Turkish Forum

Category: Iran

  • The unconstructive role

    The unconstructive role

    NYTurkishtimes published.
    Evaluation of the Turkmen policy of Turkey

    S O İ T M

    Iraqi Turkmen Human Rights Research Foundation

    There are several important factors which influence the development of the Turkmen political structure negatively, such as; the long history of isolation, exposure to the fierce assimilation policies and remaining in between two stronger nationalist communities; the Arabs and Kurds.

    However, disregarding the Turkmen communal interests and the absence of co-operation and solidarity between Turkmen political groups can be considered as the most destructive factors to the Turkmen political system since the establishment of the Safe Haven area, particularly after, the occupation of Iraq.

    Today, the political authority of the Iraqi Turkmen is feeble and has no power of influence.

    Being the most powerful and receiver of sizeable external support, the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) holds the primary responsibility for the retardation of the Turkmen political system. [1]

    ITF:

    * Is one of the most important obstacles in front of reforming the Turkmen political system. It refuses calls for any type of reform. The Turkmen Council which is administered by the same source is a poppet organization representing only one political view
    * Is dominated by several families
    * Suffers from destructive internal disagreements
    * Could not gain and/or lost the support of most of the Iraqi Turkmen population and the support of the Iraqi Turkmen intellectuals and politicians.
    * Is marginalized inside and outside Iraq
    * Deliberately and ignorantly introduced the fundamentalist – secular discrimination into the Turkmen politics
    * Its’ employment policy in the administration has:
    o Openly diverted the power of the ITF, frequently, against the Turkmen national interests
    o Made the Turkmen of Iraq fail to get political and logistic support from several important national, regional and international powers

    The continuation of this state of affairs is certainly going to further deteriorate the Turkmen political structure and expose the Turkmen population to further disappointments while several serious challenges are approaching in the upcoming periods.

    The important characteristics of the ITF system, which renders it ineffectual and inhibit its development, are:

    * Several organs elect themselves, for example, the Turkmen council elects the delegation of the Turkmen Congress which elects the Turkmen council. As a result, the Turkmen council elects itself.
    * The Turkmen council elects the nine members of the ITF’s executive board which elects the president of ITF. The president has absolute executive control and dominates the decision making mechanism.[2]
    * The Turkmen council which was instituted as the highest Turkmen authority, remained ineffective.
    * Some important offices were headed by members of the same family, in some other offices there are several members from one family.
    * Dramatic variations between the expenditure of the offices.
    * The expenses are greatly inflated which makes great corruptions certainly possible.
    * Even simple disloyalty to the ITF will result in marginalizing or dismissing the person and his relatives who work in the ITF

    The source of finance of the ITF is Turkmeneli Foundation; its headquarters is in Ankara. When the present president of ITF was elected in 2005 (in fact was appointed!) one of his relatives was appointed as the head of the Turkmeneli Foundation.

    Certifying authorities of finance expenditures from the Turkmeneli Foundation are as follows: First, the owner of the ITF should agree to any type of spending, [1] then the president of the ITF and then the president of the Turkmeneli Foundation.

    Continued accusation of the Turkmeneli Foundation and the Iraqi Turkmen Front for corruptions and maladministration are resulted also from the followings:

    The inflated spending during the unplanned and ill-programmed annual summer meetings of the ITF for the Diaspora Turkmen organizations in Ankara.

    * The huge spending during the protest meeting in Ankara in spring 2007
    * The spending during the Iraqi elections of 2005.
    * The great differences between the budgets of the offices of the ITF.

    No doubt that the freedom of expression, speech and press is considered a blessing in a democracy. This is built on the assumption that projects can be improved and developed, issues can be treated and problems can be solved if discussed.

    Due to several factors, the Turkmen community, almost completely, does not publish self-criticism; furthermore, those who do it, meet great resistance. This can be considered as one of the major factors which had deteriorated the Turkmen political structure and inhibited the developments. Today, the Turkmen political structure is powerless and vulnerable.

    Nowadays while the provincial elections are approaching, the Turkmen intellectual, writers and politicians are all silent about the clearly expectable defeat in the elections.

