Week Review in Action: Show of Force in Washington

Iran being one of the most discussed topic in 2009 and likely 2010 as well, its international

defiance and its internal disarray, has prompted a number of prominent centres and scholars to

hold important meetings on Iran’s future.  Aside from this, we are also approaching the 1979 

Revolution anniversaries on February 11, 2010, which the opposition has promised to turn out in

big numbers to demonstrate its resilience.

By: Sharif Behruz

07 Feb 2010 – The First week of February was a relatively a busy week in Washington, DC where a

number of discussion and policy panels on Iran were planned by various institutions and policy

centres.

Iran being one of the most discussed topic in 2009 and likely 2010 as well, its international

defiance and its internal disarray, has prompted a number of prominent centres and scholars to

hold important meetings on Iran’s future.  Aside from this, we are also approaching the 1979

Revolution anniversaries on February 11, 2010, which the opposition has promised to turn out in

big numbers to demonstrate its resilience.

The US Institute of Peace hosted a panel discussion titled “Regime and Opposition in Iran”

moderated by the Vice-President of USIP Abiodun Williams, and members of the panel were Daniel

Brumberg, Robin Wright, Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Suzanne Maloney and George Lopez.  The opening

remarks by Chair summarized the parametrises of the discussion: “ The tumultuous events that

have rocked Iran in recent weeks suggest that the conflict between regime and opposition is far

from over. Indeed, the “Ashura Protests” of December 2009 tell a different story: of a regime 

that is struggling to hold on to power and some shred of legitimacy, and an opposition that is

looking for ways to unify as it confronts state violence.”

In his remarks, Mr. Williams further elaborated on the policy discussions: “How will the 

evolving clash between regime and opposition affect the stability of the Islamic Republic, on

the one hand, and its foreign relations, on the other? What are the implications for recent

events for the Obama administration’s efforts to engage Iran and deflect its efforts to build

what many experts believe is a nuclear arms capacity?”

Following the presentation of each panel members, a handful of the participants raised a number

of important questions that one was from our esteemed colleague, Dr. Karim Abdian in regards to

the role of national groups in Iran in today’s Iran, and the response from two panel members

were surprising: Robin Wright, a very experienced  journalist and foreign policy analyst said

that what goes on in non-Persian areas like Baluchistan is irrelevant to Tehran and it will 

remain irrelevant to Tehran, and that is despite the fact that panel members such as

Haghighatjoo, herself a Persian, indicated that ethnic groups have refrained from participating

in the last 8 months of demonstrations in Iran.

I attended the event with my dear friend Idris Ahmedi who is a visiting scholar at the

Georgetown University in Washington.

Middle East Institute had a similar format panel, but with only two experts and they also

focused on Iran’s internal dynamics titled “The Khamenei-Ahmadinejad Regime and the Challenge

of the Iranian Opposition”.  The event was held on the 3rdof February at the Institute for two

Iranian scholars Ali Alfoneh a Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Alex

Vatanka, Scholar at the Middle East Institute each focusing on the ongoing unrest in Iran and

the implications for the stability and future of the regime and its options in the face of this

growing opposition movement.

I along with my friend Idris Ahmedi also attended this event and raised a very important

question to the future of Iran and its Green Movement vis-à-vis the ethnic groups in Iran and

similar questions were raised on the status of Kurds in Iran by the audience.

My observation on this panel discussion and others in general is the very bitter reality that

scholars and experts tend to run away from the issues of national groups which matters to more

than half of Iran’s population.  They have been comfortable concealing the issues of nation

groups and their future role in Iran simply because they have not been nailed in these

discussions.  They should and will be reminded that they simply should not overlook this

important issue in Iran in these gatherings, and it is best if they talk about the issue

beforehand without being asked to respond to a question.

The other important personal observation in these gatherings is this suspicion of separatism

that tends to overshadow the important issue of national rights, and sadly is being utilized by

both the dictatorship in Iran to silence these ethnic groups and in policy centres and most

obviously in capitals around the world by scholars of Persian background, and other alike, to

ignore the repression that the ethnic groups endure.  It is quite obvious, and they know the

simple zero-sum game that tipping the balance of power to accommodate the ethnic groups will

result in the diminishing of Persian role and dominancy in Iran.

On the same day, the Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee of House Foreign Affairs Committee

also held a hearing on Iran titled “America and the Iranian Political Reform Movement: First Do 

No Harm” chaired by Gary L. Ackerman (D-NY) (his opening remarks)and witnesses included 

Geneive Abdo, Mehdi Khalaji, Fariborz Ghadar and J. Scott Carpenter.

Considering all these, I as the representative of Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan as the

largest Kurdish and Iranian opposition to this regime pursue a few clear objectives via our

representation in Washington:  At first, we have to make sure that we have a presence in all

these gathering across the US, especially in the capital beltway preferably as panellists and

policy debaters or at least as participants.

Second, we, as the representative of Iranian national groups, should broaden our lobbying

efforts in Washington to talk to policy centres and policy makers to realize that Iran is not a

monolithic society with Persian being the overwhelming majority and we should prove that we

have a strong voice.  Furthermore, we should convey the message that any solution to the 

Iranian puzzle that will leave out the issues of Iranian ethnic groups will doom in failure. 

And lastly, the Green Movement in Iran will be less likely to turn into a Green Revolution if

its leaders do not address the essential issue of ethnic groups.

Achieving these objectives, I have been in contact and met with various scholars, think tanks,

policy makers and officials in the US capital, and this past week I paid visit to a number of

centres and House and Senate Committees and Member offices.

We should not expect any miracles; however, witnessing the unexpected and powerful snow storm

brazing through Washington in the same week, one should wonder whether a political storm will

follow suite in regards to the issues of Iranian nationalities on the Capital Hill.  I tend to

be optimistic, but I doubt this will happen, at least in the immediate term.