Tweet
Azerbaijan questions ethnic identity of Bryza's wife
16:36 * 26.07.11
The heated anti-Turkish tensions in Azerbaijan have caused the country
to call into question the Turkish origins of Mathew Bryza's wife, a
former police chief has said in Á recent article.
"The matter has gone so far that the identity of US Ambassador Mathew
Bryza's wife has come under spotlight. They even ask him whether he is
a Kurd. That's just a big shame," Akif Selimov said in his article
devoted to the anti-Kurdish assimiilation policy in Azerbaijan.
The author expresses concerns over the discrimination between Turks
and non-Turks, a policy which he says has become predominant in the
country.
He further recalls that Azeris co-existed peacefully with Kurds up
until 1992. But as the radical forces in Azerbaijan pushed forward the
idea of 'Turrkishness', the ethnic minorities faced discrimination, he
says.
Bryza's wife Zeyno Baran is an ethnic Turk born to a family of
journalists. Her father, Uran Baran, was a representative of the the
Turkish newspaper Hurriyet in Moscow and later - in Athens.
Baran is now the director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Eurasian Policy.
Recent media reports claimed that Azerbaijan is exerting pressure
against its Kurdish minority.
An owner of the Diplomata Kurdi newspaper, Tahir Suleyman, had said
earlier that the Kurdish population of Azerbaijan faces the threat of
assimilation, a process which, if continued, would lead to their final
extinction.
On behalf of the Kurds residing in Azerbaijan, Suleyman called on the
country's president, Ilham Aliyev, to lift all forms of restrictions
on the Kurdish minority's cultural life and education.
Tert.am
From: Baghdasarian
16:36 * 26.07.11
The heated anti-Turkish tensions in Azerbaijan have caused the country
to call into question the Turkish origins of Mathew Bryza's wife, a
former police chief has said in Á recent article.
"The matter has gone so far that the identity of US Ambassador Mathew
Bryza's wife has come under spotlight. They even ask him whether he is
a Kurd. That's just a big shame," Akif Selimov said in his article
devoted to the anti-Kurdish assimiilation policy in Azerbaijan.
The author expresses concerns over the discrimination between Turks
and non-Turks, a policy which he says has become predominant in the
country.
He further recalls that Azeris co-existed peacefully with Kurds up
until 1992. But as the radical forces in Azerbaijan pushed forward the
idea of 'Turrkishness', the ethnic minorities faced discrimination, he
says.
Bryza's wife Zeyno Baran is an ethnic Turk born to a family of
journalists. Her father, Uran Baran, was a representative of the the
Turkish newspaper Hurriyet in Moscow and later - in Athens.
Baran is now the director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Eurasian Policy.
Recent media reports claimed that Azerbaijan is exerting pressure
against its Kurdish minority.
An owner of the Diplomata Kurdi newspaper, Tahir Suleyman, had said
earlier that the Kurdish population of Azerbaijan faces the threat of
assimilation, a process which, if continued, would lead to their final
extinction.
On behalf of the Kurds residing in Azerbaijan, Suleyman called on the
country's president, Ilham Aliyev, to lift all forms of restrictions
on the Kurdish minority's cultural life and education.
Tert.am
From: Baghdasarian