    The failure of the ITF had been proved during the Iraqi general elections of 2005. The ninety thousand votes which ITF got in the election of January 2005 was decreased to seventy thousands in the election of December 2005. Worth noting that ITF:

    Claims that it is the only legal representative of the Turkmen of Iraq

    * Was the only Turkmen list in the aforementioned elections
    * Estimates the number of the Iraqi Turkmen around 3 millions.

    The Turkmen population which suffers from several threatening challenges and weaknesses of its’ national power centers, has been obliged to accept the defeat. Disregarding the huge threats to the Turkmen national rights, the ITF political system remained unchanged.

    Today, the Turkmen of Iraq prepare to participate in the upcoming elections by the same defeated ITF:

    The absence of Turkmen public support to the ITF can be clearly detected by a simple poll in the streets of Kerkuk

    * In the other Turkmen regions, the ITF suffer from even bigger problems

    In this state of affairs, the expected number of Turkmen representatives in the Iraqi parliament and in the city councils will be:

    * Severely decreased
    * Disproportional with the size of the Turkmen in Iraq.
    * Insufficient to defend the Iraqi Turkmen and not able to deal with the huge violation of the Turkmen rights

    Therefore, the authorities of, particularly the owner, [1] of the ITF will hold the historical responsibilities of the defeats and losses from which the Turkmen of Iraq suffer since the early 1990s.

    Wealthy cultural heritage, high percentage of educated people, the large population size and the strategic geopolitical region can be considered as the important factors which made the Turkmen of Iraq resist several decades of suppression and preserve their language and culture. Consequently, presence of powerful Turkmen political structure will help to balance the national conflicts inside Iraq and support the national and regional stability.

    The revival of the Turkmen Council and freeing it from subordination, is one of the options to rescue the Turkmen political system. The Turkmen intellectuals, particularly those who played important roles in defending the Turkmen rights during the most dangerous Baath period, should be allowed to participate in the Turkmen political processes and compete for the membership of the Turkmen council. [3] The sectarian and regional discriminations in Turkmen policy should be abandoned. The Turkmen council should be opened to all the Turkmen political and civil society organizations. The Turkmen Shi’a parties, which have important numbers of parliamentarians, should be included in the Turkmen council. The Turkmen television should be handed to the professionals and sufficiently staffed. The political parties should enlarge the basic substructures and number of members. The support of the national and regional powers should be ensured.

    To remove the impression of political loyalty and to increase the number and efficacy of the Turkmen civil society organizations, the funds should be established to enable them to realize their projects. The Turkmen institutions should be established and/or improved, for example, media, culture, sport, music and literature.

    _______________________

    Reference

    * The Iraqi Turkmen front was founded by the Turkish army in 1995.
    * In April 2008 and due to the despotic administration of the president of ITF, seven of the nine members of the executive board published a press release and ousted the president. Ankara refused to accept the ousting operation and demanded the change to be done through the 5th Turkmen Congress. Two Turkmen sent from Ankara and with continuous remote control, the fifth Turkmen Congress was organized, like a staged theater play. During the Congress, four of the seven members of the executive board, who expelled the ITF president and were presidents of four political parties under the ITF umbrella, were expelled out of the ITF. The other three, who were the heads of ITF offices in different regions, were silenced. The president remained unchanged.

    1. The largest numbers of well known Turkmen politicians, writers, high-ranking officials, academics, high-ranking retired officers, legislators could not have opportunity to participate in the Turkmen political processes.

  • Report for Obama: How to Disarm the PKK

    Report for Obama: How to Disarm the PKK

    Academic Barkey from Lehigh University has prepared a report on conflict prevention in Kurdistan for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

    Bıa news centre – Washington

    12-02-2009


    Erhan ÜSTÜNDAĞ

    Professor Henri J. Barkey, chair of the International Relations department at Lehigh University, USA, has prepared a report entitled “Preventing Conflict over Kurdistan” for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

    The report tells the new Obama administration that the Kirkuk issue is pressing. However, the priority must be the solution of Turkey’s domestic Kurdish issue.

