The chairman of the organization that defends the rights of South Azerbaijanis: "Unfortunately, many of our compatriots lack national consciousness"

Cemal Mehmethanoğlu, who held the Second International South Azerbaijan Forum in Izmir last December, answered the questions of Turan News Agency.

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Turan: Dear chairman, after the meeting you held in Izmir in December last year under the name of the International South Azerbaijan Forum, you will hold the third meeting in Istanbul in April. Can you provide information on the content of these forums? If it's not a secret, why are you going so fast?

Mehmethanoğlu: We postponed the Istanbul Forum due to the postponement of the date of the elections in Turkey. We will announce the date later. As you know, more than 3 million Azerbaijani Turks live in Turkey. Unfortunately, the majority of Azerbaijani Turks living in Turkey are not aware of the existence of Turks living in South Azerbaijan and their struggle for freedom and are not interested in these issues for various reasons. Azerbaijani Turks living in Russia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and various countries of the world are not interested in these matters either.

In many mosques spread over the big cities of Turkey, mullahs educated in Qum condemn the national struggle of South Azerbaijan and make speeches linking them with Israel and the United States. Every day. We hold these forums in order to neutralize these negative situations that I talked about to a certain extent and to provide extensive information about the existence of South Azerbaijani Turks and their struggle for freedom. Thanks to these forums, the existence and struggle of our South Azerbaijani compatriots remain on the agenda. Another goal of our forums is to demonstrate that we are on the side of our compatriots who are fighting in Iran.

Turan: Turkey has remained silent on the processes taking place in the Azerbaijani regions of Iran for years. What is the reason for your sudden activation? Do you think that the work you have done can lead to diplomatic crises between Turkey and Iran after a certain stage?

Mehmethanoğlu: What we are doing may or may not create a crisis between Iran and Turkey. We are a non-governmental organization, not an official institution. When the first forum we held in Ankara caused a crisis, the Turkish state banned the forum. However, we held a forum at another place at that time. Despite the fact that our state knew about the event, it did not prevent it. Turkey has to continue its official relations with Iran. International conventions, trade relations, and the situation in the region require it. However, at the same time, even if South Azerbaijan does not support the struggle of the Turks, it must not oppose the NGOs that support this struggle.

Furthermore, according to the Shusha Declaration, if the Republic of Azerbaijan is attacked from abroad, Turkey will support the Republic of Azerbaijan. Today, our Republic of Azerbaijan is under serious threat from the side of the Iranian state. In such a case, Turkey has to defend Azerbaijan. The reason for our sudden activation is the events that happened in Iran in recent months and the activity shown by our compatriots.

Turan: To what extent do you refer to the political legacy of the founder of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mahammad Amin Rasulzade, who not only gave the greatest support to the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (Enqelab-e Mashrutiyyat-e Iran) between 1908-1911 and brought the term "Iranian Turks" into the political arena? Because as it is known, the Pahlavi regime steered clear the most of Mahammad Amin Rasulzade.

Mehmethanoğlu: In our last 115-year history, many Azerbaijani political leaders, intellectuals, writers-poets, and artists, starting with Mahammaed Amin Rasulzade, supported the political struggle of South Azerbaijani Turks. We also support the freedom struggle in South Azerbaijan. We will support this struggle until our national state is established there.

Turan: To what extent are approximately 200,000 people who were born in the Azerbaijani regions of Iran and have significant financial opportunities in Turkey interested in your work? Do you have any plans to include them in these jobs? Because, in the past, there were many people who were interested in these things seasonally and then withdrew. What is the main reason why those 200,000 people stay away from these jobs?

Mehmethanoğlu: I consider your words absolutely right. We have 10 thousand South Azerbaijani compatriots living in Turkey and even accepting Turkish citizenship. There is such a brutal mullah regime in Iran that intimidates people. The families of our compatriots living in Turkey remained in Iran. They have to visit Iran if they want to meet them. That's why they avoid the Iranian regime and they can't take a place with us openly. Although some of them are of Turkish origin, their brains are Persianized. The other part sees themselves as Shias before seeing themselves as Turks and takes the side of the Shia state.

To the extent that our national struggle in Iran becomes stronger, these brothers of ours will break down the wall of fear, see the truth, and join our struggle. A large number of our compatriots living in Iran are still not aware that they are Turks and have not been able to acquire national consciousness. But the processes continue in our favor. The number of people who are aware of their national identity is increasing rapidly. The development of means of communication and the open support of our Azerbaijani state to our South Azerbaijani brothers will further accelerate these processes.

Turan: How are your relations with immigrants abroad? How supportive are they, and if they are not supportive, why?

Mehmethanoğlu: In general, the attitude of our South Azerbaijani compatriots to these matters in Turkey is the same in Europe and other countries. The majority observes the national struggle from the outside. However, the number of our compatriots actively participating in the national struggle is increasing rapidly. I want to touch on another aspect of this process: the fact that the national organizations of South Azerbaijan, acting together and putting the struggle to the fore, entered into weak arguments with each other, causing many national activists to become passive and withdraw. One of the goals of our forums is to reactivate people who have become passive.

Turan: We see that you intend to create new institutions from the materials you shared. On what principles will you build your institutions?

Mehmethanoğlu: If we want to create an independent state, we must prepare the infrastructure for it from now on. In order to create the infrastructure of the culture ministry of our future state, we are establishing an organization under the name of the South Azerbaijan Cultural Center. This organization of ours will do serious work in the near future (https://guneyazerbaycankulturmerkezi.blogspot.com/). In addition, we plan to make the Organizational Committee, which we created to hold the forums, a permanent institution, making it a stronger and longer-lasting structure.