Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by AlexanderPar (talk | contribs) at 00:25, 17 June 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Azeri cartoon controversy in "Iran" newspaper arose over a cartoon, published in the Iranian state-run newspaper Iran and drawn by the cartoonist Mana Neyestani, an ethnic Azeri himself . The cartoon, published in the children's section of the newspaper on May 12, 2006, allegedly insulted the Azerbaijani people by depicting a child speaking in Persian to a cockroach, which was replying in the Azerbaijani language, saying "namana?" ("what?"). However, namana is also a slang word used in Persian. In other sections of the cartoon , the cockroach also speaks in Persian (the second picture).

The controversy resulted in massive riots throughout Iran in May 2006, most ostensibly in the predominantly Azerbaijani-populated city of Tabriz. The riots were violent in some cases, with protestors damaging public buildings and throwing stones, prompting the reaction from the Iranian police.

The Iranian government promptly responded to the events by temporarily shutting down the Iran newspaper, arresting the cartoonist and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Mehrdad Ghasemfar. It further accused "outside forces in playing nationalistic card".

Possible foreign interference

See also: Iran's ethnic minorities and foreign interference

Iran's predominantly Azeri northwestern region is an area thats acknowledged as being ripe for covert operations. Emad Afrough, head of the Majlis Cultural Commission at the time, said that pan-Turks were involved in creating the tensions. Other members of the Iranian government blamed it on the United States, Israel, and the United Kingdom with a suspicion of inciting ethnic strife in Iran. The United States has itself confirmed that it is conducting covert operations in Iran and its ally in the Caucasus, the Republic of Azerbaijan, may also have been invovled.

Abbas Maleki, a senior research fellow at Harvard University, stated:

I think that when President Bush says all options are on the table, the destabilization of Iran's ethnic provinces is one of them...Don't forget, Mr Chehregani, one of the pan-Turkist leaders , was in Washington last year by invitation of the Defense Department.

Reuel Marc Gerecht has stated:

Accessible through Turkey and ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, eyed already by nationalists in Baku, more westward-looking than most Iran, and economically going nowhere, Iran's richest agricultural province was an ideal CIA theater.

According to Touraj Atabaki, well known expert on Iran's Azerbaijani minority, there might be some truth behind Iranian government's allegations of a foreign plot, yet the responsibility for the unrest lies first and formost with the central government.

References

1. "Cockroach Cartoonist Jailed In Iran". The Comics Reporter. May 24, 2006.
2. "Iranian paper banned over cartoon". BBC News. May 23, 2006.
3. "IFJ Criticises "Political Interference" as Cartoons Rows Put Journalists in Jail in Iran and Jordan". International Federation of Journalists. June 3, 2006.
4. "IRAN: Azeris unhappy at being butt of national jokes". IRIN. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). May 25, 2006.
5. Iran Focus
6. Daria Vaisman. "The other cartoon protests: Large demonstrations broke out across Iran in May 2006 to protest a cartoon insulting to Azeris", The Christian Science Monitor, May 22, 2007
7. ^ Asia Times Online
8. Iran-daily
9. Iran: Cartoon protests signal Azeri frustration

• Editorial cartooning