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CONCERNS OVER URMIA LAKE BOOSTS NATIONALISM AMONG AZERBAIJANIS IN IRAN
http://www.cacianalyst.org/?q=node/5637
By Emil Souleimanov (10/05/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Mass demonstrations of ethnic Azerbaijanis protesting the drying up of
Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran, the Middle East's largest water
reservoir and the third largest salt-water lake in the world, recently
struck the cities of Iranian Azerbaijan. Although information from the
region is scarce, numerous reports state that hundreds of protesters
have been beaten, arrested and mistreated by Iranian police and
security forces. Additionally, new clashes have taken place between
supporters of the Tehran-based Esteqlal and the Tabriz-based Tractor
Sazi football club (TSFC) with the latter raising Urmiye-related
claims alongside their longtime demands for establishing school
education in Azerbaijani Turkish.
BACKGROUND: Environmental protests have been on the rise since August
following the Iranian parliament's refusal to accept an emergency
rescue plan for reviving Urmia, a lake that has the status of a UNESCO
biosphere reserve. Indeed, this extremely salty lake with its unique
flora and fauna could be facing a large-scale environmental
catastrophe resembling the fate of Central Asia's Aral Sea. This is a
result of Tehran's recent policies of building numerous dams on more
than 20 tributaries feeding into the lake, which has in turn reduced
the depth of the lake by around two thirds to less than 2 meters. The
government's plan to build a bridge connecting the cities of Tabriz
and Oroumiye across the lake has further worsened its ecological
situation.
During football matches that took place shortly after the parliament's
decision, dozens of TSFC fans were arrested for protesting the Iranian
government's failure to take measures to save the lake. In spite of
the routine detainments of environmental activists and ordinary
protesters, several thousands of ethnic Azerbaijanis took to the
streets of Tabriz, Oroumiye, and other cities of Iranian Azerbaijan on
August 27 and September 3; and more demonstrations are expected. These
peaceful protests were crushed by large contingents of Iranian police
and security forces using repressive means such as tear gas and firing
metal bullets. According to local sources, the number of detainees has
reached a thousand people with many dozens of protesters injured and
at least one killed.
In the meantime, violence occurred during a football game between TSFC
and Esteqlal in Tehran on September 9, in which the TSFC's victory
placed it among the leaders of the Iranian playoff. Intriguingly,
before the game started, the authorities took measures to prevent
thousands of TSFC supporters from entering the stadium. The
authorities had received reports about the intention of TSFC
supporters to articulate politically flavored demands during the
match, related to the apparent unwillingness of the regime to save the
lake. Those who managed to attend the game still used the opportunity
to chant slogans related to Urmia and condemning the authorities,
which brought about the clashes with security forces.
IMPLICATIONS: The increasingly vocal demands of Azerbaijanis, Iran's
by far largest ethnic community making up around a quarter of the
country's multiethnic population, have recently attracted the
attention of observers of the region (see the 10/27/2010 issue of the
CACI Analyst). It has been argued that the younger generation of
Iranian Azerbaijanis has increasingly come to identify along the lines
of secular ethnic nationalism, thereby embracing the notion of their
Turkic identity and reducing the commitment to Iranian statehood,
which is anchored heavily in religion.
Importantly, this development has taken place alongside increasing
numbers of violent incidents with Azerbaijanis on one side and Iranian
police and security forces on the other being reported across the
country. For instance, concerned over the dramatically growing scope
of Azerbaijani nationalism aired during TSFC games, the authorities
have started to limit the numbers of predominantly Azerbaijani TSFC
supporters attending its games. During the frequently occurring racial
and nationalistic clashes between Azerbaijani fans of TSFC and the
predominantly Persian fans of Esteqlal and Persepolis, another
Tehran-based football club, police and security forces usually do not
hesitate to take the side of the ethnic Persians. The above-mentioned
victory of TSFC over its traditional rival, Esteqlal, brought about
mass celebrations in Tabriz, which were accompanied by political
demands. The initiative was crushed by police and security forces and
ignited a new wave of detentions of Azerbaijani activists which has
been ongoing for several weeks. In turn, this has been viewed by an
increasing share of Iran's Azerbaijani community as additional
evidence of ethnic discrimination, anti-Azerbaijani bias and Persian
nationalism.
