Tuesday, May 23, 2006

The Powder Keg Situation

Apart from a few small state organised demos, the Danish cartoons did not provoke much spontaneous public protest in Iran, yet a different cartoon printed in the Iran daily has rocked the capital city of Azerabadegan, Tabriz, where I was born.

The cartoon depicts a boy who is trying to say cockroach in different ways and a cockroach sitting behind a desk which replies "what?" in Turkish. The message of the cartoon is how sometimes two people engaged in a dialogue can not understand each other. The article is actually a reference, within the tight censorship limits put on Iranian newspapers, to the letter sent by president Ahmadi-Nejad to George Bush; but since the cockroach replies in Turkish, it was deemed as an insult to the Azeri population by the Azeri people.

As a result, Tabriz and other Azeri cities have seen the biggest demonstrations since the supporters of Ayatollah Shariatmadari - rival to Khomeini - took to the streets and even took control of the state radio in the early 80s.

The separatists have immediately tried to jump on the bandwagon and claim that the protesters are calling for the cessation of Azerabadegan - or Southern Azarbijan as they like to call it - from Iran. Other reports suggest that this is not the case. People fed up with the rule of the mullahs are looking for ways to vent their frustration at them.

One thing is for certain, twenty seven years of clerical rule, has turned the public mood in all of Iran into a powder keg situation. The moment the number of protesters reaches that critical mass and the regime looks vulnerable to the people of Iran, it will be game over for the mullahs.

My generation were betrayed by the stupidities of our previous generation, a bright future for the next generation of Iranians depends on clear rational thinking ahead by the active youth of Iran today. Separatist nonsense talk is not the way forward unless anyone wants to end up like Afghanistan or "Northern Azerbijan".

12 comments:

Aryamehr said...

It seems Rezaiyeh has risen up as well.

http://aryamehr11.blogspot.com/2006/05/unrest-in-rezaiyeh-230506.html

Chester said...

Thanks for the info

ayhan said...

ok. I see that azeri people feel really turkish except you. you can insist on that azeri people are arian but it looks like what you say or think is unimportant...
if such a cartoon can provake the hundred of thousands of people who speak turkish, that means there is a turkish nationalism in iran... you can go on the stories of azarbagedan atarpur etc...you cannot change the peoples mother language and feelings...

Anonymous said...

The just argument is not in numbers but in what the truth is. If hundreds of thousands of Azeris think separation from Iran is the way forward (and that is an IF) it doesn't make it right. 98% of Iranians voted for the Islamic Republic but they soon regretted it.
If Azaeris feel they are Turks, I blame 27 years of Islamic Republic which has ignored Iranian nationalism and miseducated the people.

Anonymous said...

one only needs to check the photos of the events found in these sites to feel the intensity of turkist sentiment of turk youth of iran :

http://qarabaq.azerblog.com/
http://www.baybak.com/
http://www.tebriz.co.sr/
http://urmiya.blogspot.com/
http://www.shamstabriz.com/
http://www.durna.se/
http://www.azadtribun.net/
http://www.gamoh.org/
http://www.gamoh-at.com/
http://www.sattarkhan.net/
http://www.yurd.net/
http://www.cahandar.info/

Tom said...

have you considered signing the euston manifesto?

Tom said...

have you considered signing the euston manifesto?

Azarmehr said...

I already have signed the Euston Manifesto.

ayhan said...

hi azarmehr. I am curious if you have seen this article :http://azeriturks.blogspot.com/
the article is written carefully and very long. it says about the turkification of iran and blame "iraninan nationalist"azeri people like you for pretending to be an iranian nationalist but says in fact they try to turkize iran.
it looks nonsense and foolish to me. if there has been such a thing, there must be at least 1 turkish speaking tv channel in iran...
what do you think about this article?

Azarmehr said...

:))What complete nonsense from a very confused mind that has had all her wires crossed, looped and twisetd. Ayhan, if you know this girl please ask her to see a doctor immediately, for the good of the world community..

Anonymous said...

These movements does not mean Azeris feel turkish Mr. Ayhan, in the history we Azeris have never felt turkish and had no feeling and sympathy to turkish tribes invading our great Iran even at the time of Turkish dominance in Iran (time of Seljuks, Gaznavis, Ak & Kara Koyunlus). The Turkish movement started about 60 or 70 years ago during the Cold War and communist gripe in ex-Russia. They wanted to find a way to PERSIAN Golf and abused some close-minded, nonsense, unlogical Northern Iran (Kafkaz, Aran, Karabag...people to reach their ominous goal and thank God they couldn't and from them those close-minded uncivilized people who are thinking of eating and f...ing always tried to attach our great Azarbaijan to their land in order to make an Azeri government.
Mr. Ayhan, we have 4 Azeri speaking TV channels in Iran, we have lots turkish Azeri papers and books in Iran.
Of course this does not mean that I want Turkish Azeri to be deleted in Iran, I disagree with this matter but as an Azeri I will never let the Head of Lion to be seperated from its body.
We are trying to place a turkish Azeri book and course in our primary and high schools.
We are Arians, the new theories show that the Aryan started to pervade from Azarbaijan to our places of the world.
Ayhan Bey, ben seninle tanishmaghima chox mutluyum, ama seni'de fikirleshmeye davet edirim, belki unutmiyasan ki sizde yalnizca turkce qonushursunuz ve her ne edsinizde genetically indoavrupalisiniz, yani aryanisiniz. Teshekkur ederim agar bu qonu'da birazca fikirleship ve tahqiq edersen.
Iran means the land of nobles and pureborn people. And all the Iranian even the ex-Iranian people are noble.
Babak Parham 20Jul2006

Anonymous said...

See this:

Iran: from Aryanism to Pan Turkism
http://aryanpanturks.blogspot.com/