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| Demonstrations of Azerbaijani Turkish Students at Tehran University |
On July 17, five young people were arrested in front of Tabriz University, and the charges against them remain unknown. Among those arrested were Sajad Radmehr, a graduate student in the Faculty of Mechanics at Tabriz University, law students Faraz Zehtab and Aydin Khajei, and the brothers Daryush and Shahrouh Khatemi. Their families have also been denied permission to visit them.
Aydin Khajei's family learned of his whereabouts only when they were asked to bring clothes for him to the Ettelaat (Iran's Ministry of Intelligence) detention center in Tabriz.
“My brother was kidnapped by Ettelaat. They took him without any legal documentation. They came to our house, searched it, but found nothing. They took a book about the history of Iranian Turks and the Asli Karam story, but they didn’t give us any information about why or how he was arrested,” said his brother, Ramin Khajei.
Ramin Khajei claims that Aydin’s arrest is due to his fight for national rights. “Here, anyone who says ‘Long live Azerbaijan,’ or ‘Long live my language,’ or simply says ‘I’m Turkish, I should write in Turkish, I should read in Turkish,’ they imprison them. They send them to jail. My brother Aydin is one of them.”
According to Ramin Khajei, his brother had previously been suspended from his studies for two semesters due to his activism for national rights. Similarly, Sajad Radmehr was only allowed to defend his thesis after a six-month ban. A campaign was launched at universities in Iranian Azerbaijan to protest the violation of Radmehr's right to education, and Radmehr, along with his friends, went on a hunger strike demanding he be allowed to take his exams. As a result of the campaign, the university administration allowed Radmehr to sit for his final exams and thesis defense, though his joy lasted only a few minutes before he was arrested again.
Ramin Khajei mentions that his brother’s and his friends' educational issues are also connected to their involvement in cultural organizations promoting Azerbaijani culture.
Sajad Radmehr’s sister, Ilaha (Umay) Radmehr, says that the pressure on students has increased since the May 2006 events. Both Ilaha Radmehr and Ramin Khajei assert that the arrested youth have done nothing wrong.
Ilaha Radmehr said:
“My brother and his friends have not done anything unjust. They have not crossed any lines, and they have not done anything wrong. They will come out, we believe in them, and in what they believe in.”
“They don’t see us as a nation. They deny our language, which is spoken by 30 million Azerbaijanis. They say our language comes from Pahlavi, that we have no right to say ‘I have my language,’ that it should be erased. If anyone tries to stand in their way, they will use their power to erase them. In this process, many have been killed. Just a few weeks ago, one of Aydin’s friends, Farhad Mohseni, was found dead in a lake. He was also kidnapped by Ettelaat.”
Recalling the death of Farhad Mohseni, an activist for national rights who had been arrested earlier, Mr. Khajei expresses his fear for his brother’s safety:
“Human rights are trampled underfoot here. So, it’s not certain what will happen to Aydin. We received one phone call at home, and we know he is still alive, but we don’t know what will happen to him next. Our mother insists on seeing her son at least to know he is alive, but visitation is forbidden.”
Ilaha Radmehr concludes by emphasizing her brother’s goal:
“My brother’s only goal is to live as a human being. His aim is to live according to all the rules of humanity, and that is his belief.”
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
«Mən türkəm» deyəni məhbus edirlər