    Kurdish issue needs to be handled with care

    The website of the Carnegie Endowment introduces the report, saying:

    “The invasion of Iraq has surfaced long-suppressed nationalist aspirations among the Kurds, most notably the emergence of the federal Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). If ignored or mishandled, Kurdish aspirations have the potential to ignite violence and instability in Iraq, as well as the region, at a particularly delicate time.”

    In the report, Barkey warns that US influence in the region will decrease if US forces withdraw from Iraq, one of the main promises of Obama’s election campaign. The academic suggests the following policies:

    • Break the deadlock between the Iraqi government and the KRG over oil and gas revenue sharing and refugee resettlement. This will go a long way toward rebuilding trust and preventing Kirkuk from becoming a flashpoint—the first priority for the United States.
    • Continue to support the federal system outlined in Iraq’s constitution and avoid any suggestion that Iraq be partitioned.
    • Solidify the dialogue between Turkey and the KRG through U.S. involvement. Warming relations between Turkey and the KRG would stabilize the region and aid in a smooth U.S. troop withdrawal.
    • Demobilize the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and encourage its fighters to disarm or defect under a joint political and military effort coordinated by the KRG, Turkey, and the United States.
    • Work with European allies to resolve Turkey’s internal Kurdish disputes. Supporting Turkey’s counterterrorism program and its bid for EU accession, and providing development assistance in Turkey’s Kurdish regions would allow the U.S. and Europe to address problems from both sides.

    Barkey warns that the leftist and rightist nationalist movements in Turkey, as well as the army, need to be convinced to accept Iraq’s federal structure.

    Amnesty and disarmament in Turkey

    As far as PKK disarmament is concerned, Turkey must issue an amnesty. PKK militants should hand their arms over to the US, with Turkey monitoring the process. He believes that a transparent disarmament process would help to get public opinion to support it. As for the leadership of the PKK, they must be allowed to leave the region safely.

    Following these steps, so Barkey, Iraqi Kurds would have to announce that they would not tolerate any remaining PKK presence, and the KRG must control the area. US military support might be available at this point.

    Barkey argues that Europe must also take part in this process, and that the PKK must dissolve PJAK, the Iranian branch of the PKK.

    He also believes that US and European leaders should have direct contact with nonviolent Kurdish leaders in Turkey.

    The report was introduced at a panel moderated by Marina Ottaway. Barkey discussed the report with Qubad Talabani, a representative of the KRG, and Ian Lesser of the German Marshall Fund.(EÜ/AG)

    Source: bianet.org, 12.02.2009

    Full text is HERE

  • Starting at Home, Iran’s Women Fight for Rights

    Starting at Home, Iran’s Women Fight for Rights

    NYTIMES

    Sima Sayyah

    Protesters last month outside the Palestinian Embassy in Tehran denounced the killing of women and children in Gaza.

    By NAZILA FATHI
    Published: February 12, 2009

    TEHRAN — In a year of marriage, Razieh Qassemi, 19, says she was beaten repeatedly by her husband and his father. Her husband, she says, is addicted to methamphetamine and has threatened to marry another woman to “torture” her.

    Rather than endure the abuse, Ms. Qassemi took a step that might never have occurred to an earlier generation of Iranian women: she filed for divorce.

    Women’s rights advocates say Iranian women are displaying a growing determination to achieve equal status in this conservative Muslim theocracy, where male supremacy is still enscribed in the legal code. One in five marriages now end in divorce, according to government data, a fourfold increase in the past 15 years.

    And it is not just women from the wealthy, Westernized elites. The family court building in Vanak Square here is filled with women, like Ms. Qassemi, who are not privileged. Women from lower classes and even the religious are among those marching up and down the stairs to fight for divorces and custody of their children.

    Increasing educational levels and the information revolution have contributed to creating a generation of women determined to gain more control over their lives, rights advocates say.

    Confronted with new cultural and legal restrictions after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, some young women turned to higher education as a way to get away from home, postpone marriage and earn social respect, advocates say. Religious women, who had refused to sit in classes with men, returned to universities after they were resegregated.

    Today, more than 60 percent of university students are women, compared with just over 30 percent in 1982, even though classes are no longer segregated.

