Open Letter to VOA Director on Discrimination Against South Azerbaijani Activists in VOA Persian

November 3, 2013

A group of South Azerbaijani civil rights activists has issued an open letter to Mr. David Ensor, Director of Voice of America (VOA), expressing concerns over the Persian division’s consistent neglect of news related to the Azerbaijani Turkish community in Iran. The activists highlighted the case of five Azerbaijani rights defenders who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms in 2013 and their subsequent hunger strike, which was largely ignored by VOA Persian despite widespread attention from human rights organizations and the Azerbaijani public. The activists called on VOA to address these issues fairly, asserting that ignoring minority rights coverage undermines public trust and social cohesion within Iran.

The Petition: Save Lake Urmia and Release its Environmental Protesters

22 April 2011

Sava Lake Urmia

Over the years, Lake Urmia has been slowly driven toward its demise due to the incompetence of Iranian authorities. It seems that those in power are unwilling to take the necessary action to prevent this catastrophe. In light of this, it has fallen to the caring people of (Southern) Azerbaijan to address this unfolding disaster.

Azerbaijan Speaks

Esteemed People of Iran,
Endeared Fellow Countrymen:

Ever since the dawn of the Great Constitutional Revolution the justice and freedom loving forces of our country have been trying to restore freedom and justice in our society, and provide each and every citizen access to all individual and collective human rights.

Our nation has been witnessing the tyranny of many autocratic shahs, who did not refrain from any brutality for maintaining their rule. However, human experience provides abundant evidence, that brutality will not last.

The anti-monarchy revolution of 1979 was an example of such an experience for erecting the republican government and democracy.

An Open Letter to Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada

The Right Hon. Stephen Joseph Harper, P.C., M.P.

Prime Minister of Canada

80 Wellington Street

Ottawa ON K1A 0A6

March 28, 2011

Re: Greetings from the Prime Minister, on the Occasion of Nowruz

Dear Prime Minster, Thank you very much for your message of congratulation (March 20, 2011) on the occasion of Nowruz, the first day of spring and a day that marks the New Year for thousands of Canadians-including us, the Azerbaijani-Canadians. In the spirit of strengthening our Canadian multiculturalism and celebrating the diversity of communities and traditions both within and outside Canada, we would like to humbly remind you that:

Formal Complaint Against Racism in Iran's Football Stadiums: A Call for FIFA Action

September 3rd, 2010

Tractor Fans Demand Education in Their Mother Tongue

Mr Joseph S. BlatterPresident, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

Dear Mr Blatter,

As a number of Azerbaijani and Iranian scholars, journalists, professionals and human rights activists, we would like to submit this letter to you as a formal complaint in regard to a series of blatant acts of racism that have been taking place in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s football stadiums against the Azerbaijani team of Tractor-Sazi (Tiraxtur) and its supporters-- and by a qualifying extension, against Iran’s more than twenty million Turkic citizens. We hope that you will recognize the urgency of this matter and will take necessary action as stipulated in FIFA’s anti-racist policies, particularly Article 26 pertaining to Safety Regulations and Article 58 pertaining to FIFA Disciplinary Code. The following constitutes the basis of our complaint and will provide you some crucial information regarding the above mentioned acts of racism as well as the context within which they have taken place.

ADAPP's Letter: CRNI AWARDS IRANIAN HATE CARTOON

Dr. Robert Russell
Executive Director
Cartoonists Rights Network International

RE: CARTOONISTS RIGHTS NETWORK INTERNATIONAL AWARDS THE HATRED PROPAGANDA BY THE IRANIAN REGIME

Dear Dr. Russell,

Like millions of other Azerbaijanis throughout the world, we were shocked to learn of your organization’s decision to award Mr. Mana Neyestani for his racist and degrading work against Azerbaijani-Turks in Iran. Your so-called “award of courage” for Neyestani comes at a time when our community is heavily engaged in an anti-racist struggle for restoration of its human rights and dignity. According to ADAPP, this CRNI award endorses and supports the hatred propaganda promulgated by the Iranian regime towards millions of Iranian minorities.

Azerbaijani Turkish Scholars’ Letter to Ethnologue

Ethnic Distribution Map of Iran

Scholars and Activists Urge Ethnologue to Uphold Accurate Data on Iran’s Turkish Population

A group of Iranian and Azerbaijani Turk scholars, journalists, and human rights activists have written to Raymond G. Gordon, editor of Ethnologue, expressing concern over attempts to downplay the Azerbaijani-Turkish population in Iran. In their letter, they emphasize the absence of an official census on ethnicity and language in Iran and warn against the influence of Persian ultranationalist narratives. They urge Ethnologue to maintain its scholarly integrity by considering the perspectives of Azerbaijani community leaders and researchers. The signatories include prominent academics, writers, and activists worldwide.

To: UNESCO

The Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Kochiro Matsuura

We are writing to bring your attention to the systematic suppression of the Turkish language and the imposition of Persian by the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI).

In most societies, the written and the spoken languages are the same. In such a society International Mother Language Day, February 21st, is a day of celebration and jubilation, but not for 35 million Turks in Iran.

Since 1925, Iranian governments have banned the usage of Turkish in the educational system. Millions of children born to Azerbaijani Turkish parents do not even have one school in which they can study in their language. In its place, Farsi is forced on them as the only legitimate Iranian language.

Professor Reza Baraheni's Complaint Letter to the BBC on Misrepresentations in Ethnic Mapping in Iran

April 30, 2006

 Dr. Reza Baraheni

I think that on the ethnic groups of Iran in your map of provincial divisions, you have made serious mistakes that the BBC could have easily avoided by consulting Ethnologue.com. The entire Western Azerbaijan has been called the land of the Kurdish people. Additionally, Eastern Azerbaijan has been cut off from the Caspian Sea, while the people of Astara, extending hundreds of miles to the south of that city, are Turkish-speaking people. According to the statistics given by the Islamic Republic of Iran, more than half the population of Tehran are Turkish-speaking people.

Letter to President Khatami of Iran

President Khatami

The following letter, written on May 5, 1998, was sent to President Khatami of the Islamic Republic of Iran and signed by 54 Azerbaijani intellectuals residing in Iran, in defence of the Turki language. It is estimated that 25 to 30 million Turks live in Iran, comprising nearly half of the country’s population and at least three times the population of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In Iran, the language is commonly referred to as "Turki" by ordinary people and the general population. However, in elite Azerbaijani-Turkish intellectual writings, it is also called "Azerbaijani-Turkish" to emphasize the region's Azerbaijani identity and geographical significance.