Accordingly, established ethno-nationalistic pro-Azerbaijan,
pro-Turkey, and increasingly anti-Persian and anti-regime slogans
chanted by several thousand TSFC fans as well as ordinary Azerbaijanis
have recently been accompanied by slogans focusing on Urmia such as
`Lake Urmia is dying, Iran is ordering its execution,' or `Urmia is
thirsty, Azerbaijan must rise up, otherwise it will lose.'
Symbolically, these and similar chants were first articulated at a
recent meeting of Azerbaijanis at the Tabriz-based tomb of Sattar
Khan, an ethnic Azerbaijani national hero of Iran and a key figure in
the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911.
Even more importantly, confronted with Tehran's apparent unwillingness
to put an effective end to the dehydration of the Urmia Lake,
increasing numbers of Azerbaijanis regard this as a result of an
alleged sophisticated plan by the government to turn Iran's
Azerbaijani provinces into a salty desert as the remaining salt would
be dispersed by winds throughout the whole region destroying soil and
crops. Since the Urmia Lake plays a crucial role in Iranian Azerbaijan
and supports around 15 million local inhabitants, the argument
continues, the upcoming ecologic disaster would gradually force local
Azerbaijanis to migrate into other areas of the country effectively
reducing the prospects of Azerbaijani secessionism and fostering their
assimilation into the Persian mainstream.
CONCLUSIONS: So far, the existence of the TSFC, whose significant
sport successes and wide popularity across Northwestern Iran's
predominantly Azerbaijani provinces has contributed greatly to
awakening the masses of once politically apathetic Iranian
Azerbaijanis. The commitment to save the Urmia Lake, regarded as the
pearl of Iranian Azerbaijan, has further united many ordinary
Azerbaijanis. This is regardless of their politically motivated
sympathies - or antipathies - toward the idea of Iranian statehood or
Azerbaijani Turkic nationalism, as well as efforts aimed at
ethno-linguistic and cultural emancipation advocated by a portion of
the Iranian Azerbaijani population. The indiscriminate use of force by
the regime even over this seemingly apolitical issue has further
deepened the ethnically defined gap between Iranian Azerbaijanis and
the Iranian state, paving the ground for considerable conflict in the
future.
AUTHOR'S BIO: Dr. Emil Souleimanov is assistant professor at the
Department of Russian and East European Studies, Charles University in
Prague, Czech Republic. He is the author of `An Endless War: The
Russian-Chechen Conflict in Perspective` (Peter Lang, 2007).
http://www.cacianalyst.org/?q=node/5637
By Emil Souleimanov (10/05/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Mass demonstrations of ethnic Azerbaijanis protesting the drying up of
Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran, the Middle East's largest water
reservoir and the third largest salt-water lake in the world, recently
struck the cities of Iranian Azerbaijan. Although information from the
region is scarce, numerous reports state that hundreds of protesters
have been beaten, arrested and mistreated by Iranian police and
security forces. Additionally, new clashes have taken place between
supporters of the Tehran-based Esteqlal and the Tabriz-based Tractor
Sazi football club (TSFC) with the latter raising Urmiye-related
claims alongside their longtime demands for establishing school
education in Azerbaijani Turkish.
BACKGROUND: Environmental protests have been on the rise since August
following the Iranian parliament's refusal to accept an emergency
rescue plan for reviving Urmia, a lake that has the status of a UNESCO
biosphere reserve. Indeed, this extremely salty lake with its unique
flora and fauna could be facing a large-scale environmental
catastrophe resembling the fate of Central Asia's Aral Sea. This is a
result of Tehran's recent policies of building numerous dams on more
than 20 tributaries feeding into the lake, which has in turn reduced
the depth of the lake by around two thirds to less than 2 meters. The
government's plan to build a bridge connecting the cities of Tabriz
and Oroumiye across the lake has further worsened its ecological
situation.
During football matches that took place shortly after the parliament's
decision, dozens of TSFC fans were arrested for protesting the Iranian
government's failure to take measures to save the lake. In spite of
the routine detainments of environmental activists and ordinary
protesters, several thousands of ethnic Azerbaijanis took to the
streets of Tabriz, Oroumiye, and other cities of Iranian Azerbaijan on
August 27 and September 3; and more demonstrations are expected. These
peaceful protests were crushed by large contingents of Iranian police
and security forces using repressive means such as tear gas and firing
metal bullets. According to local sources, the number of detainees has
reached a thousand people with many dozens of protesters injured and
at least one killed.