    Even for those women for whom college is not an option, the Internet and satellite television have opened windows into the lives of women in the West. “Satellite has shown an alternative way of being,” said Syma Sayah, a feminist involved in social work in Tehran. “Women see that it is possible to be treated equally with men.”

    Another sign of changing attitudes is the increasing popularity of books, movies and documentaries that explore sex discrimination, rights advocates say.

    “Women do not have a proper status in society,” said Mahnaz Mohammadi, a filmmaker. “Films are supposed to be a mirror of reality, and we make films to change the status quo.”

    In a recent movie, “All Women Are Angels,” a comedy that was at the top of the box office for weeks, a judge rejects the divorce plea of a woman who walked out on her husband when she found him with another woman.

    Even men are taking up women’s issues and are critical of traditional marriage arrangements. Mehrdad Oskouei, another filmmaker, has won more than a dozen international awards for “The Other Side of Burka,” a documentary about women on the impoverished and traditional southern island of Qeshm who are committing suicide in increasing numbers because they have no other way out of their marriages.

    “How can divorce help a woman in southern parts of the country when she has to return after divorce to her father’s home who will make her even more miserable than her husband?” said Fatimeh Sadeghi, a former political science professor fired for her writing on women’s rights.

    Janet Afary, a professor of Middle East and women’s studies at Purdue University and the author of “Sexual Politics in Modern Iran,” says the country is moving inexorably toward a “sexual revolution.”

    “The laws have denied women many basic rights in marriage and divorce,” she wrote in the book. “But they have also contributed to numerous state initiatives promoting literacy, health and infrastructural improvements that benefited the urban and rural poor.”

    To separate the sexes, the state built schools and universities expressly for women, and improved basic transportation, enabling poor women to travel more easily to big cities, where they were exposed to more modern ideas.

    Ms. Afary says that mandatory premarital programs to teach about sex and birth control, instituted in 1993 to control population growth, helped women delay pregnancy and changed their views toward marriage. By the late 1990s, she says, young people were looking for psychological and social compatibility and mutual intimacy in marriage.

    Despite the gains they have made, women still face extraordinary obstacles. Girls can legally be forced into marriage at the age of 13. Men have the right to divorce their wives whenever they wish, and are granted custody of any children over the age of 7. Men can ban their wives from working outside the home, and can engage in polygamy.

    By law, women may inherit from their parents only half the shares of their brothers. Their court testimony is worth half that of a man. Although the state has taken steps to discourage stoning, it remains in the penal code as the punishment for women who commit adultery. A woman who refuses to cover her hair faces jail and up to 80 lashes.

    Women also face fierce resistance when they organize to change the law. The Campaign for One Million Signatures was founded in 2005, inspired by a movement in Morocco that led to a loosening of misogynist laws. The idea was to collect one million signatures for a petition calling on authorities to give women more equal footing in the laws on marriage, divorce, adultery and polygamy.

    But Iran’s government has come down hard on the group, charging many of its founders with trying to overthrow it; 47 members have been jailed so far, including 3 who were arrested late last month. Many still face charges, and six members are forbidden to leave the country. One member, Alieh Eghdamdoust, began a three-year jail sentence last month for participating in a women’s demonstration in 2006. The group’s Web site, www.we-change.org, has been blocked by the authorities 18 times.

    “We feel we achieved a great deal even though we are faced with security charges,” said Sussan Tahmasebi, one of the founding members of the campaign, who is now forbidden to leave Iran. “No one is accusing us of talking against Islam. No one is afraid to talk about more rights for women anymore. This is a big achievement.”

    Women’s advocates say that the differences between religious and secular women have narrowed and that both now chafe at the legal discrimination against women. Zahra Eshraghi, for example, the granddaughter of the revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, signed the One Million Signatures petition.

    “Many of these religious women changed throughout the years,” said Ms. Sayah, the feminist in Tehran. “They became educated, they traveled abroad and attended conferences on women’s rights, and they learned.”

    Because of the government’s campaign of suppression, the process of collecting signatures has slowed recently, and many women do not want to be seen in the presence of a campaigner, let alone sign a petition. Most feminist groups limit their canvassing now to the Internet.

