Political prisoners of Southern Azerbaijan and Urmia Lake were the issues of discussion of European Parliament members+ Video+ Images
AZOH: Thursday morning on 26th September 2013, an alliance from southern Azerbaijan attended in the seat of the European Parliament in Brussels and participated in a meeting of European Parliament about Iran and for the first time South Azerbaijan was discussed as a political issue by the members of European Parliament.
According to SASM in this session entitled " Exchange views on human rights in Iran" which was held in the Parliament with the management of Special commission of Iran in EU parliament, prominent participants such as Ms barbara lochbihler (chair of Subcommittee on Human Rights- EU parliament), Ms Tarja CRONBERG (Chair of Delegation for relations with Iran- EU parliament), Mr Roberto Olemi ( Ms catherine ashton's representative), Mr Potito salatto (Vice chair of Delegation for relations with Iran- EU parliament), Mr Marino Busdachin (UNPO General Secretary), and representative of Amnesty international participated.
In this one-hour session which generally was devoted to the subject of nations and minorities in Iran in the presence of so many members, deputies and advisors of European parliament the issue of Southern Azerbaijan political prisoners and Urmia Lake was discussed.
UNPO General Secretary as the first speaker of the meeting meanwhile welcomed attendees and expressed an introduction of the current situation in Iran, mentioned replacement of governments in Iran would not change this country's politics and besides announcing Iran's recent presidential elections fake and spurious expressed:" Hassan Rouhani is an aimless executor of instructions of Iran's leader."
He further with an emphasis on difficult situation of nationalities living in Iran mentioned the number of incidents and discriminations imposed on these nations.
Mr Marino Busdachin following his remarks initially presented an explanation about Urmia Lake and the disaster of it being dried said the current status of Urmia Lake was a direct result of Iran's incompetence and establishment of so many dams on rivers routes.
He besides mentioning to drying up more than 70% of the lake and the consequences of this disaster and its horrible results such as salty storms and changing ecosystem of the region, reported of the lives of millions people being affected due to this disaster.
According to SASM, he then pointed out to the complex situation of non-Persian nations' political prisoners in Iran and enumerated some instances.
UNPO General Secretary while expressed his concern about arrest of five members of Yeni-Gamoh's central committee, emphasized these political activities due to the establishment of a political party of Southern Azerbaijan have been detained and tortured and ultimately they have been sentenced to totally 45 years imprisonment.
Mr Busdachin while referring to these activists' hunger strike and transition them to Rajai Shahr prison in inhuman condition, stated these Azerbaijani activists have been arrested just because of their political activities.
In the following of this meeting the vice-chair of Delegation for relations with Iran and human rights commission provided a description of the situation of the nations and said Iranian government was directly responsible for these issues.
It is worth mentioning due to the lack of time and some members of European parliament commissions absence because of attendance at UN in New-York after consultation with the alliance of Southern Azerbaijan the decision was made that the continue of the Nations residing in Iran issue would be discussed more specialized at next meeting.
Thus in cooperation with UNPO organization, a meeting with the topic of nations residing in Iran will be held next week on Wednesday at the seat of European parliament in Brussels. It should be noted a representative of Southern Azerbaijani alliance will be attend in this meeting as the opening speaker.
In this session Mr Mahmoud Bilgin( Southern Azerbaijan Democrat Party spokesman_ SADP), Amir Mardani ( Southern Azerbaijan Student Movement spokesman_ SASM) and Ms Ayda Karimli ( Southern Azerbaijani political activist) participated in this meeting as the Southern Azerbaijani alliance.
This meeting was broadcasted live on Thursday 26th September at 9:00 am from the official website of European Parliament.
SASM