Dear Mrs. Harrison

Please find enclosed report for your perusal, titled “the aftermath of the first national campaign to save mother tongue of Southern Azerbaijan .”

The reports pools together various information items and aims to project an insight into the ongoing events in the context of the national movement of Southern Azerbaijan .

Hopefully, Southern Azerbaijan is in a new dawn, as substantive evidence grows that our nation will safeguard our national and human rights and increasingly human right organisations as well as mass media and politicians speak up for our nation.

We would like to express our gratitude to your organisations and other similar organisations for their role and look forward to your campaign for the unconditional release of some 50 cultural activists reported here, who are undoubtedly prisoners of conscience. We thank you in advance for your campaign.

Yours sincerely

Boyuk Resuloglu

The Committee for the Defence of the Rights of World Azerbaijanis

REPORT

THE AFTERMATH OF

THE FIRST NATIONAL CAMPAIGN

TO SAVE MOTHER TONGUE OF SOUTHERN AZERBAIJAN     IS

The Objective:                          To organize a protest for the reinstatement Azerbaijani Turkic as the official language of Southern Azerbaijan

The Tactics:                              Civil disobedience and peaceful street protests

The Strategy:                            Secure the national and human rights of Southern Azerbaijanis

The Mission :                             The right for self determination of Southern Azerbaijan seemed a feasible necessity some 10 years ago but now it is within sight

The Roots and Milestones:      The Constitutional movement in 1906; proclaiming independence in 1920; forming national government in 1945-46; Azerbaijan acted as the hotbed of dissident movements since 1946 until 1990; taking off of the national movement as an outcome of the coalition of the various dissidents as well as due to the impetus of the research works of Prof. Kirishchi (Zehtab); forming the Babek Assembly by Prof. Kirishchi; Daring individuals to write petitions since 1990; the Qarabagh (Sarcheshme) Mosque sit-in protests in Erdebil in 2004. All leading to the new era of the Mass protests of the May 2006

Significance of this Protest:      This is another new chapter                

Monolithic Authorities:            Iranian authorities are inventing a new doctrine of “quiet aggression,” defined as: break any rule as you may wish but do not talk about it or anything goes if conforms to Persian racism.

Where we go from here:           Gather the momentum using democratic means, final triumph is within reach, the future is ours

List of Contents

1.                   Introduction

2.                   The Realisation of the Campaign

3.                   Tactics Deployed by the Authorities

4.                   Analysis

5.                   Overview

1.            Introduction

The first campaign at a national scale for the reinstatement of the official status of mother tongue of Southern Azerbaijan was opened as a new chapter on 23 September 2006. We would like to outline our insight in a report format into the main features of the campaign with appropriate news clips confirmed by various sources, including our own and with English translation of some of them. The most updated information on the detainees is tabulated.

The campaign met expectations despite intimidations applied by the authorities and therefore at a price to the Azerbaijani participants. The plan was to orchestrate civil disobedience and street protests throughout Southern Azerbaijani cities even if intimidated by the authorities. At the very wake of the campaign, the authorities resorted to intimidation by deploying the following tactics: (i) using arbitrary sentences as a deterrent, (ii) disinformation, (iii) suppressing protesters by creating tense environments, and (iv) acting repressively by arresting innocent cultural activists and taking them blindfolded to undisclosed locations. These are described in this report.

2.               The realisation of the Campaign

2.1            Roots of the Campaign

The loss of the official status of our mother tongue has deeply troubled every Azerbaijani, particularly since the illegal overthrow of our popularly elected national government in December 1946 by the invading Shah’s army of Iran . For instance our Committee has taken every opportunity to make this point in our correspondence to the UN Office of HCHR, Amnesty International, or when we addressed the General Secretary of the UN. Similar initiatives are widespread among other Southern Azerbaijani organisations.

Although protest campaigns for saving our mother tongue were organised over the years, a nationwide campaign was only materialised recently after the May 2006 mass protests. As stated in our letter of 22 September 2006, Ref.: 387/2006, these protests were seen as the mandate for resolutely safeguarding our human rights on our mother tongue.

2.2            Preparations

The Campaign on 23 September 2006 was the culmination of the calls by both rank-and-file activists of the Southern Azerbaijani national movement and the various organisations such as the Association of (Southern) Azerbaijani Academics, the Students Movement of Southern Azerbaijan, which were warmly received by all the Diaspora organisations and political parties. The English translation of the calls for the campaign by both of the above mentioned organisations was submitted to Amnesty International and the UN OHCHR, please refer to our letter Ref: 383/2006 on 18 September 2006. As a result, two tactics emerged, as follows:

1.      Civil disobedience

2.      Street protests.

3.            The Tactics Deployed by the Authorities

3.1            Arbitrary Sentencing to Deter Activists

The authorities apparently tried some 27 activists in Sulduz on late August 2006 and leaked the sentence on 2 September. Although the signed version of the sentence specified the date of 4 September 2006, it was only published on 14 September 2006. Curiously, this is after the call for the boycott of the commencement of the academic year in Southern Azerbaijan by both the Association of (Southern) Azerbaijani Academics on 11 September 2006 and by Students Movement of Southern Azerbaijan on 12 September 2006. We are yet to submit the translation of these sentences to Amnesty International.

We were one of the first organisations to receive a copy of the written sentence and this was on 20 September 2006. Therefore our letter Ref: 382/2006 on 17 September referred to the leaked version of these sentences and expressed our surprise on the matter. It is clear that the authorities were waiting for the outcome of the campaign and as soon as the call for the campaign gathered momentum, the sentences were published as a deterrent.