    But while the million signatures campaign may have stalled, women have scored some notable successes. A group that calls itself Meydaan has earned international recognition for pressing the government to stop stonings.

    The group’s reporting on executions by stoning in 2002 on its Web site, www.meydaan.net — including a video of the execution of a prostitute — embarrassed the government and led the head of the judiciary to issue a motion urging judges to refrain from ordering stonings. (The stonings have continued anyway, but at a lower rate, because only Parliament has the power to ban them.)

  • PJAK listing an error, group says

    PJAK listing an error, group says

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (UPI) — A move by the U.S. Treasury Department to freeze the assets of an Iranian Kurdish group linked to separatist factions in Iraq was erroneous, officials say.

    Treasury last week froze the assets of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan, or PJAK, for its alleged ties to the blacklisted Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK.

    PKK is a separatist movement operating in parts of Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria. The Turkish military has engaged the militant group in northern Iraq using U.S. military intelligence. PJAK operates predominately in Kurdish provinces in Iran.

    Hajji Ahmadi, a PJAK official, told Kenneth Timmerman writing for Newsmax in Washington, D.C., that the link to the PKK was invalid.

    “We are an Iranian party, fighting the Iranian regime. We have nothing to do with Turkey,” he said.

    Timmerman, a journalist known for his Iranian dissidence, said PJAK believes the move by Treasury was to win favor from the Iranians as Washington tries to improve relations with Tehran.

    Treasury in the statement announcing the PJAK decision said the move was intended as a protective measure against Turkey, however.

    “With today’s action, we are exposing PJAK’s terrorist ties to the PKK and supporting Turkey’s efforts to protect its citizens from attack,” said Stuart Levey, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence with the U.S. Treasury Department.

    © 2009 United Press International.

    Source:  www.metimes.com, February 12, 2009

  • Monthly bulletin about Turks in Iran

    Monthly bulletin about Turks in Iran

    Iranian authorities have increased the repression of Azerbaijani activists who hope to end discrimination against minorities in Iran. These activists organize ceremonies of that are of cultural significance to Azerbaijani Iranians. People participating in these ceremonies are arbitrarily detained without being tried or even informed of the reason for the detention. They are usually denied access to a lawyer and are generally tortured or subjected to other ill-treatments.

    Three Azerbaijani activists detained over two months without trial

    Abdullah Abbasi Javan, an architect and lecturer at Tehran’s University of Shahid Rajai and his nephew Huseyn Huseyni (Hossein Hosseini), the former president of the students union at the University of Razi, Ardebil were arrested on November 13, 2008 while participating in the anniversary of Settar Khan celebrations. (Settar Khan is a national hero for Azerbaijani Iranians, who lead the constitutional movements in 1906-14.) The two were taken to the notorious section 209 of Evin Prison, which is run by the Iranian Intelligence Service. Recent efforts by family members of the two prisoners to establish their whereabouts have been in vain. They were intimidated by security agents and asked to stop referring to courts of justice. The only communication between the victims and their families since the men were imprisoned over two months ago has been a less than one-minute telephone call by Javan to his brother on the tenth day of the detention, November 23.

    Two Azerbaijani prisoners of conscience recently released from section 209 of Evin Prison said in a statement that Javan had informed them he will start a hunger strike on the December 13 to protest his illegal detention and the deprivation of his basic human rights as a prisoner.

    Azerbaijani journalist and women’s rights defender Shanaz Gholami, who was detained on November 9, 2008 in Tabriz, has resorted to a hunger strike since November 20 to protest the length and degrading conditions of her detention. She is reportedly in poor health and needs medical attention. She is being held in the women’s section of the Tabriz prison. She has had no trial and is reportedly undergoing intense interrogation.

     

    Gholami is the moderator of a blog for Azerbaijani-Iranian women, azarwomen. She was sentenced to six months imprisonment on charges of “propaganda against the regime.” She was released on bail and is now waiting for a hearing by an appeal court. Last year, she was detained for a month for writing articles objecting to the use of force by the government during peaceful Azerbaijani-Iranian protests. Gholami was also in prison for five years in the late 1980s as a result of her political activities.

