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Political False Start Of Azerbaijan And Azeri Nationalists Of Iran

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  • Political False Start Of Azerbaijan And Azeri Nationalists Of Iran

    POLITICAL FALSE START OF AZERBAIJAN AND AZERI NATIONALISTS OF IRAN
    by Sergey Shakaryants

    Regnum, Russia
    June 1 2006

    For over ten days already there has been serious destabilization in
    the Azeri-populated areas of Northern Iran. The first thing that may
    occur to one who tries to compare what is happening in Northern Iran
    now with what happened in the world after the appearance of Mohammed
    cartoons in a Danish newspaper is that the appearance of an insulting
    cartoon about the "Azeri ethnicity" in one of the leading Iranian
    dailies might have well been a provocation. It may as well occur to him
    that both cartoons were "orchestrated" (as a political provocation) by
    either one hand or two different hands moved by one and the same brain.

    In this particular case, everything is seemingly harder. In order
    to grasp the logic of the whole chain of events, one will have
    just to remember what preceded the cartoon by the "Iran" daily and
    the following mass protests by Iranian Azeri-Turks and to compare
    this with the slogans they are pushing now - now, they are already
    protesting against Iran's foreign policy rather than against those
    who mocked their sacred Azeri language - as they explained at first.

    In fact, they have no more reason for protesting - it has already
    been a week since the Iranian authorities arrested the author of the
    cartoon and the chief editor of the daily and closed the daily itself
    for an indefinite time.

    To a certain extent, we can already see the true motives of the Iranian
    Azeris. Both the Iranian authorities and the spiritual leader of Iran,
    Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Azeri by nationality) have openly and harshly
    said what the protesters are actually after and who is behind them. Now
    that American and British media have begun to actively speculate on
    how the US might "shake the boat" of internal political stability in
    Iran before its possible aggression against that country - and quite
    unambiguously hinting that the Iranian Azeris might well be the key
    "shaker" - and that the US parliamentarians have already decided
    to allocate $75 mln for "the fight for democracy in Iran," there is
    hardly anybody in Tehran who still believes that the Azeris scanning
    in the streets actually want their mother tongue to become the second
    state language in Iran - in fact, everybody understands that pushing
    them into the streets are US dollars.

    We still remember the anti-Iranian calls and slogans made during
    the 2nd World Azeri Congress and the following conflict between the
    Azeri and Iranian authorities. Then, Tehran demanded apology and
    account for the open "Southern Azerbaijan's independence" calls by
    some of the participant Azeris. We can also remember the April 25
    press-conference by Jahandar Bayogly, the chairman of the Committee
    for the Protection of the National Liberation Movement of "Southern
    Azerbaijan," presently residing in Baku, when he urged the US to start
    a war against Iran and noted that "only Southern Azeris can curb
    terrorism in Iran." He, in fact, admitted that they in Washington
    are planning to use the anti-Persian circles of the Iranian-Azeri
    community for destabilizing the internal situation in Iran.

    At the same time, Bayogly tried to mislead the journalists by saying
    that "many European countries are beginning to despise Iran" i.e. he
    made a primitive attempt to convince them that some "anti-Iranian
    international force" is taking shape in the world, who is ready
    to use "the Southern Azeris" in its war against Iran and that the
    US is not alone in its desire to start a war against Iran. "The
    West-Iran relations must be viewed as relations between the West and
    Azerbaijan. Nobody, including the US, will succeed in the anti-Iranian
    campaign if he ignores the role and importance of millions of Azeris
    living in Iran. The only force that can curb terrorism in Iran is
    Southern Azeris," Bayogly said. He also pointed to the "fragments"
    of Turkey's interest in both the activities of his committee -
    especially its relations with US official and "unofficial" circles -
    and the start of the war against Iran: "The West should regard Turkey
    and Azerbaijan as guarantors of stability in the region and if they
    start to strike Iran without understanding the attitude of Turkey
    and Azerbaijan towards the problem, they will face destabilization
    in a fuel-rich region." In order to make himself convincing, Bayogly
    tried to blackmail his audience a bit: "If the West interferes in
    Iran against the will of Azerbaijan and Turkey, it may face their
    confrontation. The negligence of the interests of the Turkish and
    Azeri peoples, including the Iranian Azeris, will lead to even more
    deplorable results than in Iraq."

    Quite a strange coincidence - appearing in Baku, exactly before
    "the second phase" of the Azeri protest wave in Iran, was Mahmudali
    Chehraganly, one of "the key fighters for Southern Azerbaijan's
    independence," the leader of the Movement of the National Awakening of
    Southern Azerbaijan - a person who was long "removed" from Azerbaijan
    by the Alievs clan and has lived for a long time in nowhere but London
    and Washington. Today Bayogly and Chehraganly are the key mouthpieces
    for those in the Azeri community of Iran and the Azeri Republic who are
    constantly speaking about growing anti-Azeri repressions in Northern
    Iran. Meanwhile, Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Afshar Suleymani
    (Azeri by origin) has officially said that nobody was killed during
    the first protest action in Tabriz (an action that caused the present
    instability in Northern Iran).

