July 7, 2010
Rooz
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| The Annual Babek Castle Gathering |
Turkish activists in South Azerbaijan [Iranian Azerbaijan] call the second week of July "Babak Week" and invite people to the "political-cultural" event at Babak Castle every year by distributing CDs and announcements in Turkish and Persian. "Babək Qurultayı" or Babak Congress is the name Turkish activists give to this event. According to reports from human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, the gathering at Babak Castle began in 2000 to protest discriminatory government policies and to present language and cultural demands. Babak Castle, also known as "Baz Fortress," is located in the city of Kaleybar in the north of East Azerbaijan province.
We have talked with Abbas Lisani and Oxtay Babaei Ajabshir, both Turkish activists of South Azerbaijan who have spent months in prison for participating in this event, about the nature of the Babak Castle gathering and the reasons for its less colourful nature in recent years.
The nature of the Babek Castle gathering
Abbas Lisani, a poet and civil activist of Turkish origin in Ardabil, Iranian Azerbaijan, and a former political prisoner, who has spent about 3 years in various cities including Ahar, Ardabil, and Yazd, states that "Babek Castle, is an important and very suitable place for the gathering of freedom fighters, which was the headquarters of Babak Khorramdin, the national hero, the legend of freedom, and the symbol of the struggle of the people of Azerbaijan."
Lisani, who played a very active role in the Babek Castle gatherings and was arrested by security forces during the 2005 gathering, says, "Before discussing the nature of the annual Babek Castle ceremonies, it is necessary to clarify the nature of the Azerbaijan movement and the reason for its existence."
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Abbas Lisani and other Turkish activists raise their voices at the 2003 Babek Castle gathering, calling attention to the plight of their nation with the powerful message on their sign: 'O world, I am a whole nation, my existence is being strained. |
This Azerbaijani Turk activist, previously identified as a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International, emphasizes that the demands of Turks as a marginalized group in Iran are rooted in fundamental human rights.
According to Abbas Lisani, "Azerbaijani activists have succeeded in turning a limited movement into a national and widespread one by bringing together different segments of society, including university students, cultural activists, poets, and ordinary citizens, in Babak Castle. This gathering served as a turning point for the socialization of the movement and the creation of a suitable platform for expanding the struggle into cities."
Open-air theatre in Babek Castle
In the ceremonies of Babek Castle in July and August of 2002 and 2003, a group of artists from Ardabil performed the story "Tepegöz" from the "Book of Dede Korkut" in the form of open-air theatre. Abbas Lasani wrote this adaptation in verse, drawing inspiration from the epic tales of the ancient book, an important cultural text written in the Turkish language during the 14th or 15th century.
Summoning activists and controlling roads
However, after summoning some activists this year by security forces, there was no significant gathering at Babak Castle. Nevertheless, activist news sites have published reports about distributing calls for participation in Azerbaijani cities during Babak Week. These media outlets have also reported on the summoning of some activists by security agencies during the past week and the control of the Ahar-Kalibar road by police officers on Friday and Saturday.
According to Oxtay Babaei, a former Azerbaijani Turk political prisoner who has migrated to Toronto, Canada, "Since the early years of the Babak Castle gatherings, the government has made serious efforts to prevent widespread protests by arresting and threatening participants, particularly Azerbaijani Turk activists who invite people to participate in this event."
He added, "These gatherings peaked in 2002 and 2003 with the massive participation of Azerbaijani Turks from East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Zanjan, and even cities like Tehran and Karaj. Thousands of people marched towards the castle with slogans, holding banners and placards about the linguistic rights of Turks and the economic and cultural problems of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani singers, especially Ashiqs, played music and sang songs, and dozens of artists from various cities performed Azerbaijani dances. Poets from different cities also gathered and recited poems in the Turkish language."
Babayi, who had participated in these rallies annually until 2006, stated that "after the large gatherings of 2002 and 2003, sensitivities increased. As the rally's time approached, Azerbaijani activists in various cities were summoned by intelligence agencies. By the second Friday and Saturday of July 2004, more inspection stops were set up on roads between cities. Near Babek Castle, agents attacked people with batons, and the number of detainees was several times higher than in previous years."
Ahmadinejad era
"Following Ahmadinejad's victory in the presidential election in early July 2005, even before he officially assumed office, significant changes were observed in the cities of Azerbaijan. It became evident that the security forces and intelligence agencies had gained much greater freedom of action and broader powers than before," says Okhtay Babaei.
He also states: "The behavior of the security forces and inspectors was very harsh and ruthless. Plainclothes officers, security forces, and Basij resistance forces not only attacked people in the vicinity of Qala-e-Babak but also in the city of Ahar, which is kilometers away from the castle, in a way that women and children were not safe from these attacks. Compared to previous years, very few people succeeded in reaching the castle. Some of them, like me, had come with their families, some went through secondary routes and mountain paths, and a smaller number had also used the presence of Akbar Alami, the representative of Tabriz people, to reach the castle."
After the protests of May 2006
Referring to his return by authorities from the outskirts of Kalibar in July 2006, this Azerbaijani Turk activist considers the possibility of any small protest gathering that year unlikely: "The gathering that year was almost a month after the widespread protests against the insulting caricatures of Iran's newspaper, and given that some were killed and a large number of known activists were in prison, there was an atmosphere of suppression and fear. The number of agents on the roads leading to the fortress was unbelievably high. Identification cards of everyone going to Kalibar were checked, and only those born there were allowed to pass."
Oktay Babaie was arrested approximately two weeks after those events and endured six months of detention in the Ministry of Intelligence detention center and Tabriz prison. According to Amnesty International's report, Oktay Babaie was apprehended on the street by Ministry of Intelligence officials on July 11, 2006. The statement also highlighted that this political prisoner was subjected to torture during his detention in the intelligence detention center and before his transfer to Tabriz prison.
The Babak Castle gatherings, symbolizing Azerbaijani Turk advocacy in Iran, faced increasing repression, especially during Ahmadinejad's tenure. Despite attempts to assert linguistic and cultural rights, activists encountered arrests and violence, leading to declining participation. This ongoing struggle illustrates both government sensitivity to these cultural, societal and political movements and the resilience of the Azerbaijani Turk community in continuing to make their voices heard and their concerns raised.
Original link to the article: https://rooz.hilnu.com/persian/news/newsitem/article/-4bc647f257/
These photos depict the annual Babek Castle Gatherings taken in different years.
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| Picture shows police officer beating a participant at the gathering. |