    New Detentions

    Seveal Azerbaijani activists were arrested on December 11, 2008 during the 21 Azer ceremonies, which mark the anniversary of the establishment of the autonomous government of Azerbaijan in 1945-1946. Navid Soltani, Said Mahmudi, Hojjat Mahmudi, Setare Ghasemi (ulduz), and Rahman Ghasemi were released on bail of 300 million rials ($30,000) on January 5, 2009.

    These activists were arrested on December 10 and 11 at their homes in Urmiye, the second-largest Azerbaijani in Iran. Security forces searched their houses and took their personal computers, books, CDs and documents. All five activists were released on bail after three weeks in detention. They were held in Urmiye Intelligence Service custody, interrogated continuously, tortured and subjected to other ill-treatments. The detainees were not allowed access to a lawyer and their families were not permitted to visit them.

    Azerbaijani ethnic rights activist Tohid Hasanpur was arrested on December 6, 2008 for publicizing the anniversary of the 21 Azer ceremonies in Urimye. He was been released on bail of 100 million rials ($10,000) on December 14. He was detained by the Urmiye Intelligence Service.

    Vahid SheykhBaghlu, a graduate student in economics at Azad University in Tabriz and a former member of Arman Student Organization, was arrested on December 24, 2008 in Tabriz and was taken to Tabriz Intelligence Service heaquarters. He has been transferred to Tabriz Prison after 10 days in detention in Tabriz Intelligence Service custody. Since the day of detention he only been able to call his family once and there is no information about why he has been detained.

     

    Vahid had been arrested before in Tabriz while participating in a ceremony celebrating the release of nine student activists after months of detention. He was released after hours of interrogation. He was also detained for 50 days in 2006 during the Azerbaijani-Iranian demonstrations of a cartoon in Iran (a state-run newspaper) which compared Azerbaijani-Iranians to cockroaches. He was released on bail and was sentenced to 91 days of suspended imprisonment.

    Served Sentences

    Asghar Akbarzade, an Azerbaijani student activist in Ardebil, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment and exiled to Zahdedan, a city in southeast of Iran far from Azerbaijani provinces. He is charged with participating in a “movement against state security” and Akbarzade says he was not given any opportunity to defend himself, even though there has been no investigation to confirm the claims of Iranian Intelligence Service. The judge asked only two questions during the trial, which was over in about 10 minutes.

     

    The judge gave the sentence based on the following accusations: being part of an Azerbaijani national movement, participating in the funeral of Moham Ali Farzane a Pan-Turkist activist, participating in student meetings, participating in Azerbaijani dance classes, making a wolf symbol (the symbol of Turks) with his hand, sending incorrect news to foreign organizations, groups, media and websites, providing CDs and distributing separatist propaganda.

    He was not allowed access to a lawyer and his trial was held in private.

    Asghar Akbarzade, a chemistry student at Ardebil Payame Noor University, was arrested on June 20, 2008 by security forces in front of the university and released after 28 days on bail of 300 million rials ($30,000). During the detention his family was not informed of his place of detention or the reason for the detention. Akbarzade said he endured both physical and psychological torture while in detention. Several days later after his release he was charged with spreading propaganda for groups that are against the regime and sentenced to six months of suspended imprisonment which was postponed for two years. His verdict has been distributed on the Internet.

    Akbarzade has been detained several times in the past for participating in demonstrations of Azerbaijanis against the offensive cartoon in 2006. He was charged with “moving against the regime,” “propaganda against the regime” and was fined. Amnesty International released two urgent actions about Asgharzade in 2006 and 2007 stating their concern for his health.

    Ali Sadighi, Vahid Hamid Rezayiniya, and Albar Huseynzade, three Azerbaijani ethnic rights defenders were charged “propaganda activities against regime” and “moving against national security” for distributing a CD including invitations of people for the second anniversary of the cockroach cartoon targeting ethnic Azerbaijanis in Iran newspaper in May 2006. They were sentenced to one year’s imprisonment. A CD found in their homes was used as evidence against them.

    They were tried in private and without a lawyer in the Tabriz Revolutionary Court. They were also detained for two months on May 15, 2008 and released on bail.

