September
13th, 2011
Overview
The Association for Defence of Azerbaijani
Political Prisoners in Iran (ADAPP) is appealing to the international
community, including bodies of the United Nations, to assist with avoiding an
environmental catastrophe in Iran
and to support those demonstrating to call attention to the crisis surrounding
the disappearance of Lake Urmia in the
country’s Azerbaijani provinces.
Over the past three weeks, a violent police crackdown
has resulted in scores of injuries, thousands of arrests, and at least four
deaths. In many cases, the families of those arrested are not aware of their
whereabouts or conditions.
ADAPP recommends that action be taken by
the international community, including the United Nations and its bodies, to
help end the deterioration of Lake Urmia; that Iranian members of Parliament
for the region should fully represent their constituents in any decision-making
process; that the Iranian government should stop the use of police force and engage
in peaceful negotiations to help resolve the conflict over Lake Urmia.
Full text
The Association for Defence of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners in
Iran (ADAPP) is appealing to the international community to assist with
avoiding an environmental catastrophe in Iran and to support those
demonstrating to call attention to the crisis surrounding the disappearance of Lake Urmia in the country’s Azerbaijani provinces. The
deterioration of Lake Urmia impacts 13 million
local inhabitants, as well as the nations of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, and Armenia. According to Esmail
Kahrom, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Tehran,
if Lake Urmia dries up, “six to eight cities will be totally destroyed,
covered by layers and layers of salt.”
For the past three weeks, the Association for Defence of Azerbaijani
Political Prisoners in Iran (ADDAP) has been actively monitoring the peaceful
protests regarding the endangered Lake Urmia
in Iran,
and the subsequent violent reactions and arrests by the Iranian government and
police.
When the peaceful demonstrations began, ADAPP called for
negotiations and cooperation from the Iranian government to help find ways to
address the disappearance of the lake. But the government has continued to
apply violent force against innocent civilians exercising their basic human
rights to assemble in the hopes of raising awareness about an impending
environmental catastrophe.
Lake Urmia is an ancient salt lake that sits between East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan
provinces, a region of Iran
dominated by ethnic Azerbaijani-Turks. It is one of the largest salt lakes in
the world. In recent years, the Iranian government has built dams on more than
20 tributaries feeding into the lake, reducing the depth of the shallow lake by
7 meters. Experts claim that this damming, coupled with an environmentally
damaging bridge linking the cities of
Urmia and Tabriz,
has reduced the flow of water into and within Lake Urmia,
causing 60% of the lake to evaporate. According to UNESCO, Lake
Urmia is a biosphere reserve crucial for “agriculture, business
and industry, recreational activities, (eco)tourism, artemia harvesting, salt
extraction and hunting.” A recent bill
in Iran’s
parliament to allocate funds to divert waters into Lake
Urmia was struck down.
The first round of recent mass arrests occurred on August 24 during
a private dinner party celebrating Iftar in Tabriz. Over thirty Azerbaijani journalists,
students, and poets gathered in a private residence were arrested because of
the government’s fears of possible demonstrations regarding Lake
Urmia. Neither police nor the central government has released the detainees' whereabouts, charges, and conditions
In a similar crackdown on August 25 in Tabriz, 30 Azerbaijanis were arrested in a
soccer stadium for chanting, “Lake Urmia is
dying; the [Iranian] parliament ordered its execution” during a soccer match.
When thousands of activists gathered in Urmia and Tabriz two days later to demonstrate for the saving of Lake Urmia,
police responded by using tear gas, rubber bullets, and batons in the hope of
violently dispersing peaceful demonstrators. ADAPP has learned that “scores
have been injured and 3 killed in the clashes with riot police” and,
disturbingly, many protestors were arrested while receiving treatment in
hospitals for injuries caused by police brutality. Despite escalating the
police use of force, the activists have persevered.
On September 3, ADAPP reported that many were injured with one
person killed by Iranian forces. Again, the Iranian police “used brutal force,
[fired] rubber and metal bullets, and [used] tear gas and batons” to end the
peaceful demonstrations. The body of the peaceful protestor killed by police
violence was immediately removed from the streets by the same police forces
that took control of important government buildings like West
Azerbaijan’s Governor’s Office and Urmia TV Station. Thousands
were arrested during the September 3 protests.
On September 9th, an Azerbaijani team won a soccer match
in Tehran’s
Azadi stadium. After the game, Azerbaijani fans in the stadium along with tens
of thousands of Azerbaijanis in the cities of Tabriz, Khoy, and Salmas took to the streets
and chanted Turkish slogans in favor of protecting Lake
Urmia and demanding for language rights. Around 20 protesters were
injured and more than 300 arrested by Iranian riot police who attacked
protesters firing rubber and metal bullets and using batons. A day after,
despite heavy presence of Iranian riot police, demonstrators gathered in the
central neighborhoods of Azerbaijani cities of Sulduz (Naghadeh), Urmia, Ardabil,
Tabriz, Marand, Maragha, and Qoshachay (Miandoab) where hundreds of protesters
have been arrested by Iranian security forces. The tensions between civilians
and police forces remain.
In light of the devastating effects that the shrinking of the Aral Sea has had on its region and its population, ADAPP
asks for action to help address the multiple issues surrounding the deteriorating
state of Lake Urmia. We also ask for the
international community’s support for those working to protect their
environment and their access to water.
Recommendations
Lake Urmia’s healthy
existence is crucial to the survival of those who depend on it. The
deterioration of Lake Urmia impacts 13 million
local inhabitants, as well as the nations of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, and Armenia.
Due to the international scope of this crisis, ADAPP urges intervention
and direction from international organizations including the United Nations,
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), and
the UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme). We
believe that the international community and organizations such as the UN and
the UNEP need to stand with the local inhabitants to help protect their basic
human rights of free speech, assembly, and peaceful protest along with their right of access to water, a fundamental
resource for survival.
ADAPP hopes that neighbouring countries impacted by the
deterioration of Lake Urmia will also join in
the call for action and find ways to work towards a solution;
ADAPP also strongly recommends that Azerbaijani members of the
Iranian Parliament represent the people affected by Lake
Urmia during any decision-making processes;
Finally, ADAPP calls on the Iranian government to stop the use of
police force and to commence peaceful negotiations to help resolve the conflict
over Lake Urmia.
ADAPP will continue to fervently monitor and report on the situation
of Lake Urmia in Iran, to appeal to the greater
international community for assistance in resolving these social and
environmental tensions, and to advocate for those struggling for social,
cultural and ecological security.
ADAPP is a human rights group that collects information from
Azerbaijani Iranians around the world, including from inside Iran.
Association for Defence of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners in Iran
(ADAPP)
Fakhteh Luna Zamani
Executive Director
Vancouver, Canada
