INTERVIEW / Yaqoub Hor, spokesperson for the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Al Ahwaz

Subsequent Iranian regimes and particularly Islamic regime of Iran systematically and with the aim of complete annihilation of Non-Persian nations such as Arabs, Kurds, Baluch, Azari, etc have been implementing soft and hard powers against the Non-Persian nations. Regions where those non-Persian nations inhabited is considered as one of the most undeveloped regions of Iran, people are deprived of their basic rights such as for example social, cultural, economic and political rights. Ahawaz is one of the regions which considered undeveloped in all aspects of life despite its richness in natural resources, oil and gas. People of Ahwaz are struggling against the Islamic regime’s oppression and systematic discrimination. Yaqoub Hor is Ahwazi Politician and spokesperson for the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Al Ahwaz.

1. Briefly, since when Ahwazi people stood against the Iranian oppression and how do you evaluate your historical struggle?

Yaqoub: The struggle of my nation started since 1925, the first day Al-Ahwaz was conquered by the forces of Rezā Shāh, though the struggles at the beginning were unorganized and tribal but by passing time especially in 60s these struggles become more organized by creating Liberation Front of Al-Ahwaz.

The struggle of my nation has faced lots of fluctuations, but despite of all bravery and sacrifices it unfortunately has not achieved desirable results. Briefly there are two reasons for results deficiency: first, all Al-Ahwazi political parties and organizations, especially the classic ones instead of relying on their nation were depending on other governments and directions; second, lack of connection and linking of the struggles of Al-Ahwaz’s Arab nation with other non-Persian nations. Therefore, the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Al Ahwaz really cares about these two factors.

2. How do you describe and analyse the nature of oppression again Arab people in Al-Ahwaz?

Yaqoub: In fact, the greatest tyrant was occupying our land trying to change its Arabic identity. But this tyranny has other dimensions as well which is applied on daily basis by the Iranian occupier government on my nation. We can summarize this as an attempt to change the identity of my nation and assimilate it into the Persian culture and language. Added to this is the racial segregation in all areas of social, economic and political, arrests and arbitrary executions and other things.

The tyranny of Iranian occupier government in Al-Ahwaz maybe has more intensity in compare to other non-Persian areas and this is because of two reasons: first, the economic importance of Al-Ahwaz, as Al-Ahwaz has 80% of Iran’s oil and gas reserve; second, in identity and mentality of Persian nation Arab is always introduced as an enemy and this anti-Arab feeling is reflected in all aspects of Persian identity, literature, politics and other things.

3. Have the situation been modified, socially, politically and economically since the new Present Hassan Rouhani was elected to the office?

Yaqoub: As it was expected the situation in Al-Ahwaz not only becomes better it has worsen. Since Rouhani becomes the president the executions and arrests have increased. Even economically the situation is getting more critical. After the presidency of Rouhani, the Iranian government decided one of the most racist decisions against the Arab nation of Al-Ahwaz which is transferring the remaining water of Karoun River to the central plateau of Iran and Persian provinces of Isfahan, Kerman and Yazd. This is while in recent years Al-Ahwaz is suffering from severe dehydration because of erecting of numerous dams on its rivers transferring water to the Persian areas.

In general the Arabic Liberation Movement of Al-Ahwaz does not consider changes to the current system of Iran as a solution to problems of non-Persian nations, because the politics of Pahlavi regime and Islamic Republic of Iran towards non-Persian nations does not vary from each other. Because the state of Iran is based on two factors and these two factors are “being Persian and being Shiite”. Therefore based of the historical reasons and also demands of non-Persian nations, the only solution to free these nations would be independence.

4. What are your perspectives about other Iranian nations struggle, particularly the Kurdish struggle?

Yaqoub: According to us, the non-Persian nations have realized their common destiny and importance of joint struggle. This is a great evolution in struggles of these nations because their joint struggle against a common enemy not only is absolutely rational and a historic necessity but also can reduce the price and duration of their struggle. Meanwhile the future of geography of so called Iran after awakening of non-Persian nations would not be under the control the current regime or the Persian opposition rather it would be under the control of non-Persian nations. Regarding the Eastern Kurdistan nation, advent of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) in the past 10 years has made profound changes to the struggle of this nation while correlating their struggle to that of other parts of Kurdistan, especially when the other 3 parts of Kurdistan are witnessing historical changes. PJAK was able to bring new methods and discussions to the struggle of Eastern Kurdistan’s nation. Among these methods we can mention, PJAK’s attention and interest in creating communicational channel with other non-Persian nations. In general the existing evidences point to the preparation of regional and internal conditions for the victory of this oppressed nation.

5. How do you evaluate the role of national struggle of Iranian nations?

Yaqoub: Before I answer your question I should say that we do not believe the phrase “Iranian nations” and this is a phrase to ditch and double cross the rights of non-Persian nations. The victory of struggle of non-Persian nations in the current situation is relying on understanding the regional changes, preventing the interference of foreign forces on their destiny, emphasizing on the creation of multilateral relationship and trying to get closer to each other; because the occupier government of Iran is able to continue on its domination and oppression of these nations by resorting to divide and rule tactic among them.

6. To what extent do you believe it is a right time to cooperate with other Iranian nations, and what are the practical steps which must be followed in order to strength that cooperation?

Yaqoub: In my opinion, because of having a common enemy and destiny, joint struggle among non-Persian nations should have started from the first day of occupation and formation of the country of “Iran”. But because of the insensibility and discordant induced by the enemy it was not fulfilled. But it is never too late to correct a mistake, now also it is possible to fulfill this work with a proper plan. Surely this relationship should start from the organizations and political parties representing these nations but this is just the beginning. Cooperation among the political parties of non-Persian nations should not be limited to statements and political meetings, rather this cooperation should be based on written and practical program and strategy that includes political, media and the field contexts. The next step is to spread awareness among non-Persian nations and attempt to correlate different political, social and cultural fields of these nations to each other so that this collaboration would translate from party relationship to cooperation between nations. Awareness and recognition of different sectors of non-Persian nations from each other can form a ground for a strong cooperation between these nations and in the future it will prevent the occurrence of problems and bloodshed. For example, in Syria if there was enough recognition among different sectors of its society, certainly the occurrence of current violence would have been prevented.

7. Could you tell us about the different dimensions of the cooperation and do you believe it should only be among national resistance movements or it should also include the nations generally?

Yaqoub: As I mentioned in answering of the previous question, these cooperation should not be limited to the political parties, rather, these cooperation and joint struggle would be successful when they become the collaboration between nations. The political parties have nonetheless embarked on the course on this relationship.

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