The presidential elections and The Situation of Non-Persian Minorities.
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom is giving aid to Yousuf Azizi (Bani Torof) an Iranian writer and journalist living in exile. He was sacked from Hamshari, the Farsi-language daily where he had worked for 12 years, after being sentenced on 20 August to five years in prison for "undermining state security", "inciting rebellion" & "maintaining ties with foreign officials" when hardliners took over the newspaper. He appealed, then fled the country.
Azizi,
a prominent Arab intellectual in Iran, was arrested in April 2005 over his
reporting of ethnic clashes between police and the majority Arab community in
the south-western province of Khuzestan. He supported the demonstrators while
condemning the violence.
Azizi talked to the Doha Centre about the presidential elections scheduled for
12 June in which hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to bid for a second
four-year term of office. The president is the second most important person in
Iran after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, known as the Supreme Guide, who keeps a tight
hold on the regime. The president has considerable influence over foreign and
domestic policy. He is the head of government, appoints and dismisses ministers
and chairs the powerful Supreme National Security Council.
Although the scandal over Iran's uranium enrichment programme is currently
hogging the headlines, observers expect the economy to be the main focus in the
elections.
Azizi also talks about another major issue: the situation of non-Persian
minorities.
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What is the current situation for non-Persian minorities in
Iran?
The gap is growing between the government and the various social stratums who
make up the Iranian people - women, manual workers, students, academics and
non-Persian ethnic groups.
In previous elections, and particularly the last presidential one, a drop of
several million in the number of voters worried Iran's rulers. The reason is
that non-Persian ethnic groups have distanced themselves from the government.
They are suspicious and discouraged by constant and growing official violence
against them in the Arab, Baluchi, Kurdish, Turkish and Turkmen regions of Iran.
Repression, hangings and arrests are continuing in Sistan-Baluchistan, Kurdistan
and Khuzestan (AlAhwaz). The conflict is hushed up in other regions. In the far
Sout-east, for example, although no actual violence has been reported In Iranian
Azerbijan, ethnic activists are being arrested and imprisoned. So the outlook is
bleak for ethnic communities on the eve of Iran's 10th presidential elections.
How can non-Persian peoples play a vital role in the
elections?
Non-Persian ethnic communities make up more than half of the Iranian population
and have the right to vote, so they can considerably influence the outcome.
However, they must be free, fair, multiparty elections, as required by
international standards. If they are not, non-Persians may once again boycott
the poll. This is common in Iran, especially in Kurdistan and Kurdish cities in
other parts of the country.
At the last elections, Kurdish elites and political groups actually called for a
boycott, and it may happen again. Reformists must be aware of this and take all
ethnic groups' aspirations into account. Otherwise Iranian democracy will take
another major step backwards.
If presidential election candidates do not take the demands of all ethnic groups
into account when preparing their manifestos, and if no-one represents those
groups, we'll definitely see a resurgence of extremism.
Above all, we must not underestimate the importance of ethnic peoples in Iran.
They don't just live in border areas; they are spread all over the country. You
will find Turks not only in eastern and western Azerbaijan, but also in Qazvin,
Tehran, Qom, Hamadan, Esfahan, Fars, Gorgan and Khorasan provinces.
The same is true of Kurdish and Arab ethnic groups who live too in Khorasan
province and Gorgan as well as their regions of origin. And I am not even
referring to linguistic and dialect minorities like the Lors, Bakhtiaris,
Gilates and Mazandaranis. Very many Iranians belong to ethnic peoples so it's
vitally important that they should vote in the presidential elections.
Can non-Persian ethnic groups benefit from the elections?
In the last four or five years, the government has ignored the claims of
non-Persian ethnic groups and has confirmed its repressive policy towards them.
Countless political parties, social and cultural organisations and most
community newspapers have been closed down.
Finally, all legal, peaceful means of protest are gradually being closed off.
Activists calling quite legally for their identity to be recognised are
prosecuted and given harsh prison sentences. So either democracy grinds to a
halt or non-Persian ethnic groups will be a central issue in the June elections.
How are Iranians reacting to this gradual clampdown?
Much is still being written about non-Persian ethnic groups, and the debate will
not end because someone wears traditional dress. I say that because you can't
fool the Iranian people with a disguise. It's not by wearing a Dishdasheh and
keffieh in Ahwaz, the capital of Khuzestan (a region with a majority of Arab
population) that Ahmadinejad will move the country forward. Yet that's what he
did, and he'll probably carry on disguising himself in this way. But nobody is
taken in.
Some politicians are making an effort, but it's not working. For instance, the
reformist fringe has included the issue of ethnic communities in its manifesto.
They want to ensure that non-Persian citizens can take part in cultural and
social activities. But it was those same reformists who failed to implement the
republic's 1979 constitution when they were in power. Thirty years later
articles 15 and 19, which guarantee official recognition for non-Persian ethnic
groups, their languages and rights, are still suspended.
Now the gap is growing wider. Iran today is becoming centred on two conflicting
identities. The Persians are increasingly attached to their origins, with a
return to pre-Islamic culture and symbols, while non-Persians confirm on their
nationalities and continue their cultural quest, but are getting no feedback.
How can they go on fighting if their struggle isn't recognised?
What does that mean politically?
When the government appeals to Persians for support, it obviously doesn't please
Arabs, Kurds and Azeris. All politicians have to take into account the feelings
of both Persians and non-Persians, in their speech, actions and manifestos. If
Khatami, for example, continues to talk in his usual way, I don't think he'll
have the support of non-Persian ethnic groups.
Slogans and empty promises are pointless. We urgently need a solution to Iran's
national problem - the ethnic proble