Identity crisis
Unrest among ethnic Arabs in Iran's oil-rich province of
Ahvaz has focussed attention on the plight of one of the country's
sidelined groups, writes
Rasha Saad
Forged or not, a letter ordering the forceful removal of
ethnic Arabs in the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan has hit a
nerve with the ethnic Arabs of Iran. The letter, which reportedly promotes
the migration of the Arab population to the northern provinces of the
country, was attributed to Mohamed Ali Abtahi, former Iranian
vice-president and present advisor to the president, who has since
dismissed it as a forgery.
Brought into focus in April, the letter was in effect
the straw that broke the camel's back, inspiring crowds of young ethnic
Arabs to demonstrate and attack government buildings and sparking clashes
between police and ethnic Arabs in the provincial capital of Ahwaz.
Several state buildings, including banks and police cars were damaged and
at least three people were injured, according to the official Islamic
Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Emerging at a critical time in which Iran is facing
challenges as a result of its nuclear activities -- compounded with
allegations that it is meddling in Iraqi affairs -- the Iranian government
has not taken the matter lightly and has acted vigorously.
Police intervened with rubber bullets -- although some
Ahwazis say live rounds were used -- killing five and arresting more than
300. Amnesty International has called for an investigation into the root
causes of recent unrest. Amnesty also reported excessive use of force,
unlawful killing and possible extra-judicial executions of protesters.
According to the human rights organisation these acts were instigated
after the circulation of reports that Iranian forces are now operating a
"shoot-to-kill" policy after claims that up to seven police or security
officials had been killed by demonstrators.
The Iranian government closed the offices of the
Al-Jazeera satellite television channel in Tehran, after accusing it of
inflaming violent protests by the country's Arab minority.
The move was sparked by an Al-Jazeera interview of the
Ahwazi Arab People Democratic Popular Front (ADPF), a London-based
organisation which has been banned from the country and has denounced "80
years of Iranian occupation in Khuzestan".
The official Iranian line has attributed the unrest to
foreign plots rather than internal problems. Iranian officials have
accused Israel and the United States of seeking to sow disunity.
"Zionism, which partly exists in Tel Aviv but is mainly
based in the White House and Washington, has plans to harm Islam by
stirring disunity," Ayatollah Mohamed Emami Kashani said in his sermon
during Friday Muslim prayers in Tehran.
A few days after the demonstrations, thousands of
Iranians organised a rally against "foreign plots" in Khuzestan. Ethnic
Arabs were reportedly among the participants.
Iran's State television aired footage of thousands of
demonstrators carrying banners and chanting: "Down with America, down with
Israel", in both Arabic and Farsi. "People of Ahvaz from different groups
once again enthusiastically took part in the parade to show their
unanimity against enemy plots," the television reported from the
provincial capital.
Mahmoud Farag, an Egyptian expert on Iran was not
surprised by the Iranian reaction. "With the province accounting for
almost 90 per cent of Iran's proven oil reserve, this region is vital for
the Iranians. It is also their gate on the Gulf region and Shatt Al-Arab.
Tehran will never allow any meddling or trouble in it," he told
Al-Ahram Weekly.
Historically, Al-Ahvaz (known by Arab Iranians as
Al-Ahwaz) was an Emirate that was occupied by Reza Shah of Iran on 20
April 1925. The Ahvazis believe that this happened because Britain had
economically supported strong armed forces in Iran in order to prevent
communism from spreading to the oil-rich areas of British Colonies in the
south.
Many analysts, however, believe that the majority of
Arab Iranians were integrated into the Iranian system. While Khuzestan
(better known by the Arab Iranians as Arabistan) was historically
inhabited by Arab tribes, it has been a part of the Iranian nation for
centuries. When Saddam Hussein launched his war on Iran in 1980 he assumed
that Iran's Arab population would fight on behalf of Iraq but he was
mistaken -- they either joined the fight against him or fled from the
area.
Since Mohamed Khatami became president in 1997, Iran
minorities have enjoyed better status and Arabs and Kurds are better
represented in local bureaucracies.
However Mahmoud Ahmed, spokesman of the ADPF argues that
Arab Iranian grievances -- which date back many decades -- run deep.
According to him, the recent unrest in Al-Ahvaz is a reaction to regime
prosecution of their Arab identity. "As Iranians of Arab origins, the
regime deals with us differently," Ahmed told the Weekly.
