to try 11 people for advocating the separation of Iran’s Azerbaijani-populated provinces from the country, according to a newspaper in Baku.
The daily Azadliq said the Iranian lawyer for the 11, Mohammad-Reza Faqihi, told it the 11 had been arrested at different times and that their cases had now all been sent to the Tabriz Revolutionary Court by the Intelligence Ministry.
The lawyer said all 11 were accused of membership in the separatist Southern Azerbaijan National Revival Movement. The term, “southern Azerbaijan” refers to Iran’s three northernmost provinces that have large numbers of Azeri residents.
While Iran often talks about Kurdish, Arab and Baluchi ethnic movements, it rarely mentions any opposition in the Azerbaijani areas. Part of that may be because the Azeri opposition rarely resorts to violence.
But it may also be because many leading figures in the regime—including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi—are Azeris themselves. The government seems to feel that a more confrontational and public approach to the Azeri separatist movement would only make things worse by encouraging Iranian Azeris to join the movement.
Many Iranian Azeris do not seek separation from Iran but do want to see more use of the Azeri language and more attention paid to Azeri history. The separatist movement has, however, gotten a big boost in the last two decades since the Republic of Azerbaijan became independent of the Soviet Union.