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| Simin Sabri |
Ten organizations opposed to the current government in Iran recently released a joint statement announcing that they have formed an alliance based on the principles of republicanism, federalism, and democracy.
Simin Sabri, the spokesperson for one of the groups in the alliance, the Azerbaijan Democratic Union Organization, spoke to Voice of America about the development.
"These organizations want a decentralized state and a federal government system in Iran. The path to democracy passes through such a structure. We were not the initiators of this. In fact, we were invited here, and we accepted the invitation along with the other organizations," said the southern Azerbaijani doctor and political activist living in Norway.
The alliance is represented by the Kurdish community in Iran with four representatives, while the Turkish, Arab, and Baloch communities each have one representative.
The other three organizations do not represent any ethnic community. According to Sabri, these three groups mainly focus on the rights of social classes.
"Democratic-federalist and secular organizations, which believe in a secular state, have formed this alliance. They believe in women's rights. The most important thing that encouraged us to join this alliance is that these organizations openly recognize Iran as a multi-national country and grant the right of self-determination to these nations in domestic politics," said the Turkish activist.
Sabri further explained that the organizations signing the alliance statement believe the Islamic Republic is an irreformable regime:
"Generally, these opposition groups demand the end of the Islamic Republic. They do not want reforms. They consider the Islamic Republic to be irreformable. Additionally, all of them are left-leaning organizations."
She added, "Our organization (the Azerbaijan Democratic Union) is the same. Our members are Turkish. But our issue is not just to gain the right to self-determination and then think about how we will govern the new state... We are already stating that we want a state in the form of federalism and democratic socialism."
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Simin Səbri: Bu ittifaq İslam Respublikasının yerinə federal bir sistem istəyir