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The cockroach cartoon controversy of "Iran weekly magazine" arose over a cartoon, published in the Iranian holiday-magazine of Iran-e-jomee, drawn by the cartoonist Mana Neyestani, an ethnic Iranian Azeri. 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).

Contents of the article

The article which the cartoons are part of, is transliterated "How to stop cockroaches make us cockroach". It is a comedic article in a children's weekly newspaper. The text of the paragraph in image 1 is translated as follow:

"First way: dialogue"
Some think it's not good to go after violence in the very first encounter, because it will ruin all of the fun. Then we have to sit on the desk with the cockroaches and had a dialogue in a civilized manner .But the problem is that cockroach can't understand human (or ordinary) language. And the cockroach language is so difficult that nobody knows which of the verbs have to be used with "ing" , then 80% of the cockroaches prefer to speak in other languages .

Using the key words "dialogue" (گفتمان), and "violence" (خشونت ورزی) plus mentioning the problems in understanding their own conversation , is pointing to the reformist's nomenclature vs. conservatives in Iran .The famous reformist motto "dialogue between civilizations" that former president of Iran , Mohammad Khatami was insisting on it , was a source of criticism among intelligentsia , because they thought when it was not possible to have dialogue and mutual understanding between Iranians themselves (conservative-reformist) , how would that be possible to have such a conversation between Iran and the western civilizations?

The part that some Azeris found insulting talks about giving a chance to dialogue with cockroaches before resorting to violence, "even so they don't understand human language". Then adds "in fact they don't understand their own language and its grammar, so much so that eighty percent of them prefer to speak in other languages". In the related cartoon, a child is speaking in "cockroach language" to a cockroach, but the cockroach replies "namana?" ("what?"). Namana can be both an Azerbaijani word or a slang word used in Persian. In other sections of the cartoon, the cockroach speaks in Persian.

Aftermath

The controversy resulted in massive riots throughout Iran in May 2006, most notably in the predominantly Azerbaijani-populated cities of Tabriz, Urmia, Zanjan and Naghadeh and number of smaller towns . The riots were violent in some cases, with protesters damaging public buildings and throwing stones, prompting the reaction of the Iranian police. Such riots have been occurred before in recent years in many Persian and non-Persian cities of Iran as well as Tehran, Mashhad, Arak, Shiraz, Qazvin, Isfahan, Sabzevar, Ahvaz, and Zahidan. In the current case, the violence clearly had ethnic components, but the far greater causes of the poverty and unemployment that vexes members of Azeri ethnic groups, are government corruption, inefficiency, and a general sense of lawlessness, which all Iranians, including Persians, must confront. Amnesty International claims that "hundreds, if not thousands, were arrested and scores reportedly killed by the security forces," while the Iranian authorities say 330 people were arrested during the protests, and four demonstrators were killed.

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 the nationalistic card".

Possible foreign interference

See also: Iran's ethnic minorities and foreign interference

Iran's predominantly Azeri northwestern region is an area that is acknowledged as being ripe for covert operations. Emad Afrough, head of the Majlis Cultural Commission at the time, said that pan-Turkists were involved in creating the tensions. Other members of the Iranian government blamed it on the United States, Israel, and the United Kingdom, suspecting the incitement of ethnic strife in Iran. The United States has itself confirmed that it is conducting covert operations in Iran and is allied with Iran's neighbor, the Republic of Azerbaijan.

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 Mahmudali Chehregani, one of the pan-Turkist leaders agitating for a separatist Azeri agenda, was in Washington last year by invitation of the Defense Department.

Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA operative, had stated in the early 1990's:

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 the Iranian government's allegations of a foreign plot, yet the responsibility for the unrest lies first and foremost with the central government.

Alleged Grey Wolf involvement

The Grey Wolves are a secular ultra-nationalist militant group based on the ideology of pan-Turkism, and named as a terrorist organization by Martin Lee and Khitij Prabha of the Indian Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA). The Grey Wolves are associated with the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and operate in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Europe, and other locations where the Grey Wolves take up the "Turkic cause". There were suspicions by Iranian officials in Iran that pan-Turks were involved in inciting the protests.

Video and pictures showing some protesters exhibiting the pan-Turkic Grey Wolves symbol which is also common amongst radical nationalists of tukey..

The Azadtribun news agency, reported that some of the protestors shouted: "Persian language is the Dog's language", "Persians, Russians, Armenians are the enemy of all Turks", "Freedom for Qarabagh, Destruction for Armenia". A Iranian leftist source on the other hand complains that there is no doubt that pan-Turkist movements, followers of Ataturk and Elchibey, Grey Wolves and followers of Chehregani tried to hinder the protestors from the path of democracy and misuse the protest for pan-Turkist slogans. .

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 are unhappy at being the butt of national jokes". IRIN. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). May 25, 2006.
5. Iran Focus
6. Amnesty International. Iran, Annual Report, 2007
7. Iran Says 330 Arrested Over Recent Cartoon Unrest
8. 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.
9. ^ Asia Times Online
10. ^ Iran-daily
11. Iran: Cartoon protests signal Azeri frustration
12. The Consortium
13. http://www.ciaonet.org/olj/sa/sa_apr00prk01.html
14. Devlet Bahtseli using the hand gesture
15. Alpsalan Turkes, a key figure of the MHP and the Grey Wolves, using the hand gesture
16. Turkish members of the Grey Wolves, holding the MHP party flag and exhibiting the Grey Wolf hand gesture
17. The Slogans (Shuarlar), accessed January 4, 2008. Excerpt: فارس دیلی ایت دیلی زاد اولسون قاراباغ محو اولسون ائرمنیستان روس فارس ارمنی بوتون تورکون دوشمن]
18. Bahman Rahmani, "On the protest of tens of thousands in Tabriz", Didgah news agency, accessed January 4, 2008. Excerpt: شکی نیست که در چنین شورش­ها و اعتراضات اجتماعی همه مخالفین جمهوری اسلامی، از راست تا چپ شرکت می­جویند و سعی می­کنند جمعیت معترض را به دنبال شعارها و سیاست­های خود بکشانند. بنابراین در این حرکت اعتراضی مردم تبریز، جریانات «پان ترکیست» اعم از طرفداران «آتاتورک»، «گرگ­های خاکستری»، طرفداران «الچی بی»، رییس جمهور سابق جمهوری آذربایجان و طرفداران فردی به نام «چهرگانی»، این حزب­الهی جنگ­طلب دیروزی که امروز پرچم «دمکراسی» بوش در مرکز «دوستی ترک - آمریکایی» در آمریکا بر دوش گرفته و...، سعی کردند حرکت اعتراضی مردم حق­طلب و آزادی­خواه تبریز بر علیه تبعیض و تحقیر و نابرابری جمهوری اسلامی را به میدانی برای طرح شعارهای عفب­مانده و پان ترکیستی و عقب­مانده تبدیل کنند.]

• Editorial cartooning
• Iranian media