The Azeri Question in Iran:
A Crucial Issue for Iran’s Future
by Nasib Nasibzade
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/HOMEPAGES/USAZERB/334.htm
Nasib Nasibzade is the President of the Foundation for Azerbaijan Studies in Baku, Azerbaijan. He was Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Iran from 1992-94.
Iran is a multinational country, composed of Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Turkmens, Arabs, Baluchies and others. The Turkic speaking Azeris in Iran are being discriminated against by the Iranian regime. This problem is further exxareggated by the fact that, the Azeris are themselves a divided nation, separated by the borders of Iran and the Azerbaijani republic. These two circumstances have combined to pose an Azeri dilemma.
The History of the Problem
(snip)
You must understand the nature of dictatorships, they need enemies, external ememies are good BUT internal ones are even better, Best ones are both internal & external. Of course it helps if they are a small minority and thier country is small. The Azeris are tailormade for this abuse. In fact if they didn't already exist the Mullahs in Tehran would have to invent them.
The offending cartoon is the second to last with the kid talking to the bug
http://www.achiq.org/herekat2/cartoons.htm
The kid is saying bug/cockroach in different ways to try to get the bug to understand him, and the bug (who speaks Azeri) asks him what he means, because he doesn't understand.
The Azeris didn't appreciate being depicted as a cockroach.