According to him, the policies of all Iranian regimes --
whether the Shah or Islamic Republic -- have consistently attempted to
eradicate their Arab identity. "They have changed all the names of cities
and towns to Persian, they prohibited us from learning Arabic, we were
prohibited from having Arabic names and surnames. They forced us to choose
Persian names instead. We were not allowed to have an Arabic newspaper or
Arabic schools."
Ahmed also accused the Iranian regime of taking over
130,000 acres of agricultural land from Arab farmers during the last 26
years for what he described as "the regime's colonial plan of planting
sugar cane". He argued that "this measure has caused hundreds of thousands
of Arabs to migrate."
Arab Iranians in Al-Ahvaz, estimated by the ADPF to be
five million, experience the highest level of unemployment -- over 30 per
cent -- compared to Tehran which is less than eight per cent. The reason,
according to Ahmed is that "despite the fact that 83 per cent of the
national income comes from our homeland, the Iranian regime prioritises
the employment of non-Arabs in Al-Ahvaz."
When asked why the group hadn't resorted to dialogue
with President Khatami, Ahmed argued that "President Khatami is part of
the regime and has never been in a position to offer our suffering nation
any hope. Moreover, the letter about removing the Arabs was leaked out
from his office."
"President Khatami supported his forces. After 80 years
of peaceful struggle we have not seen one positive move from Iranians to
accept our existence as Arab. The monarchical regime of the Shah and the
present-day Islamist regime have both failed to gain our trust," Ahmed
told the Weekly.
While agreeing that the Ahvazis have reason to complain,
Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran with the International Crisis Group
and based in Tehran believes that other minorities in Iran share equal
grievances.
"Ahvazis do have legitimate reasons to feel neglected.
Sunni Arabs in particular feel they are discriminated against in finding
gainful employment. Their feelings of discontent and neglect vis-ˆ-vis the
regime are shared by millions of Iranians, regardless of their ethnic and
religious affiliation," he added.
Iran is actually a multi-ethnic empire, with a core of
ethnic Iranians surrounded by other minorities. To the North are Kurds and
Turks (Azeris). In eastern Iran there are Afghans and Baluchis. These
minorities comprise over a third of the population. All share the same
problems of unemployment and underemployment.
"We are well aware of the fact that all Iranian people
are suffering economically and democratically. However our Arabic identity
is especially targeted. We are Arab and do not want to be persianised. It
is crime against our people to force five million Arabs to be Persian,"
argued Ahmed.
Despite the fact that both Iranian officials and
analysts interviewed by the Weekly questioned the authenticity of
the letter which provoked the unrest, Ahmed did not have any doubts. "It
is not as if this was the first letter. Letters addressing the forced
migration of Ahwazi Arabs are over a decade old."
The letter, according to Ahmed, shows that the Iranian
regime has already planned to remove and transfer about two-thirds of the
Arab population to other Iranian provinces and at the same time to
emigrate 1.5 million of Azerbaijanis to Ahvaz plus two million Persians.
In 10 years, the regime has employed more than 500,000 non-Arabs.
Other Arab Iranian organisations, the Ahwaz Arab
Renaissance Party and the Ahwaz-Arabistan Online Network, all claim that
they seek to stop Iranian regime oppression to the Ahwazis. The ADPF,
however, has taken its agenda a step further. "We strongly believe that
the Iranian regime will be ousted and people of Azerbaijan (over 23
million), Kurdistan (over five million), Arabs (over five million),
Balouch (over two million) and Turkoman (over 1.5 million) constituting
62-65 per cent of Iranian population, will be able to bring about regime
change in Iran."
According to Ahmed, there are 14 political allied
parties for these five minorities which have converged "to fight against
the regime", forming a new organisation named Allied Nations for
Determination.
Ahmed claims that his group and the new organisation get
no financial support from any Arab or foreign regime. "All we have are our
Ahwazi members and supporters."
However, perceiving these groups as insignificant on the
Iranian arena, many analysts do not take these statements seriously.
"Ahvazi groups can be considered a concern, but by no means a threat to
the Iranian regime. At present there exists no organised, credible
opposition to the Islamic Republic. Some would say this is the regime's
greatest strength," commented Sadjadpour.
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