Abbas Leysanli –a prisoner of conscience

Hesen Erk – writer

Say (No.) : 386/ 2006

Tarix (Date): 22 Sept 2006

Taken from http://www.urmunews.blogspot.com/

The Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva,

Please circulate this letter to Independent Expert on Minority Issues and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions

Dear Sir/madam,

Re TOMORROW IS THE DAY FOR CAMPAIGN TO SAVE OUR MOTHER TONGUE –AZERBAIJANI TURKIC

Tomorrow (23 September 2006) is the day for the test case of saving the mother tongue of Southern Azerbaijanis undermined by Iranian racist policies. For more than 80 years, our nation has endured unworthy racist attacks and the decline or even deterioration of our language and culture.

Today and for the last few days, the situation in Southern Azerbaijan has been tense and this has been confirmed to us by our reliable sources. Translated Documents 1 and 2 provide you a graphic picture of the situation.

Recent events, particularly the May 2006 mass protests culminated in the formation of a mandate that our nation demands resolutely the reinstatement of the official status of our language. Thus, the campaign planned for 23 September 2006 is an expression of this mandate.

The right for education in mother tongue has been conferred by the universal declarations of human rights and their subsequent resolutions. The preservation of our mother tongue has become a test case for human rights declarations. If the existence of our mother tongue is at stake tomorrow, so is the integrity of human rights.

As shown by our previous letters in the course of the last two weeks, the Iranian authorities have braced themselves to repress the legitimate demands of our nation by issuing more arbitrary sentences, resorting to more detentions, and going ever deeper in their disinformation crafts. These authorities have demonstrated that they are not worthy of acting in restraint but it is time for credible human rights organisations such as yours to issue stern warning to Iranian authorities to remind them what it takes to be civilised, i.e. the respect for human rights.

The slogan of Southern Azerbaijan is that “Tomorrow is ours.” We may lose one battle or two in securing our future but a nation struggling against racism cannot and must not lose the war. As the struggle against racism is a cause for humanity and always a test case for human rights, hopefully our struggle is hand in hand with your organisation.

Your support for our right to education in our mother tongue is your vote of confidence in human rights. We are confident that you have already conveyed our complaint to Iranian authorities. In the unlikely case, the Iranian racists will be pleased with your silence. We thank you in advance for your proactive support.

Yours faithfully,

Boyuk Resuloglu

The Committee for the Defence of the Rights of World Azerbaijanis

The Profile of Mr. Esedullah Selimi, detained in connection with the planned campaign to save our mother tongue

Name Esedullah

Surname Selimi

Father’s name Ebdulhuseyn

Date of Detention 9 September 2006, at which time he was reportedly carrying leaflets in connection with the campaign

Year of birth 1954

Place of birth Eher, Village: Mirzaelikendi

Work Owns a production factory in Urmu

Marriage: Married, one year old son called Sumer

Address Urmu, Semedzade Street

Activities Journalist, writer, researcher on Turkic languages, history teacher, a writer in Ferday-e Ma newspaper published in Urmu and a member of their writers’ board, in charge of the pages in Azerbaijani Turkic, and a teacher of the Centre for Research on Scientific Research, called Bilim Youl (Scientific Ways)

Prevision detention Active even before the Islamic revolution, arrested by SAVAK (the date is unclear) and he was wounded by gunshot by SAVAL and after hospitalization he was imprisoned 6 months. No specific information on his detention in this round.

The Updated Table on Recent Detentions

No	Name SURNAME	City	Date Detained	Further Information
1	Mensur Jiddi	Erdebil	19/09/2006	See, Ref.: 381/2006 on 16 September 2006
2	Shapur Nusret pur	Erdebil		A cultural activist arrested in his home in Erdebil
3	? Ibrahimi	Erdebil	19/09/2006	Ranked officer sympathizing with Abbas Leysanli
4	Person 1	Maragha	20/09/2006	The name is given but not confirmed yet
5	Person 2	Maragha	20/09/2006	The name is given but not confirmed yet
6	Isgender Mirzai	Sulduz	14/09/2006	See, Ref.: 381/2006 on 16 September 2006
7	Mehdi Vahidi	Sulduz	14/09/2006	See, Ref.: 381/2006 on 16 September 2006
8	Chengiz Bekhtaver	Tebriz	20 /09/2006	Rearrested
9	Eli Sediq Beyreq	Tebriz	16/09/2006	See, Ref.: 381/2006 on 16 September 2006
10	Hesen Erk	Tebriz	21/09/2006	Rearrested
11	Qulamrza Emani	Tebriz	20/09/2006	Rearrested
12	Rza Seyyah	Tebriz	18/09/2006	Summoned, detained in Jan 06
13	Eseddulah Selimi	Urmu	17/09/2006	Detained in Tebriz
14	Mrs. Pinar	Urmu	21/09/2006	Summoned by the Ministry of Intelligence
15	Arbitrary sentences are increasingly issued in the last week or so
16	GünAzTV, the only television of Southern Azerbaijan aired from Chicago is a victim of Iranian interference with the uploading beams.
17	No more toleration of TV satellite aerial especially in the Hemedan region of Southern Azerbaijan

