Iran is not Yugoslavia
Separation of provinces from Iran will never ever happen

January 27, 2006
iranian.com

Once again a bomb has exploded in the beautiful city of Ahvaz and has taken the lives of many hardworking innocent Iranians. The group which calls it self the Khuzestan liberation army has claimed responsibility and is so proud to kill unarmed Iranians. They want a separate Khuzestan. But there are many other groups and ethnicities who want their separate state. If you go to the eastern region of Iran which is ruled by drug lords who are involved in various criminal activities such as kidnapping, rape, prostitution, drug trafficking and money laundering. They also are demanding for a separate state called Baluchistan.

Now try to travel to the west of Iran in the beautiful province of Kurdistan you will notice the hatred of the Kurdish people towards Iran and its current system. For decades they have fought the ruling governments for independence. And more recently the Azeri population in Iran is demanding a separate Azerbaijan. The beautiful province of Azerbaijan claims that they are been constantly discriminated and mistreated by the ruling governments and their province has never benefited from the vast oil revenues. Thus they demand an independent Azerbaijan.

All these parties have their offices outside of Iran. For example; the Ahvaz liberation party its headquarter is located in England and operates within that country. They are funded by various Arab countries such as UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The latter countries also provided financial support to Iraq during the eight year war. For one year Iraq had invaded major cities in Khuzestan province. The Iraqi army had burnt every building, raped and killed innocent civilians.

The Baluchi separatist operate within Pakistan and get most of their support from the government of Pakistan and CIA. The Azeri separatists are operating within the country of Azerbaijan and are funded through CIA as well as the state of Israel. The Kurds are funded by various groups and countries. The thing is each of these groups are been used as a political tool and are foreign puppets that are used whenever they would like to cause disturbance or a sense of insecurity and most of the time innocent Iranians fall victims in their heinous acts. Let us argue each of these groups' positions and why they demand for separation.

First the Khuzestan Liberation army claims that they have never been part of Iran and all of the oil revenues belong to them. They also argue that after the war Khuzestan has never recovered and they are still places that need construction and development. They even argue on their web site that they deserve the same lifestyle as their neighbors in Kuwait with greater freedom. Second group the Baluchi separatist, it was hard to get information on their cause. I can assume what they want. They also want more political and cultural freedom as well as more independence. Third the Azeri separatist, they demand more political and cultural freedom as well as more independence. The final freedom fighter group the Kurds, they also demand more political and cultural freedom as well as more independence.

It is true that the current government has ignored the rebuilding and construction of these provinces. It is true that many of my Baluchis, Khuzestanis, Kurdish, and Azeris country men and women are treated unfairly by the current government. It is true and a fact that all these provinces are under developed and the people are malnourished and poor. It is true and a fact that the government uses the oil revenue money for their own cause. It has just been recently published that Iran has over $50 billion US dollar deposited across Europe and has mutual funds and assets estimated over $100 billion dollars and none of these money has been allocated towards construction and development. I as an Iranian agree with all of you 100% that no government in Iran has recognized these provinces and has always treated the unfairly.

But my brothers and sisters I as an Iranian have been treated unfairly. At the age of eleven I had to live as a refugee in German refugee camps (famous Schwalbach) and wait in line to get food along side Eritrean and Ethiopians. My family has been treated unfairly. My mother has been treated unfairly. She worked as a teacher for 16 years and had fought for the kids' rights and against abuses that were taking place in south of Tehran schools. When she complained about a boy's rape in the restroom by older boys she was immediately fired by the school system.

Millions of Iranians are being treated unfairly. Don't the above points sound familiar to your ears? Aren't millions of Iranians demanding for more political and cultural freedom as well as more independence? Should every Iranian go kidnap, kill, rape, smuggle drugs, and place a bomb in a mall or busy street, so our demands for more freedom get heard? Should all of us demand our political freedom by taking guns to the street and fight like the Yugoslavians? Do you know what a civil war is like?

I suggest to all those groups to read books and memoirs written by those who have survived a civil war. Books that talk about horrible events on civil war that bring chills to your bone and tears to your eyes. Books that talk about best friends and neighbors slit each other throats and rape each others wives and daughters. Books that are written on very recent civil wars, ethnic cleanse and mass graves from former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, to Sierra Leone and many more.

Here I argue why the separation can not happen. As far as I know form the history books that I have read which proves them all wrong that they always were independent states. Khuzestan, Azerbaijan, Kurdistan and Baluchistan have always been part of Iran and greater Persia. It was not even 200 years ago due to foolish mistake by ignorant king of Iran we lost territorial rights to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. In addition we gave away the island of Bahrain to the British. It is very wrong to argue by these factions that they all had their independent flag, state and currency at some point in time, because it was never the case.

The other thing is these provinces are integral part of Iran and are strategically and geopolitically very important to Iran's existence. Finally, we as a nation are so integrated and mixed that a separation is impossible; you have family members that are Turk, Arab or Kurd or Baluch. Because we have lived for so many centuries together that we can not say that we are 100% Fars or Arab or Azeri or Kurd or Baluchi. But we all can say that we are all 100% Iranian.

Therefore; based on historical, geopolitical and strategic reason as well as cultural factors separation of these provinces from Iran will never ever happen. Please bear in mind Iran is not former Soviet Union or Iraq or Yugoslavia where they all had been formed in the past century or so. Yugoslavia was created after Second World War. Iraq was created no more than 50 years ago. Same goes for Soviet Union where it was created after wars carried out by the czars on their neighboring countries. Iran has been together as a nation for more than 1000 years.

How can you say that you are an Ahvazi, a Baluchi, a Kurd or an Azeri when you kill, murder, and rape your own kind? How can you kill innocent Iranians when we have endured so much together for the past 1000 years? How can you even claim an independent state when we all fought together along side each other for the territorial rights of our motherland? Each one of us at some point had lost a family member or a friend to a war.

However I can suggest instead of killing my people let us all work together for the better cause and that is, freedom for all Iranians.