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-�-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.
