Voice of America, March 5, 2018
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| Ruhollah Hazratpour, Member of Parliament from Urmia |
On March 4, Urmia Member of Parliament Ruhollah Hazratpour, in a speech at the Iranian Parliament, called for the creation of necessary laws to consider insulting non-Persian groups, including Turks, as a violation of the law.
The Islamic Consultative Assembly’s press agency, "House of the Nation," published a video of Hazratpour’s speech on its website.
At the end of his speech, the MP addressed issues related to the provinces of Azerbaijan, particularly Lake Urmia and the city of Urmia, and expressed his objection to the "insult to the identity of the people of the region."
"As a Turk and a member of the parliament who has studied law, as well as a member of the parliament’s Legal and Judicial Committee, I ask my respected colleagues to take steps to draft and prepare laws that consider the insult of Iranian ethnic groups and their cultures and values as a violation of the law," the young politician stated in his speech.
Cultural activists in Iranian Azerbaijan have criticized the "anti-Turkish" propaganda in Iranian media through protests and social media campaigns. In recent months, there has been significant backlash against the Iranian TV series "Sattar Khan," as well as articles published in the "Ghanoon" and "Shargh" newspapers.
In November 2015, 400 students from the Azerbaijan Martyrs Cultural University in Tabriz signed a statement condemning the insult to Turks in Iranian television broadcasts. They demanded "an end to the assimilation and alienation policies toward ethnic minorities" and called for "insulting minorities to be considered a violation of the law punishable under Iranian law."
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Urmiyə millət vəkili: Qeyri-farsların aşağılanması qanun pozuntusu sayılsın