Dec 14, 2011

Southern Azerbaijan: SANAM Delegates Participant in World Human Rights Day


Representatives of SANAM contributed to a conference organized by the Turkish World Human Rights Organization and discussed the oppression and assimilation practices they are subjected to by Iranian authorities.  Representatives concluded their presentation by urging conference delegates to join the fight to stop the evaporation of Lake Orumiyeh.

Below is an article published by Sana News:

According to SANA NEWS, the conference of the Turkish World Human Rights Organization took place in Ankara’s Bey Pazari city on December 10-11 [2011]. This conference began on Saturday [10 December 2011] at 10:30 with the welcoming speech of Mr. Abdullah Boksor. Representatives from Bulgaria’s Turks, Turks of Karkuk, Ahiska, Syria, Tatar, East Turkistan, Northern Azerbaijan, Georgian, and Nogay Turks were present along with Southern Azerbaijani Turks, in the conference.

The repression that Turks living throughout the world faced was discussed, and participants shared their opinions about possible solutions.

Among the issues discussed in the conference was the historical assimilation and denial of human rights to Southern Azerbaijani Turks by ruling Persian minority. Modern human rights movements as well as the current Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement were discussed. Another topic brought to attention was the overthrow of Southern Azerbaijani government in 1946, which caused more than thirty thousand S. Azerbaijani Turks to lose their lives, and hundreds of thousands to leave their homes and become refugees.

In this conference, Mr. Arslan Kamrani and Mr. Cavad Abbasi represented thirty five million Southern Azerbaijani Turks, and they talked about the lack of human rights and democracy for Azerbaijani Turks living in Iran, and brought to attention the current peaceful movement the S. Azerbaijani Turks are carrying out in order to better their condition concerning democracy and human rights. The purposeful drying of Lake Orumiyeh was also noted by Mr. Abbasi and Mr. Kamrani. They warned that the ecological disasters would be like no other in history, and requested the necessary bodies to take essential precautions in order to stop Lake Orumiyeh from drying.