Observing Iran (catch all historical thread)

[GorTex6]

CSM

During the last week of May, thousands of Iranians demonstrated in the northwestern city of Tabriz, and the previous week there were protests at universities in five cities. The protests were triggered by the official government newspaper - the Islamic Republic News Agency's Iran - publishing a cartoon which depicts a boy repeating "cockroach" in Persian before a giant bug in front of him asks "What?" in Azeri.
Azeri-Iranians - who make up approximately one-quarter of the country's population - were particularly offended by the cartoon. These disturbances come at a bad time for the Iranian government, which is stressing national unity in the face of international concern over its nuclear program.

[GorTex6]

Iranian Turkmens: We consider the insult to the Azeri people as done to us

The Iranian Turkmens consider the insult to the Azeri people as done to them. The statement reads that the caricature published on the Iran Daily, which is insulting the entire Azeri nation, has been purposefully prepared.
“As a matter of fact, the expressions in the article display the viewpoint of the chauvinistic Farsi dominance in Iran towards the Turks. Farsi chauvinists try everything possible to prevent the Iranian Turks learn and use their native tongue. However, these fools fail to realize that the policy of assimilation against people has long been defeated in Iran and ethnic groups have been trying to preserve their customs, languages and cultures more than ever. People have realized that Farsi chauvinism is behind these propaganda activities against religion and sects, and that their sole purpose is to wipe out their ethnic cultures and languages. Today, the developments in different parts of Iran indicate that ethnic groups are now ready to defend their identities, honors and the heritage of their ancestors,” the statement reads.

[GorTex6]

Kurdmedia

There is little new about the most recent events taking place in the predominantly Azeri areas of northwestern Iran where “ethnic” protests have been rocking the region. The protests began in the city of Tabriz and quickly spread to Zanjan and Ardebil, and then to the nearby Kurdish city of Urmîye, where large populations of ethnic Azeris also live. Iran’s so-called Security Forces have opened fire on the protestors leaving at least 3 people dead. Many blame these protests on the recent publication of an insulting cartoon, which depicts the Azeri as a cockroach. However, these “ethnic” protests have more likely been another explosion of the forever escalating, ethnic tensions in Iran. Iran is composed of several ethnic groups from Azeris to Arabs, Baluchis, Turkmen, and of course, Kurds. All of which lack basic cultural, political, economical and human rights.

.....

[GorTex6]

APA

Armenia ambassador to Iran Gegam Garibjanian holding secret talks with government of Iran proposed bringing of military force from his country to stop the actions in South Azerbaijan.

.....

[bourbon]

IRAN: US GOVERNMENT PLANNING AZERI-LANGUAGE BROADCASTS TO IRAN, By Joshua Kucera. EURASIA INSIGHT, 3/10/08.

The US government is planning to beam Azeri-language radio broadcasts into Iran, in a bid to influence opinion among the significant ethnic Azeri population there.

The new programming was proposed in the State Department budget that begins in October 2008. It must first be approved by Congress. If approved, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty would begin broadcasting two hours a day of Azerbaijani-language programming in shortwave into Iran, said Jeff Trimble, director of programming for RFE/RL.

"Cooler heads prevailed," said S. Enders Wimbush, the former director of Radio Liberty and a fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington. "There’s nobody, even in this White House, which can get a little loopy at times, who wants 15 more ‘berserkistans’ out there." .......

....Nevertheless, the new Azerbaijani-language programming does have a more subtle political purpose, Wimbush said. "Most of the critical elite in the Soviet Union spoke Russian, but we broadcast in 14 languages because it drew audiences toward us," he said. "The medium, in many respects, was the message: ‘The Americans care enough to treat us, to address us as we are. They don’t feel as if they have to go through this Russian filter.’ And I’m sure that’s very much the same kind of thinking that’s going on here in Iran. It’s a big population – if they were in the Balkans or Eastern Europe we would have broadcast to them a long time ago."

From the archives:

Iran's Ethnic Factions Threaten to Split the State, By S. Enders Wimbush. RAND Paper, P-6477, 1980. (PDF)

Recently, I've been looking at the published work of Soviet nationalities guys like Wimbush, Bennigsen, Paul Henze, and Graham Fuller, from the 80's to the early 90's. I have a creeping suspicion that there are some interesting parts being left out of the historical narrative on the break-up of the USSR. Some interesting stuff.