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ANTI-IRANIAN FEELING RUNS HIGH IN AZERI CAPITAL
By Sabuhi Mammadli
Institute of War & Peace Reporting IWPR
CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 608
September 16, 2011
Environmental protests in Iran spark concerns about ethnic Azerbaijanis
living around shrinking lake.
Protests in northwest Iran demanding action to stop a major lake
drying up have been echoed across the border in Azerbaijan, where a
demonstration took place outside Tehran's embassy in the capital Baku.
The hundreds of people who took part in the Baku protest, which was
broken up by police, went beyond environmental concerns about Lake
Urmia and expressed support for Iran's large ethnic Azerbaijani
minority.
Chants of "Unite Azerbaijan with its capital in Tabriz" were heard
- a reference to nationalist aspirations for their former Soviet
republic to one day join up with ethnic Azerbaijan-majority regions
of northwest Iran..
"Our demands are not political," Seymur Hasanli, head of the youth
section of the World Congress of Azerbaijanis, insisted. "We just think
it's our duty to support our Azeri brothers in Iranian Azerbaijan."
Lake Urmia, located between Iran's East and West Azerbaijan
provinces, is the largest lake in the Middle East, but its area has
shrunk drastically through damming, overuse of water, drought, and
evaporation. Because it is a saltwater lake, the minerals deposits
left as the lake's edges recede pose potential health hazards.
Javad Jahangirli, an Iranian parliamentarian from the region, told
the BBC that if the lake were to disappear, the salt-covered bed could
create an environmental catastrophe affecting up to 14 million people.
Protests in August in the cities of Tabriz and Urmia, which sit
on either side of the lake, met with the usual heavy-handed police
response.
"Instead of listening to people's demands, the Iranian authorities
launched mass arrests," Vahid Garadagli, spokesman for the Baku-based
Association for the Defence of Azeri Political Prisoners in Iran,
said. "On September 4 alone, more than 200 protesters were arrested
in Urmia - both in the street during the protest, and in their homes.
It's very hard to put a figure to the total numbers arrested, but
it's already in the thousands."
The environmental issues are real enough for people living over the
border in Azerbaijan, who are well aware of what happened to the
Aral Sea in Central Asia. Excess use of river waters in the Soviet
era reduced the sea's area, and harmful dust and salt residues on
the exposed Aral seabed were dispersed over surrounding areas of
Uzbekistan and Kazakstan.
In Azerbaijan, however, much of the focus has been on minority politics
in Iran.
"The Iranian authorities' indifference [to the lake] shows their
antipathy to us Azerbaijanis," Sabir Rustamkhanli, a member of
parliament who heads the World Congress of Azerbaijanis, said. "If
Lake Urmia, one of the world's saltiest lakes, dries up, then all of
southern Azerbaijan [in Iran] will be affected by salinity. People
will lose not just their homes but their livelihoods. Just think of
the threat our brothers face from the Iranian authorities."
The World Congress has promised to keep up the pressure on Tehran.
"Despite the brutal police response and the dispersal of the
protesters, we are going to continue protesting until the problem
is resolved," Hasanli said. "Following our protests, the government
closed the road outside the Iranian embassy, supposedly for repairs.
But that isn't going to stop us - we will find ways and places to
show our support for our kin."
The nationalists have already shown some ingenuity in voicing
their views. At a football match between Kazakstan and Azerbaijan
on September 6, a group of fans chanted: "Azerbaijan is our life,
Urmia is our blood", and "Persians, Russians and Armenians are the
[Azerbaijani] Turks' enemies".
The police moved in, arresting 14 fans and dispersing the rest.
The grassroots protests leave the Azerbaijani authorities in a
difficult position, given that relations with Tehran have never
been easy.
Mubariz Gurbanli, a parliamentarian from the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan
party, called for moderation.
"Of course we understand that Azerbaijanis in the cities of Tabriz and
Urmia are justified in protesting against the evaporation of the lake.
We cannot be indifferent to that. But they are citizens of Iran, and
we can't interfere in the internal affairs of another country. All
the same, no amount of force and violence can stop people standing
up for their rights. I am certain that sooner or later, the Iranian
authorities will come to understand this."
