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| Jale Tabrizli |
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, recently published a new report. The document addresses human rights violations in Iran, including the oppression and discrimination faced by ethnic and religious minorities. The report will be presented to the representatives of various countries at the UN meeting in the coming months.
Javaid Rehman’s report highlights that at least 82 activists in Iranian Azerbaijan have been detained over the past year.
According to Jala Tabrizli, "These 82 people are all activists who have been either imprisoned, detained, or released. These individuals were detained in various fields, and we had submitted their cases to the United Nations. Some of them were released after a short time, while others were released on civil guarantees."
The report also mentions the arrest and trial of Tractor football team fans due to slogans they chanted in stadiums. Additionally, it provides detailed information on the case and trial process of the well-known Turkish activist Abbas Lisani, who is currently imprisoned.
Tabrizli stated, "They couldn't include all the topics in this report, including economic issues, as well as women's rights and children's issues, which were not mentioned."
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| The new report of the UN Special Rapporteur provides detailed information about the situation of the well-known activist Abbas Lisani. |
Many Turkish activists did not respond positively to the UN representative’s new report.
Feminist activist Sevil Suleymani wrote on her Facebook page about the report: "In the first section of the report, the UN special representative used the term ‘Azerbaijani Turk.’ However, it seems that he himself is not sure about this term, as later in the report he becomes confused between the terms ‘Azari’ and ‘Azari Turk.’ It seems that both Turkish and Persian human rights defenders have forgotten why so many Turkish activists are imprisoned and did not explain this to the dear representative... In the report, Abbas Lisani is referred to as an ‘Azari human rights activist.’ When did Lisani ever refer to himself as an ‘Azari human rights activist’?”
Suleymani also criticized the 15 million population figure given for Iranian Azerbaijan in the report.
Turkish activist Duman Radmehr shared his thoughts on the report on his Twitter account. He evaluated the report’s positive and negative aspects as the results of Turkish activists' "positive and negative efforts."
Jala Tabrizli stated, "There are both points we agree with and points we criticize in this report."
According to her, "We have always stated that the population of Azerbaijan exceeds 30 million. We have references for this. We will present all these references to them again. We have written a protest letter. Where did they get the 15 million figure from? The Islamic Republic itself showed us as 23 million in the UN exhibition three years ago... Last year, we agreed with the UN representative and discussed that the term ‘Azari’ should be removed. Now, I don’t understand why we are still referred to as ‘Azari’ in several places in this report. Where did this come from? We have requested an explanation on this matter."
Some national activists argue that incorrect information about Turks and Iranian Azerbaijan is provided to international organizations by Iranian political forces.
A human rights defender living in France believes that those making these criticisms should take practical steps in this regard.
"When we criticize, let’s start with ourselves. What have I done? What steps have I taken to ensure that they don’t say ‘Azari’ and say ‘Turk’ instead? [Those who criticize] can all write letters to the United Nations. Let’s pick up our pens and protest together to the UN. Criticism is good if we put something in place. We (the Ərk society) have written our protest. We have thanked them for addressing some of the issues we raised. But where did ‘Azari’ come from? Where did the ‘15 million’ come from? We have protested these too," added Jala Tabrizli.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Jalə Təbrizli: BMT-nin hesabatı ilə bağlı həm təşəkkür etdik, həm də etiraz bildirdik