Iranian Azerbaijan: Turks and Green Movement

Ethnic Turks in Iran give mostly passive support to anti-government protests, they will give stronger support, if the opposition pays attention to the problems of ethnic groups.

Turks make up a substantial minority of the population of Iran. Many of them live in northwestern Iran in the provinces of Ardabil, Zanjan, East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan. These areas are often dubbed Southern Azerbaijan, while the Azerbaijan Republic constitutes Northern Azerbaijan.

The leaders of the Iranian opposition do not demand that the rights of non-Persian ethnic groups be defended. The population of Southern Azerbaijan will join the protests only if the Iranian opposition talks directly about the violation of the rights of Turks in Iran.

The population of Turks, which different estimates put at between twenty and thirty million people, gave just passive support to the current protests in Iran.

It is time to raise awareness about the problems of the Turkish population of Iran. There is a need to bring the truth about the situation of the rights of Iranian Turks in Southern Azerbaijan, to raise this problem at the international level.

Our Mother Language and the Iranian Government Policy

Sardar Asadi

When somebody asks me about my mother language, and what my mother language is, instead of answering I remember the pain, the pain from my childhood, the pain from the school hours and the pain from living in such a system, assimilation and replacement system , I sigh and answer, my mother language is Turkish. If I tell the truth, it seems like a tragedy but I am sure the word tragedy cannot explain the pain and the situation.

December 31, Solidarity Day of World Azerbaijanis

 A Struggle of Azerbaijanis for unification!

Everyone in the Western societies has heard about the famous quote by the US president Ronald Regan on June 12, 1987 next to the Berlin Wall: “Mr. Garbachev Tear Down this Wall!” But not many are aware of another wall of separation erected by the Soviet to divide Azerbaijani nation. The border fence built between borders of the Soviet Union and Iran had separated many families for 70 years. The fence was demolished by Azerbaijani activists on December 31, 1989, two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since then, December 31st is celebrated by Azerbaijanis across the world as the day of solidarity. This radio program by Odlar Yurdu Azerbaijani Radio dedicated to World Solidarity Day of Azerbaijanis. Our guest is Ph.D. candidate at University of British Columbia, Sevinj Asgarova.

Azerbaijan People's Government (Dec. 1945 - Dec. 1946)

Since the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty, racism in Iran has hurt significantly the economic and social well being of Azerbaijani Turks. Following the end of the World War II in 1945 when the representatives of Azerbaijani Turks from various groups and classes were gathered in Tabriz, the “Azerbaijan People's Government” was established in South Azerbaijan (Iranian Azerbaijan) and took power from the central government.

Turkish (Türki) became the official language in Azerbaijan, taught in university, schools, and adult education centers, replacing Farsi. For the first time in Iran, women gained the right to elect as well as to be elected and many democratic laws in favor of gender equality were passed. Roads were built and many economic reforms carried out, the magnitude and speed of implementation of which compared even to today was astonishing.

Iranian Democracy and Green Movement

Yashar Bugun

Democracy (Greek demos,”the people”; kratein, “to rule”), political system in which the people of a country rule through any form of government they choose to establish. But the major features of modern democracy include individual freedom, which entitles citizens to the liberty and responsibility of shaping their own careers and conducting their own affairs; equality before the law; and universal suffrage and education. Such features have been proclaimed in great historic documents, for example, the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which asserted the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which affirmed the principles of civil liberty and of equality before the law.

Persian Carpet: Another theft of Azerbaijani Heritage and Art by totalitarians

Azerbaijani art in the world are forging in the name of the Persian Carpet Introducing of Azerbaijani carpets as Persian Carpet is art theft
Many western and Oriental scholars think that Iranian people are Persian and therefore they use Persian country, Persian art, Persian history, Persian religion, Persian people, Persian culture and Persian carpet. This consideration of today's Iranian people as Persian goes back to time of Achaemenid Empire that Greece source described those Pars or pers. But today Pars or Fars is the name of one of the ethnic groups and provinces in Iran.

The true beauty of carpets derives from the people who weave carpets. When we talk about the Persian or Iranian people we are not speaking of one broad ethnic group we are talking about many. While most Persians are Indo European a significant portion are Altaic/Turkic, Dravidian, and Afro-Asiatic. Currently the people of Iran speak 79 different languages and countless dialects. Iran’s population is made up of numerous ethnic groups.

Iranian Azerbaijan: The Brewing Hotspot of Future Separatism?