In the meantime, violence occurred during a football game between TSFC
and Esteqlal in Tehran on September 9, in which the TSFC's victory
placed it among the leaders of the Iranian playoff. Intriguingly,
before the game started, the authorities took measures to prevent
thousands of TSFC supporters from entering the stadium. The
authorities had received reports about the intention of TSFC
supporters to articulate politically flavored demands during the
match, related to the apparent unwillingness of the regime to save the
lake. Those who managed to attend the game still used the opportunity
to chant slogans related to Urmia and condemning the authorities,
which brought about the clashes with security forces.
IMPLICATIONS: The increasingly vocal demands of Azerbaijanis, Iran's
by far largest ethnic community making up around a quarter of the
country's multiethnic population, have recently attracted the
attention of observers of the region (see the 10/27/2010 issue of the
CACI Analyst). It has been argued that the younger generation of
Iranian Azerbaijanis has increasingly come to identify along the lines
of secular ethnic nationalism, thereby embracing the notion of their
Turkic identity and reducing the commitment to Iranian statehood,
which is anchored heavily in religion.
Importantly, this development has taken place alongside increasing
numbers of violent incidents with Azerbaijanis on one side and Iranian
police and security forces on the other being reported across the
country. For instance, concerned over the dramatically growing scope
of Azerbaijani nationalism aired during TSFC games, the authorities
have started to limit the numbers of predominantly Azerbaijani TSFC
supporters attending its games. During the frequently occurring racial
and nationalistic clashes between Azerbaijani fans of TSFC and the
predominantly Persian fans of Esteqlal and Persepolis, another
Tehran-based football club, police and security forces usually do not
hesitate to take the side of the ethnic Persians. The above-mentioned
victory of TSFC over its traditional rival, Esteqlal, brought about
mass celebrations in Tabriz, which were accompanied by political
demands. The initiative was crushed by police and security forces and
ignited a new wave of detentions of Azerbaijani activists which has
been ongoing for several weeks. In turn, this has been viewed by an
increasing share of Iran's Azerbaijani community as additional
evidence of ethnic discrimination, anti-Azerbaijani bias and Persian
nationalism.
Accordingly, established ethno-nationalistic pro-Azerbaijan,
pro-Turkey, and increasingly anti-Persian and anti-regime slogans
chanted by several thousand TSFC fans as well as ordinary Azerbaijanis
have recently been accompanied by slogans focusing on Urmia such as
`Lake Urmia is dying, Iran is ordering its execution,' or `Urmia is
thirsty, Azerbaijan must rise up, otherwise it will lose.'
Symbolically, these and similar chants were first articulated at a
recent meeting of Azerbaijanis at the Tabriz-based tomb of Sattar
Khan, an ethnic Azerbaijani national hero of Iran and a key figure in
the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911.
Even more importantly, confronted with Tehran's apparent unwillingness
to put an effective end to the dehydration of the Urmia Lake,
increasing numbers of Azerbaijanis regard this as a result of an
alleged sophisticated plan by the government to turn Iran's
Azerbaijani provinces into a salty desert as the remaining salt would
be dispersed by winds throughout the whole region destroying soil and
crops. Since the Urmia Lake plays a crucial role in Iranian Azerbaijan
and supports around 15 million local inhabitants, the argument
continues, the upcoming ecologic disaster would gradually force local
Azerbaijanis to migrate into other areas of the country effectively
reducing the prospects of Azerbaijani secessionism and fostering their
assimilation into the Persian mainstream.
CONCLUSIONS: So far, the existence of the TSFC, whose significant
sport successes and wide popularity across Northwestern Iran's
predominantly Azerbaijani provinces has contributed greatly to
awakening the masses of once politically apathetic Iranian
Azerbaijanis. The commitment to save the Urmia Lake, regarded as the
pearl of Iranian Azerbaijan, has further united many ordinary
Azerbaijanis. This is regardless of their politically motivated
sympathies - or antipathies - toward the idea of Iranian statehood or
Azerbaijani Turkic nationalism, as well as efforts aimed at
ethno-linguistic and cultural emancipation advocated by a portion of
the Iranian Azerbaijani population. The indiscriminate use of force by
the regime even over this seemingly apolitical issue has further
deepened the ethnically defined gap between Iranian Azerbaijanis and
the Iranian state, paving the ground for considerable conflict in the
future.
AUTHOR'S BIO: Dr. Emil Souleimanov is assistant professor at the
Department of Russian and East European Studies, Charles University in
Prague, Czech Republic. He is the author of `An Endless War: The
Russian-Chechen Conflict in Perspective` (Peter Lang, 2007).