki - who has just returned from Iran - says the protest movement "is spreading everywhere" and has reached Farsabad, near the border with Azerbaijan. He also says the government seems unable - or unwilling - to respond to the unrest other than through coercion.
"They have mobilized mobs against the crowds that took to the streets," Atabaki said. "They also started mass repression, [with] arrests and imprisonments. They think this is the best way to tackle the crisis. The point is that the government did not expect such a [protest] movement, [that it would develop] on such a scale."
Copyright © 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036. Funded by the US Congress.
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Кто-нибудь может перевести?
Наши новостные сайты (тексты - в соседней теме), а также информационные сайты иранских азербайджанцев сообщают о сильных столкновениях.
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По сообщениям, в Иране опять cильные столкновения. Что передает GunazTV?
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Azerbaijanis stage protest actions in several cities in Iran
03 June 2006 [15:33] - Today.Az
Azerbaijanis are staging protest actions in Tabriz, Sulduz, Miyane, Ardabil, Urmia and Zenjan cities in Iran.
They are protesting against the Iran Daily publishing a caricature insulting entire Azerbaijanis.
The Iranian authorities brought 20 thousand guards and police forces to Tabriz to disperse the protesters. The South Azerbaijan National Revival Movement (SANRM) Baku bureau spokesman Aghri Garadaghli told APA that there are about ten thousands of protesters in Tabriz. Bloody clashes started between the forces and demonstrators accompanied by firing gun. It is not ruled out that special provokers among the protesters fired gun.
Garadaghli also said that Iranian low enforcement bodies are using torture on the detained Azerbaijani demonstrators making them say that the US and other Western states are behind these protests. Four protesters died of severe torture in the past two days.
There was an armed clash between the Iranian military forces and the demonstrators during the protest action in Miyane city. There is no exact information about number of the killed and injured. According to the latest reports, law enforcement bodies arrested 1,700 Azerbaijani protesters in Tabriz, 1,500 in Ardabil and 1,000 in Tehran. The SANRM reports that demonstrators Ms. Hajar Sultani and Sirus Huseyninijad underwent severe torture and they are in bad health now. However, they have not been hospitalized yet.
URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/26886.html
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South Azerbaijan National Defense Committee established in Baku
03 June 2006 [10:36] - Today.Az
South Azerbaijan National Defense Committee established in Baku, Organization Committee member Javidan Elbars informs.
According to APA, Elbars has stated that the objective of establishing the committee was to give support of South Azerbaijanis living in Azerbaijan and Europe, to our compatriots in Iran.
The committee will render legal assistance to Azerbaijanis to prevent the repressions after the events in Iran have ended, and will inform the world community with the happened event.
The central office of the Committee will be in Baku, in parallel with USA, Germany and Switzerland branches will operate.
URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/26863.html
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South Azerbaijan National Freedom Army established in Iran
02 June 2006 [23:44] - Today.Az
South Azerbaijan National Freedom Army (SANFA) established in Iran, South Azerbaijan National Revival Movement European Organization informs.
The army was organized by Azerbaijanis who served in Iran Army. In the statement issued by SANFA related to it is stated that struggle will be lasted until rights of Azerbaijanis restored.
SANFA requirements are also stated in the statement: "The government of Iran in accordance with article 15 of the Constitution of the state Azerbaijanis should be given education rights, newspaper in Azerbaijani and 24 hours TV channels local executive power heads should be selected by Azerbaijanis where Azerbaijanis are in majority, necessary measures should be implemented to remove financial problems of South Azerbaijan. Imprisoned Azerbaijanis while protest action should be released and on June 29 Azerbaijanis participation should not be prevented on the day of Babek Khurrami's birthday, National Hero of Azerbaijan."
SANFA demanded to punish those fired at action participants in the cities of Iran where Azerbaijanis live, APA reports.
URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/26854.html
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Brutal suppression of protesters in Tabriz
02 June 2006 [16:09] - Today.Az
To contain unrests in Tabriz, provincial capital of East Azerbaijan, suppressive forces are deployed on streets throughout the city.
Up to 3,000 reinforcements had to be brought in from other parts of the country, NCRI reports.
Reports from Tabriz indicate that dozens of banks and government buildings have been attacked and their windows shattered by young people in total defiance of the repressive measures enforced in the city.
In one incident a woman protesting against the regime was attacked and badly beaten up by the suppressive forces before the eyes of her husband and passers-by. The government forces are taking away mobile phones with cameras in a bid to stop reports and photos leak out. Even so some pictures have been sent out with great risks.
/www.ncr-iran.org/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/26839.html
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Over 10,000 demonstrate in Tabriz despite severe repression
02 June 2006 [14:24] - Today.Az
According to reports from Iran over 10,000 people demonstrated on Wednesday in Tabriz, provincial capital of East Azerbaijan, despite undeclared marshal law.
People took to the streets of central Tabriz chanting anti-regime slogans, NCRI informs.
Special guards intervened to disperse the crowd but they faced stiff resistance which led to clashes in many parts. According to eye witness accounts the sound of fire arms did not stop throughout the demonstration which lasted for hours. People attacked banks and other government buildings and broke their windows.
To neutralize the effect of tear gas, the young people set fire to tires on streets and clashed with the suppressive forces.
Similar protests were reported in Orumieh, Naghadeh and Ardabil, major cities in Azeri speaking provinces in northwestern Iran.
Security forces have been going door to door in Naghadeh in search for young people. Those found have been transferred to unknown locations. The regime is refusing to hand back corpses of those killed in Naghdadeh during riots over the past week and the lives of many wounded are threatened as they do not receive medical attention.
/www.ncr-iran.org/
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un1xo1d, есть запись репортажа? Это очень важный материал.