    Salman Iragi, a former president of the Azerbaijan Promotion Union at Khoy Payame Noor University and a member of the NGO Evrin, Salar Iragi a mechanical engineering student at Urmiye University, Hojjat Iragi, a mechanics student at Urmiye Technical Education Centre, Payam Elm Gholilu, a graduate student in management at Ghazvin Azad University and Ali Akbar Abdullahi, a mechanics student at Urmiye Technical Education Centre, all Azerbaijani student activists in Khoy, were arrested on May 15, 2008 by security forces and released after seven days on bail of 500 million rials ($50,000). They were charged with participating in activities against the regime and sentenced to one year of suspended imprisonment, all of which are postponed for two years.

     

    Ebrahim Abdullahnejad, Ali Helmi, Ali Huseynnejad Asl, Mohsen Huseynzade, Saber Beytollahi and Bahman Nasirzade, all Azerbaijani activists based in Maku have been sentenced to 10 months to a year’s imprisonment related to demonstrations against the cockroach cartoon in 2006.

    Abdullahnejad has been sentenced to one year in prison; Ali Helmi to one year suspended imprisonment. Asl and Husyinzade were each ordered to pay a 5 million rials ($5,000) cash fine and are charged with “propaganda against regime”.

    Saber Beytollahi, and Bahman Nasirzade, a teacher and poet, respectively, were sentenced to a year’s imprisonment, but objected to the fact that they were unable to defend themselves before the verdict. Their trail was repeated on November 30, 2008. They are waiting for the verdict.

    They were detained for 27 days on June 17, 2006 by security forces and were released on bail of 500 million rials ($50,000).

    Situation of Other Azerbaijani Cultural Activists

    Mohammad Reza Levayi, an Azerbaijani poet, writer and journalist, was arrested on November 21, 2008 by security forces in Khoja (a town near Ahar in East Azerbaijan) and transferred to Tabriz. He was released after 23 days of imprisonment on December 14. He suffers from heart problems and on the eleventh day of detention he was transferred to the hospital, where he received treatment for 12 days, and was then released. His family was not informed of his place of detention and the reason for the detention. According to Levayi, he was detained because of writing a paper about “Cultural Dictatorship and Culture of Dictatorship” and he will be called to court in the near future.

    Rahim Hajizade, a cultural activist from Ardebil, was arrested on September 25, 2008. He was released after 61 days’ of detention on bail of 800 million rials ($80,000). Hajizade said he was charged with propaganda against regime for distributing the second volume of his book, Iliyatiha (a book about Azerbaijani folks).

    Amir Ali Zebihi, an Azerbaijani student activist in Tabriz, has been taken to Tabriz Prison to serve his eight-month sentence. He is a civil engineering graduate from Azad University in Tabriz. He was detained for 45 days after the 2006 demonstrations against the cartoon assaulting Azerbaijanis and was released on bail.

    Azerbaijani Student Journal Closed Down

    The cultural council of Azad University in Mahabad decided to close down the Azerbaijani Turkish-Persian student journal Bulud in December 2008. The former director editor of the journal has graduated and the application of the new candidate for the director has not been accepted by the council. The council asked the candidate for director to fill in some forms at the Intelligence Service of Mahabad. The new director and writers at the journal refused, and the council decided to close down the journal.

     

    Many Azerbaijani student journals have been closed down by the government over the last year. Some of them include: Ulus, Nasim, Araz, Ozluk, Oyanish, Sattar Khan, Kimlik, Yoldash, Yagish, Aydin Gelecel, Gunesh, Yarpaq, Telenger, Yashil, Yol, Anayurdu, Achiq Soz and Sayan.