By Emil Souleimanov - 11 November 2010










Conventional wisdom has it that Azerbaijanis, the largest ethnic minority in Iran, have historically tended to identify themselves with the idea of Iranian statehood and Shiite religion rather than ethnic nationalism. Yet recent years have shown a growth of their Azerbaijani Turkic self-consciousness which has not least manifested itself in the form of “sport nationalism”. The numerous fans of the Tabriz-based Tractor Sazi football club have become advocates of the ethno-linguistic emancipation of Iranian Azerbaijanis, an emancipation sometimes bordering on separatism and irredentism.

How democracy can be the solution to Iran’s ethnic problems?

Dr. Sedigheh Adalati's Speech in Italian Parliament

Honorable members of the Italian Parliament and senate

Ladies and gentlemen

On behalf of the Federal-Democratic Movement of Azerbaijan and as a member of Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran , I wish to express my appreciations to UNPO which gives us an opportunity to highlight and discuss the obstacles preventing the transition of the Iranian society to a democratic system. In my speech, I will point out the main reasons behind these obstacles and our strategies to overcome them.

Azerbaijanis in Iran: Consequences of persecution and discrimination

by Ben Madadi

Among nationalist Azerbaijani circles of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iranian Azerbaijan it is believed that the population of Iran's Azerbaijanis is around 30 million or even greater. That would make some 42% of Iran's population. It is of course a gross exaggeration that serves no purpose, even the purpose it has been promoted for; to make Iranian Azerbaijanis feel they are powerful so they can rise, or resist, against their unfair conditions. However it more likely serves the purposes of the opponents of Azerbaijan as a whole because of simply giving exactly the same false sense of power, which creates an atmosphere of complacency among Iranian Azerbaijanis rather than a sense of dissociation from the Iranian regime and its policies.

The Issue of Azerbaijani Turks in Iran

M. Reza Kheshti

Historical Aspect
Historically the existing people of Azerbaijan are the extension of the Asiatic People, which moved to the current geographic plateau possibly more than ten thousand years ago. According to the French Historian Peter Amier, we can observe the foot print of those people in human history in the form of the Elamid Dynasty, which ruled the Iranian Plateau, with today’s terminology, for 2800 years (since 3500 +/– B.C.) utilizing the Agglutinative Language. The Elamid is not the only ones that ruled the region. There were other dynasties such as: Kas’sies, Hur’ries, Orarturs, Qut’ties, Lolobies, Qarqars, Kaspies (Caspians), and more recent Man’nas, and Medes are the “Ancestor-Predecessors” of Azerbaijanis.

Statement by A Group of Turkish Activists & Intellectuals Concerning the Green Movement

Our Standards Concerning the Democracy-Seeking Process and the Green Movement

February 21, 2010

Eight months have passed since the start of the anti-dictatorial movement in Iran. This movement, which began by protesting the results of the presidential election, now promises fundamental changes in our society's political life by giving voice to demands for democracy and freedom...

Although this new, rising movement has been able to take advantage of means such as the Internet and satellites...to introduce itself to the world at large, it has not been able to establish itself as a nationwide movement inside Iran. Thus, so far, the burden of this movement has fallen on the backs of the urban middle class in Central Iran. Its geographical scope has been limited to Tehran and, at most, several other cities. The meaningful silence of Azerbaijan (which is famed for being the vanguard in important political developments in modern Iranian history) is a clear example of this. 

Iran’s Election and Unrest: What’s behind the silence of the Azerbaijanis in Iran?

Nadir Ghazanfari - Eurasia Critic, August, 2009

Iranians protesting in Valiasr Square in the capital Tehran

Just hours after voting ended following last month's presidential election in Iran on June 12, the reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi claimed an early victory with a majority of the votes. But a day after the election where two prominent reformist candidates, Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, and the conservative candidate Mohsen Rezaie, had run against the president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Iran's Interior Ministry announced that Ahmadinejad would retain the presidency--coming out ahead with more than 62 percent of the votes over his rival Mousavi, who had trailed far behind at 32 percent. After the election results were announced, reformist rivals Mousavi and Karrubi immediately protested, claiming the elections were rigged by Ahmadinijad. Mousavi contended that the election was marred by widespread fraud and insisted that he was robbed of a rightful victory. Rezaie followed suit.

Ethnical varieties; threat or opportunity

By: Yusof Azizi Banitorof
Translated By: Naser Noori

General view
Unfortunately still some of the political groups regard ethnical variety and plurality as a menace for our country, even little number of them denies such a variety. They try with a kind of prejudice and partiality to implant their mentality as objectivity, but recent years events in different parts of the country revealed that historical veracity of the ethnic variety in Iran, is a persistent geographical reality which callous mentalities can not ignore it eternally and of course if they do so, they will jeopardize both themselves and the country.

Islamism and Nationalism in Iran

Iranian nationalism is to remain a driving force behind Iran’s foreign policy.

