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| Azerbaijan Shahid Madani University - Tabriz |
400 students from the Azerbaijan Shahid Madani University in Tabriz signed a statement condemning the degradation of Turks on Iranian television. They demanded an end to the "assimilation and alienation policies against ethnic minorities" and that "insulting minorities be considered a legal violation punishable under Iranian law."
According to the Oyan News website, which published the statement and the list of signatures, Turkish students from Zanjan and Maragheh universities have also issued similar statements recently.
The statement by the "Azerbaijan Shahid Madani University" students also criticized the lack of a quality television channel broadcasting in Turkish in Iran.
On November 6, reactions to the insults towards Turks in a children’s program called "Fitile" on the state television turned into mass protests that lasted about a week, starting from November 9.
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| Urmia Protesters Condemn "Racism Against Turks" in Iran |
Human rights activists reported a wide wave of arrests in Iranian Azerbaijan and Tehran during and after the protests.
On November 6, a television comedy aired on the second channel of Iranian TV depicted a Turkish child who didn’t know the difference between a toothbrush and a toilet brush, brushing his teeth with the toilet brush, resulting in a foul smell in his mouth. Although the comedy was in Persian, some segments included dialogues in Turkish.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
400 universitet tələbəsi İranda azlıqları təhqir etməyin qanun pozuntusu sayılmasını tələb edib