Iranian minorities urged to unite

          
          5/27/2011
          Article - Untitled Article
          Publication: Guardian 1821-2000; Date: May 19, 1979; Section: None; Page: 7
          Iranian minorities urged to unite
          From Liz Thurgood
          in Tehran
          The plight of Iran's ethnic
          minorities was W t into
          focus yesterday when the Ear-
          dish leader, Sheikh Ezzr dflr
          ? eini, made an impassioned
          call for solidarity among
          Arabs, Balucl-iis and Turks In
          their fight for autonomy.
          The sheikh had just come
          from what was described as
          “useful talks” in Qoun—where,
          with Kurdish and Turkish to-
          preseflId [ IY , lie had discussed
          Kurdish demands with the
          A shs Khomeini and 1-Tsar-
          iatmadari, two of the country's
          three most influential religious
          leaders. But few people believe
          he won much more from Ki lo .
          nielril than verbal, long-term
          promises.
          “We want freedom for all
          political parties, a government
          that both defends civil liberties
          and respects the demands of
          Iran's ethnic minorities for
          retewomy,” Sheikh Hosseini
          said. In reference to the in-
          creasingly hard-line political
          stand from the Islamic leader-
          ship in Qom, Sheikh Hosseini
          stated: “No one individual
          will rule our society, We won't
          allow dictatorship back into
          Iran ,”
          —tltr sheikh's implicit warn-
          ing coincided with fresh re-
          ports of trouble from the oil-
          rich province of Khuzestan,
          where Arab mi orily groups
          are calling for a greater
          degree of self-rule.
          Tebran Radio reported that
          gunmen of an “unofficial”
          militia attacked the town of
          Masjedzez Soleiinan. One
          person died and four were
          wounded as revolutionary
          guai'ds attempted to force the
          inilitia out.
          The clash erupted as author-
          ities launched a vigouous drive
          to dlswrm militiamen terroris'
          Ing the people of Rhuzestan.
          The militia groups took control
          after the February revolution.
          On Sunday a clash in the port
          of Khorramshahr left It
          wounded,
          “Imperialists and reac-
          tionaries” were trying to
          “divide and rule,” Shellch Hoe-
          semi said and urged all Iran's
          minorities — who makrtp
          perhaps 50 per cent of the
          country's 35 million people —
          to fight for autonomy. “Don't
          let religion divide us,” he said,
          The minorities are generally
          Sunn'i Moslems. The Persian -
          speaking Iranians of the cen-
          tral p1ate u na cxemplifled by
          Ayatollah Khomeini, are
          members of the unorthodox
          Shi'a sect. “The Kurdish
          struggle Is part of the IapulppL
          struggle, and we-will alwoya uc
          with the Iran ian people.”
          Since tl 1 , F bruary uprising,
          two Kurtlish rebellions have
          erupted, l ving as many as
          :ioo dead. The question of
          Iran's ethnic minorities. sup-
          pT d by the Shah, is un-
          doubtedly one of the toughest
          problems facing Iran's Provi-
          sional Governmen ch has
          been act-used of stalling on
          Kurdish demands. Those range
          oeally elected asse. bly
          and Kurdish-recrulled gendar-
          merie .d ljcc force to
          lingul tic and cultural rights.
          Despite repeated Government
          pledges of autonomy for the
          provinces, a draft copy of pro-
          posed constitution published in
          a local newspaper largely
          ignored the rights of the
          minorities.
          Last, month Turkomans in
          north -east Iran suddenly
          rebelled again!r what they
          considered Inaction on
          their demands not only for
          autonomy but also for a redis-
          tribution of land. The fighting
          only stopped when the Army
          moved in and the Turkomans,
          completely outnumbered, fled
          with their guns to the moun-
          tains.
          The Government has tended
          to blame the rebellions among
          the minorities on local Corn-
          rnunists, but the Marxist-
          Len mist Fadavan -e-Khal
          Guerrillas have in turn warnc
          of “a plot by Shah loyalist
          mercenaries aimed at destabi-
          lising western Iran. General
          Palizban, Sardar rand many
          former - secret police agents
          were said to he paying nier-
          cenaries to rob, loot and kill.
          O Iran's provisional Prime
          Mii has appealed to the
          cduntry's 10 million-strong
          labour force to cooperate with
          the Government in the task of
          reconstructing the economy. Dr
          Melidi Bazargan. quoted on
          Tebran Radio, said pay rises
          granted indiscriminately to
          mollify angry workers during
          the last months of the Shah's
          regime. were excessive , iran,
          he said, was staggering
          only under the burden of econ-
          omic problems created by past
          regimes, but also under the im-
          pact of strikes since the begin-
          ning uf this yeaL
          The Prime Minister did not
          mention unemployment, which
          officials at the Labour Ministry
          have put the number at less
          than one million. But a figure
          of inure than three million . is
          generally believed to be more
          accurate.
          © Guardian News and Media Limited
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