15.10.2003 - Source: International Crisis Group

15.10.2003 - ICG: Little support in Iran for newly formed organisation due to its separatist agenda ("Iran: Discontent and Disarray") [#16759],  [ID 8398]

"The newly formed Southern Azerbaijan National Awakeness Movement (SANAM) likewise enjoys little support or legitimacy in Iran, due to its separatist agenda. Confirmed reports that U.S. government officials have quietly been meeting with the head of SANAM, Ali Chehregani, a secessionist activist from Iranian Azerbaijan who lives in exile in Washington, were received with dismay among Iran’s intellectual and political elite, including many Iranian-Azeris. Typical was the reaction of an Iranian-Azeri professional: “We are Iranians, 100 per cent. Why would we want to separate? We’ve been here for 1,000 years”."

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