No	Translated Documents
1	Translated Document No 1 http://xeberci.blogfa.com/post-70.aspx Date 21 September 2006
1	Police State in Zenjan As we approach toward the day of 23^rd of September, everyday we are increasingly witnessing the presence of the police in the streets and squares of the city. The increase in the police units was also evident today but more so were their outfits and gears. A high state of alert was displayed by Commando units armed with machine guns with their tubes pointing up from their shoulders, who were marching up and down towards the main city squares in singular, dual or trinity units, particularly in the Saadi Square. Their numbers increased as we approached towards rush hours. Open protests and distributions of leaflets in the various cities of (Southern) Azerbaijan against the continuous omission of the Azerbaijani Turkic language from schools of the indigenous Turkic territories. Thus, 23 September 2006 (the commencement of the new academic year), has been selected as the day to protest against the racist policies of the government and as an expression of these policies they have resorted to the repression of the activists of the national movement of (Southern) Azerbaijan. Following the detention of a number of the activists in the last few days, now a police state has been created to terrify members of the public and deter them in taking part in the antiapartheid protests. Compiled by Murtuz Yaziji, 21 September 2006
2	Translated Document No 2 – http://www.urmunews.blogspot.com/ - Date : 21 September 2006
2	Wide Distribution of Leaflets calling the People for Protest in the (Southern) Azerbaijani cities. The distribution of leaflets in Urmu has taken place in recent days calling the nation of Azerbaijan to take part in the protests on 23 September 2006, as widely planned in the various cities. The texts in these leaflets reminded the readers of the repression of the protests of the nation of Azerbaijan in May 2006 and then called them to take part in the protests against an imposed alien language of education instead of our own mother tongue. In Urmu too, like many other (Southern) Azerbaijani cities, a lot of leaflets have been distributed to the extent that nearly all the households have seen these leaflets. In the suburb and villages similar initiatives have been realised. In this connection a woman activist of Urmu, called Pinar was summoned to the offices of the Ministry of Intelligence in Urmu. In Sulduz too, previous week two activists were arrested in connection with distributing leaflets and still their family members have not been allowed to visit these detainees. The names of these persons are Isgender Mirzai and Mehdi Vahidi, a taxi driver and a shop owner respectively.

Source Documents

Document No 1 http://xeberci.blogfa.com/post-70.aspx Date 21 September 2006

. فضای پلیسی در شهر زنجان

با نزدیکی روز اول ماه مهر، در طول هفته جاری زنجان هر روز بیشتر از روز قبل شاهد حضور ماموران پلیس در خیابانها و میادین شهر بوده است.امروز نیز نسبت به روزهای گذشته تعداد پلیسها افزایش پیدا کرده بود اما تغییر آرایش آنها چشمگیر بود.در میادین اصلی شهر خصوصا چهارراه سعدی، در چهار گوشه میدان ماموران با لباسهای کماندویی و مسلح به مسلسل یوزی در حالی که لوله مسلسل های آویزان بر دوش ایشان به طرف میانه میدان است، به صورت انفرادی یا دو نفره و سه نفره به حال آماده باش ایستاده اند و با شلوغ تر شدن شهر به تعداد ایشان افزوده می شود.

اعلام علنی اعتراضها و پخش اعلامیه در شهرهای مختلف آدربایجان در اعتراض به استمرار حدف زبان ترکی از مدارس مناطق ترک نشین و معین کردن روز اول مهر برای اعتراض به حکومت به خاطر سیاست های نژادپرستانه اش در مورد زبان ترکی سبب گشته است که در روزهای اخیر فشار بر فعالان حرکت ملی آدربایجان بیشتر شود.به دنبال دستگیری برخی از فعالان در روزهای گذشته اینک با پلیسی ساختن جو شهرها سعی در ایجاد رعب و وحشت عمومی دارند تا از برگزاری تظاهرات و اجتماعات اعتراضی نسبت به آپارتاید زبانی حاکم جلوگیری شود.

نوشته شده در 85/06/30ساعت 17:54 توسط مورتوز یازیجی

Document No 2: http://www.urmunews.blogspot.com/ Date : 21 September 2006

9.21.2006

پخش گسترده اعلاميه هاي دعوت به شركت در تظاهرات در شهر هاي آذربايجان

اورمودر روزهاي اخير اعلاميه هاي دعوت ملت آذربايجان براي شركت در تظاهرات اعتراض آميز روز شنبه اول مهرماه 1385 در شهرهاي مختلف به شكل وسيعي پخش گرديده است. در متن اين اعلاميه ها ضمن اشاره به سركوب خونين تظاهرات خرداد ماه ملت آذربايجان از سوي حاكميت، از مردم دعوت شده است تا در روز بازگشايي مدارس و در اعتراض به تحميل زباني غير از زبان مادري به فرزندان اذربايجان، در اعتراضات شركت كنند. در اورميه نيز همچو ساير شهرها تعداد بسيار زيادي از اين اعلاميه پخش گرديده به نحوي كه هم اينك تقريبا تمام منازل اورميه اي دست كم يك بار چنين برگه هايي را مشاهده نموده اند. در روستاهاي اطراف شهر نيز چنين كاري صورت گرفته است. در همين رابطه چند روز پيش يكي از فعالين زن اورميه به نام پينار به اداره اطلاعات شهر فراخوانده شده است. در سولدوز نيز هفته پيش دونفر در رابطه با پخش اعلاميه دستگير شده اند و هنوز اجازه ملاقات با اعضاي خانواده آنان به آنان داده نشده است. اين اشخاص به نامهاي اسكندر ميرزايي و مهدي واحدي به ترتيب راننده تاكسي و مغازه دار مي باشند.
نيوز(30 شهريور 1385)