By Christoph Marcinkowski

A couple of years ago, King Abdullah II of Jordan alluded to the “threat” of a “Shia crescent” stretching from Iran to Iraq, the Arab littoral states in the Persian Gulf region and to Lebanon. According to this view, local Arab Shias, such as Lebanon’s Hizbollah, are merely satellites in the orbit of Tehran and are thus “potential fifth columns.” However, according to a recent Foreign Affairs article by Professor Vali Nasr of the US Naval Postgraduate School, a more differentiated approach would be advisable. A glance on Iran’s past might reveal that “Shia identity” and “Iranian nationalism” were always interrelated. Despite of this, what is usually termed “Iranian national feeling” by some appears to have always been the more dominant factor in Iran’s identity and foreign policy. To understand this phenomenon we have to consider the concept of “Iran” as it manifested itself in history and at present.

TURKISH ALLERGY OF IRAN CONTINUES

Ali reza H

Iranian government has been targeting the language and the religion of the Iranian Turks, who are one of the most fundamental elements of the country, continuously for approximately 100 years. The Persians who are dominant in Iran never gave up their policy against the Turks. This stance of the Persians creates a serious discomfort among the Southern Azerbaijanis. The comic strip crisis happened on May 2006 showed the power of the Iranian Turks to the Chauvinist Persian government of Iran in one sense. It is understood from the latest developments in Iran that the lesson was not learnt from those incidents, the pressure on the Southern Azerbaijani people continue and the “logophobia” that bothers the Iranian government became more chronic.

We devote too much attention to a mostly stagnant Middle East

By Edward N. Luttwak - Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Why are Middle East experts so unfailingly wrong? The lesson of history is that men never learn from history, but Middle East experts, like the rest of us, should at least learn from their past mistakes. Instead, they just keep repeating them. The first mistake is "five minutes to midnight" catastrophism. The late King Hussein of Jordan was the undisputed master of this genre. Wearing his gravest aspect, he would warn us that with patience finally exhausted the Arab-Israeli conflict was about to explode, that all past conflicts would be dwarfed by what was about to happen unless, unless ... And then came the remedy - usually something rather tame when compared with the immense catastrophe predicted, such as resuming this or that stalled negotiation, or getting an American envoy to the scene to make the usual promises to the Palestinians and apply the usual pressures on Israel. We read versions of the standard King Hussein speech in countless newspaper columns, hear identical invocations in the grindingly repetitive radio and television appearances of the usual Middle East experts, and are now faced with Hussein's son Abdullah periodically repeating his father's speech almost verbatim.

Iranian regims have banned Turkish-language articles in Shams-e Tabriz newspaper

The publication of articles in Turkish [Azerbaijani] in Shams-e Tabriz [Tabriz Sun] newspaper has been banned by the local office of the Ministry of [Culture] and Islamic Guidance. In this connection, Ali Hamid Imani, editor-in-chief, published an article in the 18th edition of Shams-e Tabriz.

Incidentally, we expected this. Because, in line with growing protests in the sphere of basic human rights in southern Azerbaijan and the rest of Iran, the ruling regime is increasing its pressure on newspapers.

Southerners toward awakening and northerners toward sleeping

Yashar Bugun

The area of present-day republic of Azerbaijan was northern part of historical Azerbaijan in about until 150 year ago. According to Balaami, one of ministers of Samanids dynasty (9th and 10th centuries) that has translated and summarized the Book of History of Tabari, the borders of Azerbaijan were reported with these state lines: "Azerbaijan is bordered on the north by Derbent, land of khazars, on the south by Hamadan". Derbent city is located in southern borders of today's Russia and Hamadan is located in today's Iran.

Understanding the Iran-Azerbaijani Turks Issues

By Deniz S. Dibazer

Azerbaijan was divided between Qacar and Tsarist Russia by the treaties of Gulistan and Turkmanchay in 1813 and 1828 respectively. The Khanats of Northern Azerbaijan were de jure a part of Qacar dynasty but de facto independent. (Nesibli) (1). After the partition there was close contacts among people until 1930, when Stalin and Riza Shah (the father of the late Shah) decided to close the border. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, the northern part of Azerbaijan became an independent state, while the southern part, which makes up three-quarters of Azerbaijan, is still struggling for basic rights.

Azerbaijani Youth Association in Sweden - Nergiz Nedaei

Dear Landsmen,

It is with great honor that I can share with you that the first parliamentary resolution in Europe and America, specifically about South-Azerbaijan, has been laid in the Swedish parliament. The resolution which was initiated and drafted by the Azerbaijani Youth Association in Sweden, was laid on October 31 by Mr. Hans Linde, a member of the Swedish Parliament and the Left Party’s representative in the Swedish Foreign Affairs committee.