  • CONF./CFP- The Turkic World, the Caucasus, and Iran, July 10-12, Yerevan

    CONF./CFP- The Turkic World, the Caucasus, and Iran, July 10-12, Yerevan

    International Conference
    The Turkic World, the Caucasus, and Iran: Civilisational Crossroads of
    Interactions
    July 10-12, 2009
    Yerevan, Armenia
    http://www.armacad.org/civilizationica

    The International Journal Iran and the Caucasus
    (; Brill: Leiden-Boston), the Department of
    Iranian Studies at Yerevan State University, the Makhtumquli Feraqi
    Centre for Turkic Studies at ARYA International University (Yerevan),
    the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (Armenian
    Branch), in collaboration with the International Society for the Study
    of Iran and the Caucasus (ISSIC;
    http://www.armacad.org/iranocaucasica), Caucasian Centre for Iranian
    Studies (Yerevan), the Armenian-Turkmen Cooperation Centre “Partev”
    (Yerevan), and the Armenian Association for Academic Partnership and
    Support – ARMACAD (http://www.armacad.org/; Yerevan) are organising an
    international conference entitled “The Turkic World, the Caucasus, and
    Iran: Civilisational Crossroads of Interactions”.

    The Conference will be held on July 10-12, 2009.
    Venue: ARYA International University, Yerevan, Armenia.

    The region of civilisational interactions from Central Asia to Eastern
    Europe and from Southern Russia to Iran has been one of the focal
    geographical points in world history. The main cultural, political and
    civilisational players in this domain have been the Iranian and Turkic
    peoples, while the Caucasus and the Transcaucasian region with their
    cultural, ethnographical and linguistic uniqueness have served as a
    connecting link and an arena for wars and peaceful cohabitation.
    Though the main stress of the conference will be on cultures,
    histories (including archaeology, etc.), languages and the literatures
    of this vast area, presentations on modern political and regional
    issues, as well as the human ecology topics are also welcomed. The
    conference seeks to emphasise links between the Turkic world, the
    Caucasus, and Iran.

    Working languages – English and Russian.

    Abstracts (not to exceed 300 words) are to be submitted via the web
    form (http://www.armacad.org/civilizationica/abstracts.php) by
    February 20, 2009.  A brief biography, including contact details, is
    also to be included.

    Once your materials have been submitted, a confirmation letter will be
    returned. If you do not receive a confirmation e-mail within 7 days,
    then we have not received your materials. Only in this case, please
    contact: [email protected]

    A notification of acceptance will be sent by March 30, 2009.

    All whose abstracts are accepted for presentation at the conference
    have to send to the Conference Organising Committee 10 Euros before
    June 10 in order to ensure their participation. This amount of money
    will be reduced from the participation fee.

    Participation Fee:

    The conference participation fee is 70 Euros and a reduced rate of 35
    Euros for postgraduate students. Participants from the Caucasus and
    Central Asia will pay 35 Euros.

    For further information do not hesitate to contact:

    Dr. Khachik Gevorgyan,
    Secretary of the Organising Committee
    [email protected]

    Makhtumquli Feraqi Centre for Turkic Studies,
    Arya International University
    Shahamiryanneri street, 18/2
    Yerevan
    Armenia
    Tel: +374 (10) 44-35-85
    Fax: +374 (10) 44-23-07
    www.arya.am
    Email: [email protected]

    International Organising Committee

    Prof. Dr. Garnik Asatrian (Yerevan)
    Prof. Dr. Uwe Blaesing (Leiden)
    Prof. Dr. Ralph Kautz (Vienna)
    Prof. Dr. Vladimir Livshits (Saint Petersburg)
    Prof. Dr. Levon Zekiyan (Venice)
    Prof. Dr. Said Amir Arjomand (New York)
    Prof. Dr. Murtazali Gadjiev (Makhachkala)
    Prof. Dr. Rovshan Rahmoni (Dushanbe)
    Prof. Dr. George Sanikidze (Tbilisi)
    Dr. Gulnara Aitpaeva (Bishkek)
    Dr. Behrooz Bakhtiari (Tehran)
    Dr. Habib Borjian (New York)
    Dr. Babak Rezvani (Amsterdam)
    Dr. Mher Gyulumian (Yerevan)
    Dr. Mahmoud Joneydi Ja’fari (Tehran)
    Dr. Seyyed Said Jalali (Tehran)
    Dr. Kakajan Janbekov (Ashgabat)
    Dr. Filiz Kiral (Istanbul)
    Dr. Irina Natchkebia (Tbilisi)
    Dr. Vahram Petrosian (Yerevan)
    Dr. Tamerlan Salbiev (Vladikavkaz)
    Dr. Alexander Safarian (Yerevan)