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| Alirza Ardabili |
Alireza Ardabili, spokesperson for the South Azerbaijan National Democratic Union, believes that regardless of their political views on the future of Iranian Azerbaijan, all forces should fight for the emergence of national statehood traditions. This struggle may take the form of maintaining Iran as a federal state or the separation of Azerbaijan from Iran. The main goal is for Azerbaijani Turks to gain self-governance experience, the Southern Azerbaijani writer and journalist, currently residing in Sweden, stated in an interview with Voice of America.
Mr. Ardabili explained why the founders decided to create a new organization instead of joining existing ones:
"Many existing organizations are built around the issue of independence or federalism. There are even organizations that include the words ‘independence’ or ‘federalism’ in their names. However, for us, whether federal or independent, Azerbaijani statehood is the priority."
The spokesperson for the union emphasized that, in addition to national statehood, the organization also places great importance on social justice and women's rights. "Although women's participation in our organization is not as high as we would like, it is still significantly higher compared to many other groups," he said, highlighting the fact that the organization's other spokesperson, Simin Sabri, was chosen from among women.
Alireza Ardabili rejects the "all or nothing" approach and stresses that his organization distances itself from maximalism:
"We consider every step taken toward Azerbaijan’s national statehood as a positive development."
Mr. Ardabili praised the recent initiative taken on International Mother Language Day, where 600 Southern Azerbaijani students and intellectuals sent a letter to Iranian media representatives requesting space for the Turkish language in newspapers. He described this as a positive step and emphasized the importance of such small but meaningful actions.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Əlirza Ərdəbilli: Milli dövlətçiliyimiz yolunda atılan hər addım müsbət hadisədir