Araz News:Many political activists and human right activists have Commemorated  11th anniversary of South Azerbaijan “May 22” uprising in Washington -US on 21 of May 2017.

At the end of the peaceful demonstration a final statement was read by ANRO’s spokesperson Mr. Babak Chalabiyanli .

The statement is as follows:

South Azerbaijan is a vast region in Northwestern Iran, which is populated predominantly by Azerbaijani Turks. Since Pahlavi regime the ethnic Persian nationalism became the dominant doctrine and consequently anti-Arabism, anti-Turkism became the basis for forming the modern Iranian nation-state. The Persianate dynasty began a policy of eliminating all non-Persian cultural and historical heritage, thus erasing the legacy of the Azerbaijani Turks. The Pahlavi’s and its continued Iranian Islamic regime viewed the Azerbaijani Turkish culture, language, and civilization as one which posed an existential threat to the dominance of the Persian identity in Iran being that over 40% of the entire population of the fledgling state was comprised of ethnic Turks.

Following the policies of racial discrimination and humiliated against the Turks by Iranian regime, on 22 May 2006, Iran’s state-run newspaper cockroach cartoon was offensive humiliated Turks.

 

The insulted cockroach cartoon of Iran newspaper published in the Iranian holiday-magazine of Iran-e-jomee, drawn by the cartoonist Mana Neyestani. The cartoon, published in the children’s section of the newspaper on 12 May 2006, allegedly insulted the Azerbaijani people by depicting a child and cockroach speaking in Persian together. In the cartoon when the cockroach does not understand the child, he then decides to talk to the cockroach in an imaginary cockroach language (saying “soosoo soosking sisko sooski sooskung”). But the cockroach does not even understand its own language and replies by saying “namana?” (“what?”). Namana is a word which originates in the Turkish language.

The insulting resulted in massive riots throughout Iran in May 2006, most notably in the predominantly Azerbaijani-populated cities of Tabriz, Urmia, Ardabil, Zanjan, Sulduz, Qoshachay and many of smaller towns. Uprising of South Azerbaijani people continued for three weeks. In May 22 hundreds of thousands of people in Tabriz the historical capital of Azerbaijan revolted against the regime. The security forces shot and killed dozens of people during the peaceful protest. Amnesty international claims that “hundreds, if not thousands, were arrested and scores reportedly killed by the security forces.”

To halt the persecution and discrimination that has plagued South Azerbaijan for decades and protect Azerbaijan’s historical heritage, identity, and dignity, Azerbaijani Turks have taken to multifaceted forms of expression, risking detention, torture, and even death. The modern stage of national struggle, referred to as the “National Movement of Azerbaijan” has consistently grown since the late 1980s. The National Movement of Azerbaijan is now a powerful and well-supported political movement, calling for the social and collective human rights and freedoms of Turkish society in South Azerbaijan.

Today in the 11th anniversary of the May 22 uprising we are a group of South Azerbaijan- American in Washington-D.C. metropole area gathered here to remember our martyrs and protest the Iranian racist regime. We demanded free all political prisoner in Iran.

We, the South Azerbaijani – American people, strongly believe that all necessary conditions for the self-determination of the Turkish nation in South Azerbaijan should be fulfilled and that self-determination for our nation is a legitimate and legal right.

South Azerbaijani Activists in Washington D.C.

05/21/2017

By-B-CH