Sabuhi Mammadli is a correspondent for the www.lent.az website.
By Sabuhi Mammadli
Institute of War & Peace Reporting IWPR
CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 608
September 16, 2011
Environmental protests in Iran spark concerns about ethnic Azerbaijanis
living around shrinking lake.
Protests in northwest Iran demanding action to stop a major lake
drying up have been echoed across the border in Azerbaijan, where a
demonstration took place outside Tehran's embassy in the capital Baku.
The hundreds of people who took part in the Baku protest, which was
broken up by police, went beyond environmental concerns about Lake
Urmia and expressed support for Iran's large ethnic Azerbaijani
minority.
Chants of "Unite Azerbaijan with its capital in Tabriz" were heard
- a reference to nationalist aspirations for their former Soviet
republic to one day join up with ethnic Azerbaijan-majority regions
of northwest Iran..
"Our demands are not political," Seymur Hasanli, head of the youth
section of the World Congress of Azerbaijanis, insisted. "We just think
it's our duty to support our Azeri brothers in Iranian Azerbaijan."
Lake Urmia, located between Iran's East and West Azerbaijan
provinces, is the largest lake in the Middle East, but its area has
shrunk drastically through damming, overuse of water, drought, and
evaporation. Because it is a saltwater lake, the minerals deposits
left as the lake's edges recede pose potential health hazards.
Javad Jahangirli, an Iranian parliamentarian from the region, told
the BBC that if the lake were to disappear, the salt-covered bed could
create an environmental catastrophe affecting up to 14 million people.
Protests in August in the cities of Tabriz and Urmia, which sit
on either side of the lake, met with the usual heavy-handed police
response.
"Instead of listening to people's demands, the Iranian authorities
launched mass arrests," Vahid Garadagli, spokesman for the Baku-based
Association for the Defence of Azeri Political Prisoners in Iran,
said. "On September 4 alone, more than 200 protesters were arrested
in Urmia - both in the street during the protest, and in their homes.
It's very hard to put a figure to the total numbers arrested, but
it's already in the thousands."
The environmental issues are real enough for people living over the
border in Azerbaijan, who are well aware of what happened to the
Aral Sea in Central Asia. Excess use of river waters in the Soviet
era reduced the sea's area, and harmful dust and salt residues on
the exposed Aral seabed were dispersed over surrounding areas of
Uzbekistan and Kazakstan.
In Azerbaijan, however, much of the focus has been on minority politics
in Iran.
"The Iranian authorities' indifference [to the lake] shows their
antipathy to us Azerbaijanis," Sabir Rustamkhanli, a member of
parliament who heads the World Congress of Azerbaijanis, said. "If
Lake Urmia, one of the world's saltiest lakes, dries up, then all of
southern Azerbaijan [in Iran] will be affected by salinity. People
will lose not just their homes but their livelihoods. Just think of
the threat our brothers face from the Iranian authorities."
The World Congress has promised to keep up the pressure on Tehran.
"Despite the brutal police response and the dispersal of the
protesters, we are going to continue protesting until the problem
is resolved," Hasanli said. "Following our protests, the government
closed the road outside the Iranian embassy, supposedly for repairs.
But that isn't going to stop us - we will find ways and places to
show our support for our kin."
The nationalists have already shown some ingenuity in voicing
their views. At a football match between Kazakstan and Azerbaijan
on September 6, a group of fans chanted: "Azerbaijan is our life,
Urmia is our blood", and "Persians, Russians and Armenians are the
[Azerbaijani] Turks' enemies".
The police moved in, arresting 14 fans and dispersing the rest.
The grassroots protests leave the Azerbaijani authorities in a
difficult position, given that relations with Tehran have never
been easy.
Mubariz Gurbanli, a parliamentarian from the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan
party, called for moderation.
"Of course we understand that Azerbaijanis in the cities of Tabriz and
Urmia are justified in protesting against the evaporation of the lake.
We cannot be indifferent to that. But they are citizens of Iran, and
we can't interfere in the internal affairs of another country. All
the same, no amount of force and violence can stop people standing
up for their rights. I am certain that sooner or later, the Iranian
authorities will come to understand this."
Sabuhi Mammadli is a correspondent for the www.lent.az website.