    The world community is already saying that the Iranian authorities
    shoot at "peaceful demonstrators fighting for their civil rights,"
    that they recruit some "Kurdish armed groups" against Azeris and so
    on. The Kurdish factor mentioned by Bayogly and Chehraganly is not
    just a tribute to fashion. It is also an own political "serve" to
    the US and Turkey for them to later ask what "Kurdish armed groups"
    the Iranian authorities exactly use against the anti-Persian Iranian
    Azeris. And we are almost sure that the US and Turkey may even accuse
    Iran of playing up with PKK fighters - the selfsame fighters Ankara
    recently attacked in Iraqi Kurdistan (with the US' permission). It
    should be noted that involved in that punitive action were special
    purpose troops of two countries - Turkey and Iran - who moved
    towards each other via the territory of Northern Iraq. And now this
    "mysterious" Turkish-Iranian operation is followed by a "sudden"
    conflict in Northern Iran - one more strange coincidence.

    What is this the Iranian authorities and the international community
    are actually dealing with? In the last 5-6 days the Azeri protest
    actions in Iran have turned into thoroughly planned propaganda
    against Iran's policy in the world and in the South Caucasus, in
    particular. Things are beginning to clear up. Even if some cartoon
    against Iranian Armenians or Arabs might cause some outburst of
    displeasure, we dare say that neither Armenians nor Arabs nor even
    the more "disobedient" Turkmens or Belujis would risk doing the same
    the Iranian Azeris are doing - as they would know that nobody outside
    Iran would support them.

    Meanwhile, those "protesting" in Tabriz went to loot government
    offices with the flag of a foreign state - neighboring Azeri Republic
    - and scanned not only "Long Live Azerbaijan!" but also "Down with
    Armenia!", "Karabakh Is Ours!" and so on. And what they in Tabriz
    burned down on May 27 was not Iranian but Armenian flag. Let's admit
    that the anti-Armenian "fragments" of the Azeri protests are already a
    direct sign that they on top in the US, Israel, Turkey and Azerbaijan
    are getting increasingly annoyed not only with Iran's international
    policies but also with its political line in the South Caucasus -
    with Azerbaijan and Turkey frequently appearing with open charges
    that Iran "supports" Armenia in the Karabakh and other issues. The
    decisions of the 2nd World Azeri Congress made just a month ago are
    also part of this chain.

    Now let's add all this to the open efforts Washington has been making
    in the last two-three months to get rid of "the Karabakh headache"
    and to as much open displeasure of the Americans with Armenia's
    efforts to diversify its energy sources with the help of Iran and
    its reluctance to "get connected" to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and
    Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum pipes. And then we will find a clue to the hidden
    motives of the allegedly purely anti-Persian actions in Northern Iran,
    which are nothing but just new ways to keep tensions high there.

    Meanwhile, the Azeri authorities are trying hard to pretend they
    have nothing to do with what is going on. "The attitude of Azeri
    Embassy towards the disorders in Tabriz and other Iranian cities
    may be exaggerated," Azeri Ambassador to Iran Abbasali Gasanov said
    to Azeri-Press on May 25. "The statements of the Azeri ambassador
    about the events may cause problems. That's why, Azerbaijan prefers
    to regard the events as Iran's internal affair. Azerbaijan will not
    comment on the clashes between Azeris and the police. Azerbaijan does
    not interfere in Iran's domestic affairs and there are no problems
    between the two countries," Gasanov said. The American friends and
    lobbyists of Azerbaijan and anti-Persian Iranian Azeris are much more
    sincere. On May 26 the American-Azeri Society urged the UN to take
    measures against the murders and arrests committed by the Iranian
    authorities in Southern Azerbaijan. The Society informed the UN that
    Iranian special service agents opened fire at peaceful ralliers and
    killed many people: "In Iran peaceful Azeri ralliers are attacked by
    police, those trying to protect themselves are annihilated." In Iran
    Azeris have no rights and freedoms and can't get education in their
    native language: "Those who try to protect the rights of Azeris are
    arrested on charge of Pan-Turkism and anti-national activity. The
    present Iranian authorities are a devilish regime, who can kill its
    citizens every minute. The UN Security Council must condemn these
    actions and pass a severe verdict against the devilish regime in Iran."

    That is, in principle, those people still hope that international
    forces will interfere in the internal affairs of Iran - at least,
    like they did in Iraq. In other words, they still believe in "a united
    anti-Iranian coalition."

    The problem is that the Iranian authorities have already suppressed
    the protests in the northern provinces and have arrested everybody who
    "at some American X hour" was supposed to be ready for mass actions
    of active protest or civil disobedience - for something that could
    actually blow up the internal political stability in Tehran or even
    in the whole Iran. Meanwhile, 10 days have already passed but neither
    the US nor Turkey have done anything to "help out" their fifth pillar
    in Iran.

    It turns out that the Iranian authorities may have been timely warned
    that there might be some mass anti-national actions by specially
    trained "pan-Turkic" activists and, well aware that they might have
    no other chance to show them up, cold-bloodedly allowed the Iranian
    Azeris to "show themselves off" from May 17 to May 28. In this light,
    one can't but agree with the view of the representatives of the
    Movement of Southern Azerbaijan - Bayogly and Chehraganly - who say
    that the Iranian authorities are far from panic or confusion. One
    proof is the warning by the command of the Islamic Revolution Guards
    that all of their 5 million guards are on high alert, which means that
    the anti-Persian circles of the Iranian Azeris (and in fact the Azeri
    Republic itself - if it is privy to the events in any slightest way)
    have run across the powerful wall of Iran's "internal defense."

    In fact, those who spurred the Iranian Azeris into a fight with the
    present Iranian authorities have made a gross false start.

    Sergey Shakaryants - expert of Caucasus analytical center
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