US Congressman Introduces Resolution Supporting Right of Azeri Self Determination

US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who just recently returned from a trip to Azerbaijan, has introduced a House Concurrent Resolution (H. CON. RES. 137) that highlights the “Azeri people, currently divided between Azerbaijan and Iran, have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country, if they so choose”, TURAN’s Washington DC correspondent reports.

“The Azeri people have an innate right to choose their own political structure and to choose their country,” said Rohrabacher in his statement that was given to TURAN’s correspondent by the Congressman’s office.

“It is not up to bureaucrats in Washington or the mullah dictatorship in Iran. The ethnic Azeri’s in Azerbaijan enjoy sovereignty and independence; there is no reason why the Azeri population in Iran should not be able to make that same choice. This principle holds true for all the people who live in Iran”, he stated.

Dana Rohrabacher is the long-time US Representative for California, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party.

In August 2012, he wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton previously that the Azeri homeland was split between Imperial Russia and the Persian Empire in 1828 without the consent of the Azeri people.

After the US State Department confirmed the receipt of the letter, Rohrabacher reportedly stated that his letter did not mean that the US should necessarily support secession of a region from one country and its integration into another country, but he believed that a referendum should be held in order to make sure whether secession is what the people of Azerbaijan provinces are looking for.

“Inspired by political discussions currently ongoing within Azerbaijan’s Parliament, Rep. Rohrabacher stated that, “My resolution puts the US on the side of the Azeri people and with the people within Iran”, the Congressman’s office stated on September 13.

“If the people on the ground don’t want to be ruled by the mullah dictatorship in Iran, then we should support their right to determine their future through a referendum. It is disconcerting to me that the State Department and Tehran agree that the people of Iran should be forced to live within the borders and under the same jurisdiction no matter how the majority of the Azeris believe. I am calling on the government of Iran to provide its Azeri population with a referendum to determine their own future state”, said the Congressman.

TURAN’s correspondent has also received the text of H. CON. RES. 137 draft resolution, which was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

“In Iran, the provinces inhabited mainly by ethnic Azeris are called East and West Azerbaijan by the government in Tehran, thus giving credibility to the claim that the homeland of the Azeri is divided”, notes the document.

“It is the policy of the United States to oppose aggression and the violation of human rights inherent in the subjugation of national groups like the Azeris in Iran: Now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that it is the sense of Congress that the Azeri people, currently divided between Azerbaijan and Iran, have the right to self-determination and they should be afforded the opportunity to choose their own status among the community of nations, living in peace and harmony, without external coercion”, says the resolution. Yet it’s unclear how the House Committee and the US Administration will react to the resolution. 

In the meantime, TURAN’s Washington correspondent asked Michael Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who worked as a Pentagon adviser on Iran and Iraq during the first Bush administration, to explain the procedure of the possible Committee discussions.

“Referred to the committee is the normal procedure. If the committee doesn't do anything with it—and they won't in most cases--then it simply dies in committee”, he said, mentioning that the Rohrabacher, resolution “has no co-sponsors”.

“It's meaningless posturing on the part of one representative. Any representative can submit a resolution for consideration”, he added.

“Rep. Rohrbacher's heart may be in the right place, but his actions will benefit no one. In effect, he is sponsoring the bill to strike a blow at Iran, not benefit Azeris. Rather, if the goal is to help Azerbaijan, Congress should call for an immediate end to Armenia's occupation of one-third of Azerbaijan's territory”, said the analyst.

Another expert, Michael Tkacik, Professor of Government, and Director of the School of Honors at the Stephen F. Austin State University, told TURAN's Washington correspondent that concurrent resolution has "no binding effect either inside or outside the US. It is simply a

statement". "However, if it were to pass in both chambers, it would demonstrate the views of the US Congress, the most democratic branch of the US national government".

Given the tensions with Iran, he added, "however, I fear it is intended only to increase pressure on Iran". "I would like to research the resolution's sponsor[s]. This should tell us more about the purposes of the resolution", he concluded.

Alakbar Raufoglu

Washington, DC

09/13/2012