IRAN/AZERBAIJAN: DISPARATE IRANIANS NETWORK AT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAKU 001156

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/06/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL TU AZ IR
SUBJECT: IRAN/AZERBAIJAN: DISPARATE IRANIANS NETWORK AT
WOMEN'S RIGHTS CONFERENCE

Classified By: POLECON COUNSELOR ROB GARVERICK FOR REASON 1.4 (B&D)

Istanbul Conference Post Mortem
--------------


1. (C) Baku Iran watcher met for two and a half hours on
December 3 with prominent Azerbaijani human rights activist
Novella Jafaroglu and fourteen other Azerbaijan residents who
had just returned from participating in a November 28-30
Iran-Turkey-Azerbaijan women,s rights conference in
Istanbul. The conference was indirectly supported by USG
Iran civil society promotion funds (unbeknownst to most of
the Iranian and Turkish participants). Jafaroglu, the winner
of several international awards for her human rights and
peace promotion activities, was the main organizer of the
Istanbul conference which included 53 formal participants
including prominent activists from Iran and the Iranian
diaspora, as well as Turkey and Azerbaijan. According to
Jafaroglu, no press was present.


2. (C) Istanbul Iran watcher attended the conference and
will report highlights septel. This cable provides a
post-mortem on the event and related comments from
Azerbaijan-based participants (including two Iranians). In
addition to Jafaroglu, the Azerbaijani delegation included
several other prominent human rights and civil society
figures, as well as two academic experts on Iran from Baku
State University (Azerbaijan,s &Harvard8). Several of the
Azerbaijani attendees (including Jafaroglu) have family ties
to Iran, and some have recently traveled there.

Conference Attracts Iranians
--------------


3. (C) Most of the Azerbaijani group praised the Istanbul
conference as a resounding success that could represent a
breakthrough for Iranian civil society activists in their
ability to network with and get their story out more
effectively to the international human rights community. A
total of 22 delegates from Iran and five from the Iranian
diaspora attended. In addition, several delegates noted that
approximately twenty Iranian students in Turkey came to the
meeting on the first day without invitation and ended up also
taking part in its formal and informal discussions.


4. (C) Although Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi did not
attend, several delegates noted that she sent a
congratulatory letter and was represented by some close
associates. Other prominent Iranian figures did attend,
including Hamburg-based Sayeed Hasan Shariatmadari, whose
"straightforward and completely factual" speech on the first
day of the conference was cited by several participants as a
highlight. Jafaroglu said that a written report on the
conference and a DVD including conference speeches are under
preparation and will be provided to Iran watcher within the
next week.

Turks, Azerbaijanis &Shocked8 By Iran Conditions
-------------- ---


5. (C) Several delegates commented that before hearing and
meeting with Iranian speakers at the conference they had not
realized how "awful" and "primitive" the human rights reality
in Iran really is. Reports which shocked them included
details on child execution, stoning, allegedly common raping
of arrested female activists ("including virgin girls") by
police, and legalized repression of women "even written in
their Constitution." According to the Azerbaijanis, the
Turkish human rights figures that attended the conference
were equally amazed at the trials and challenges related by
the Iranians.

Turkish NGO to Spotlight Iranians
--------------


6. (C) One result, according to Jafaroglu, is that the
Ankara-based Turkish World Research Center, her Turkish
partner in organizing the event, has decided to dedicate one
full day of a planned international human rights conference
it is hosting in Ankara on December 20-22 to Iranian human
rights issues. She added that the Turkish group will provide
financing to bring several Iranian activists to this meeting.


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Disparate Iranians Meet and Network
--------------


7. (C) Jafaroglu also pointed out that the Iranian attendees
at the Istanbul conference included Azeris, Kurds, Ahwaz
Arabs, and Turkmen, as well as ethnic Persians, while Iranian
political tendencies represented included nationalists,
monarchists, democratic liberals (like Shariatmadari),
communists, and reformist Islamists.


8. (C) A Baku-based Iranian activist asserted that normally
it is impossible for such disparate individuals to hold a
meeting together even overseas, much less inside Iran. She
opined that the Azerbaijani-Turkish organizing umbrella and
the non-political agenda gave these Iranians a unique
opportunity to meet together in a cooperative and
non-confrontational environment. An Iranian feminist present
agreed, observing that the Iranian participants worked
together without tension at the event, and held extensive
discussions and exchanges with each other in the evenings and
outside the formal contours of the conference. She called
this Iranian networking &by far the most important success
of the conference.

Iranian Feminism ) Strongest in the Region?
--------------


9. (C) The Iranian claimed that the growing cadre of
educated women and the &systematized8 repression of women
by the Iranian regime have ironically resulted in an Iranian
feminist movement which is both larger and more sophisticated
that found in the Caucasus or Turkey. At the same time, she
noted that in addition to promoting Iranian-Iranian
networking, events like the Istanbul conference are extremely
helpful in giving &voiceless8 Iranian activists greater
access to the outside world and knowledge on how to more
effectively interact with it.

Private Freedom, Public Repression
--------------


10. (C) An Azerbaijani who said she frequently visits
relatives in Iran interjected that over the years she has
observed an increasing contrast between the gradually
liberalizing condition of women &behind closed doors in the
home8 and the repressive restrictions they face in public
society and before the law due to regime practices. In the
face of objections from others in the group, she argued that
the situation in much of Iran is the opposite of many other
countries where the laws are liberal but private social
attitudes and practices are not. Comment: Though some
participants disagreed with her claims, her comments echo
what we have heard from some other Iranian sources. To the
extent it exists, it is unclear if this &private
liberalization8 process is mainly an urban/middle class
phenomenon or a trend in wider society as well. Iran watcher
will continue to collect informed views on this topic. End
Comment.

Need for Follow-Up and Sustainability
--------------


11. (C) A frequently repeated theme among the Azerbaijani
activists is that the Istanbul conference was successful, but
only as a &first step.8 Many emphasized the need for
strategic follow-up sustainability in the effort to bolster
Iranian civil society and better get the word out
internationally about the current challenges facing women and
larger society in Iran. Apart from further efforts in the
area of women,s rights, Jafaroglu related recommendations
from members of Ebadi,s group that separate regional
conferences focusing on children,s rights, drug addiction
and HIV/AIDS, environmental pollution, and other social
issues be organized.


12. (C) Jafaroglu and several other Azerbaijanis speculated
that these conferences could be held in Azerbaijan, Turkey,
or somewhere in Europe ) all agreed it is desirable, but
none believed it is possible, to hold such conferences in
Iran. Another activist suggested that the USG consider
indirectly funding a notional information center for Iranians
in Baku (an activity which might not go down well with the
GOAJ authorities).

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13. (C) Iran watcher urged the experienced group to
collectively brainstorm and develop more concrete proposals
for new projects that would be both effective and practical,
and they agreed to do so. Iran watcher obtained contact data
for all of the Azerbaijan-based participants, and will be
following up with several of them individually on Iranian
issues in coming weeks.
DERSE