3.2            Disinformation Measures Deployed by the Authorities

The authorities continuously show hostility towards the Southern Azerbaijan TV station broadcasting from Chicago , which is known as GünAzTV (Güney Azərbaycan Televiziyası). This is the only TV station for Southern Azerbaijan funded by voluntary contribution of the mainly Azerbaijani Diaspora (both Southern and Northern) and to some extent by Azerbaijanis from inside Azerbaijan . The Iranian authorities resort to all sorts of ploys including intimidation and illegal acts to hamper this station and in the last 6 months they have succeeded in three occasions. It was not a coincidence that the third Iranian conspiracy against this TV was just two weeks ahead of this campaign, when the campaign seemed feasible. For further information, please see the appended Document 1. The authorities have also resorted to the following illegal acts:

·        Exerted a total information blackout on the callouts for the democratic protests and therefore the activists took upon themselves, at a great risk, to inform the public.

·        The power of landline and mobile telephones were reduced substantially

·        The Internet was filtered.

·        Forcefully entering houses to collect satellite dishes in Southern Azerbaijani cities, e.g. the case of Hemedan, as mentioned in our letter Ref:385/2006 on 21 Sept 2006.

The role of disinformation is of the paramount importance and in its simplest terms, it refers to the situation where one’s left hand is unaware of the actions of the right hand. This was the situation in Southern Azerbaijan during May 2006 mass protests and again during the campaign to save our mother tongue. Consider the May 2006 events as they rolled out. This is outlined in Box 1 , below:

However, due to a good planning, the BBC reported the protest in London with detailed background information and an interview with a Southern Azerbaijani activist – please refer to Document (News Clip) 2.

Southern Azerbaijanis demonstrating in front of Bush House, BBC

The disinformation ploy of the authorities was also foiled by the coverage of the campaign by the Voice of America. The windfall of the campaign was that some of the Southern Azerbaijani members of the Iranian parliament have confirmed the campaign, despite the official decree to the mass media in Southern Azerbaijan forbidding them the coverage of the events.

3.3            Suppressive Measures Deployed by the Authorities

It is difficult to describe real-time events in each city but knowing the roll out of events in the various cities, they can be described by the following generic pattern:

3.3.1          Scale

Street protests were planned in Erdebil, Khoy, Maki, Maragha, Merend, Qoshachay, Sulduz, Tebriz, Tehran , Urmu and Zenjan within Southern Azerbaijan, as well as by Azerbaijani Diaspora in a number of foreign cities including Gothenburg, Köln, London , Oslo , Stockholm , Toronto and Vancouver .

3.3.2          The Authorities Tactics of Suppression

The authorities resorted to intimidation of members of the public by displaying their military muscle and by commandos marching up and down peaceful cities. We have reported news items earlier and a collection of them are presented here as Ref387/2006 on 22 September 2006.

3.3.3          The Civil Disobedience Method of Campaign

Due to disinformation, it is difficult to estimate the success of this initiative but despite all odds, a relative success was reported on 23 September 2006. Azad Tribun (http://www.azadtribun.net/Fa_2.htm) reported that the response to this call was significant and apparently some families had organised open air classes for children who were taught in Azerbaijani Turkic – an initiative that emerged rather spontaneously.

3.3.4          The Street Protest Method of Campaign

Putting together a host of information sources, including our own sources and eyewitness accounts, it appears that four categories of people were involved:

(i)      Passer-by persons.

(ii)     Rank-and-file members of the planned protests. They were ordinary members of the public with intention of participating in the protests.

(iii)    Activists.

(iv)    Commandos of the armed forces: These units in their combatant gears together with plain-clothe security agents intimidated the public for a number of days in main roads and city squares. Reportedly these commandos were interfering with any individuals coalescing and stopping together even for a chat by bullying them and forcing them to move on.

Inability to stop and coalesce had given rise to moving crowds in the city squares creating tense atmospheres. Activists were seeking for opportunities to act as catalysts for initiating their protests. There are various eyewitness reports indicating that brief and short-lived protests took place in a number of towns and cities. However, in Urmu, protesters managed to join together for some what longer period of time. Main participants of Urmu demonstrations were female students who were later forcibly dispersed by security forces. A defiant mode was displayed in Zenjan, and various organisation issued statements condemning the unwise acts of the authorities, please refer to the appended Document 3, for more details (not translated).

3.4            Repressive Measures Deployed by the Authorities

Southern Azerbaijanis have already experienced the bitter taste of the iron fist of the Iranian authorities since May 2006 mass protests. This did not deter majority of the people willing to take part in the Babak Assembly in 29-30 June 2006 when, another wave of repressions inflicted against Southern Azerbaijan . The ongoing campaign is yet further evidence that Southern Azerbaijanis are resolute to reinstate their national and human rights by peaceful and democratic means. Activists were out in full force to make their point and without being deterred of the repressions imposed on them by the authorities. The following categories of repression are recognised.

3.4.1          Detaining Children

Consider the following news item released by ASMEK highly respected for their release of only reliable information on political prisoners. The detained children also includes Murtuza Evezpur (16 years old) and Mehemmedrza Evezpur (14 years old).

3.4.2          Detaining Journalists

To our knowledge the following journalists have been detained.

3.4.3          Forcing Protesters to Break up

According to UrmuNews as given below the protesters in Urmu were arrested but our own sources with eyewitness accounts (also confirmed by GunAzTV) is that protesters were also beaten up and several people were injured including a female whose arm was broken.

3.4.4          Re-arresting recently Released Activists

3.4.4          Detaining Rank-and-File Activists

Estimates of the number of rank-and-file protesters arrested by the authorities vary and some fear that it may reach more 100. We have integrated the data coming from different sources including our own and compiled them in a tabular form given below.

The Updated Table of Recently Detained Activists – Integration of the names lists from various sources