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Ethnic tensions could crack Iran's firm
resolve against the world
30.5.2006
By Abbas William Samii Commentary > Opinion
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WASHINGTON –
During the last week of May, thousands of Iranians
demonstrated in the northwestern city of Tabriz, and
the previous week there were protests at
universities in five cities. The protests were
triggered by the official government newspaper - the
Islamic Republic News Agency's Iran - publishing a
cartoon which depicts a boy repeating "cockroach" in
Persian before a giant bug in front of him asks
"What?" in Azeri.
Azeri-Iranians - who make up approximately
one-quarter of the country's population - were
particularly offended by the cartoon. These
disturbances come at a bad time for the Iranian
government, which is stressing national unity in the
face of international concern over its nuclear
program.
Ethnic Persians make up a little more than half the
total population of 69 million, but there are
sizable minorities - in addition to the Azeris there
are ethnic Arabs, Baluchis, and Kurds, for example.
Some of these groups, furthermore, practice Sunni
Islam instead of the Shiite branch of Islam, the
state religion. The Iranian Constitution guarantees
the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, but
in reality the central government emphasizes the
Persian and Shiite nature of the state.
The recent incidents of ethnic tensions are only the
latest examples of what has been escalating for more
than a year. In mid-March in the southeast, which is
home to many of Iran's 1.4 million Baluchis, a
Baluchi group called Jundallah took responsibility
for an attack on a government motorcade in which 20
people were killed. Jundallah seized a number of
hostages and claimed that it executed one of them, a
member of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. At
least 12 people were killed in a similar attack in
the second week of May. Nobody has taken credit for
explosions May 8 in Kermanshah, which is home to
Iran's 4.8 million Kurds, but the July 2005 shooting
of a young Kurd by security forces led to
demonstrations in several northwestern cities and
the deaths of civilians and police officers. Since
April of last year, there have been a number of
violent incidents - including bombings that have
targeted government facilities and which also have
killed innocent bystanders - in the southwest, where
many of Iran's 2 million Arabs live.
The central government typically reacts to ethnic
unrest with a combination of repression and
scapegoating. For example, two men were executed in
early March for their roles in fatal October
bombings in the southwest. They "confessed" on state
television the night before their executions that
Iranians in Canada and Britain instructed them to
create insecurity.
The government commonly blames foreign agitators.
Violence in the southwest is usually attributed to
the Britain for historical reasons and because
British forces are stationed near that part of the
Iraqi border with Iran. In the May 19 Friday Prayers
sermon in Tehran, which was broadcast across the
country by state radio, Ayatollah Mohammad
Emami-Kashani pinned southeastern violence on the
United States and Israel. He added that the most
recent killings are meant to create tensions between
Shiites and Sunnis. This would, he continued,
undermine the country's security.
Official reactions to the unrest caused by the
cartoon of an Azeri-speaking cockroach followed the
familiar pattern. Although the cartoonist was
arrested and the newspaper suspended, foreigners
received the blame nevertheless. According to
Reporters Without Borders, furthermore, two Azeri
journalists were detained without charges.
Tehran's method of dealing with the ethnic issue
will ultimately backfire. It can successfully employ
overwhelming force against geographically isolated
groups, but it would be much more difficult to
handle angry Arabs, Azeris, Baluchis, Kurds, and
other minorities if they act against the state
simultaneously. If such an occurrence coincides with
other forms of disorder, such as the violent student
demonstrations that took place in Tehran May 23 and
24, then the regime could find that it has more than
it can handle.
However, Iranian minorities are not pursuing
separatism or special privileges. They identify with
the Iranian nation - many defended the country in
the Iran-Iraq War, and others serve in the
government and legislature. When minorities protest
they are not making unreasonable demands, they are
just insisting on their constitutionally guaranteed
rights. Such rights include use of their languages
in local media, as well as the absence of
discrimination. They also object to levels of
unemployment and underdevelopment that affect their
regions more severely than other parts of the
country. The Iranian regime ignores minority rights
and dismisses their concerns at its peril.
Abbas William Samii is a regional analyst
at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Inc. The views
expressed here are his own.
csmonitor com
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