By Ava Homa
TORONTO, Canada – Renowned Iranian satirist Ebrahim Nabavi has decided to end his European exile and return “home,” now that reformist Hassan Rouhani is the president of Iran.
Meanwhile, Toronto-based Iranian poet Siavash hopes that now his new book of poems can be published in Iran so his words can reach a wider Iranian audience.
But how are the lives of Kurds and other minorities different now that a moderate is president in Iran since the June elections, following the eight-year controversial and heavy-handed presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
Rouhani’s striking difference from the previous president is his willingness to negotiate with the West, but only because Iran has been buckling under crippling international sanctions.
“The medicine I used to get for my mother for only $105 is now $425. My salary is still the same,” complained Roya, a 45-year-old teacher from the Kurdish-Iranian city of Sanandaj. “I can only hope that the price will stop soaring after these negotiations,” she told Rudaw, referring to a recent agreement that lifts some international sanctions against the Iranian economy.
“The people that you see on the street or at school are highly irritable or just plain angry. They used to be frustrated with lack of freedom but they are now hungry,” explained Azad H, a 28-year-old PhD student from Mariwan.
The medicine I used to get for my mother for only $105 is now $425. My salary is still the same, 
“Do you understand? People can’t feed their children the nutrients they need. This is unbearable. Rouhani has to stop this fast fall of the economy, and I think he will,” he added.
Arash, a 46-year-old physician from Kermanshah and now a New York resident, told Rudaw that he would certainly return to Iran if he were sure of his own safety. “All I want to do is go back to Taq-e-Bostan Mountains and play the tanbour,” a Middle Eastern instrument, he said.
The doctor is not certain about his safety because he spoke up against the Iranian government and was imprisoned for it.
The incredible wave of immigration from Iran, however, has not stopped since Rouhani took power. Some of the most profitable businesses in Iran nowadays are those providing translation or immigration services or running study-abroad centers.
An unofficial source told Rudaw that human traffickers also are doing brisk business, as people fed up with living in Iran pay smugglers to get them across borders illegally, for a chance to apply for asylum at the United Nations office in Ankara or in a European country.
Despite this mix of hope for better lives and a better economy, Kurds in Iran seem to hold little hope that their lives may improve.
“At first, I thought maybe the political pressure will alleviate slightly but it only increased during Rouhani’s first couple months in the presidency, when a bunch of Kurds and other ethnic minorities were executed,” said Pejwak, a 41-year-old from Bokan.
“The obvious message was that any change in Iran is possible other than the improvement in the lives of minorities, especially that of Kurds,” he added.
“Even when some prisoners were released when Rouhani first took power, none of them were Kurdish. He could at least consider releasing Kaboudvand, who suffers from many diseases,” he added, referring to imprisoned Kurdish activist Mohammed Sadeq Kaboudvand.
At first, I thought maybe the political pressure will alleviate slightly but it only increased during Rouhani’s first couple months in the presidency, when a bunch of Kurds and other ethnic minorities were executed,
“You know what life in Iran looks like? It’s daily rock-climbing. You need to be totally alert to avoid as many problems as possible,” said Rasheed, a 65-year-old former political prisoner whose children are unaware of his political past.
“In a life like that, the last thing a Kurd remembers to do is to define his identity and fight for freedom or such,” he said. “Rouhani, at best, will only improve the lives of the mainstream and the rich.”
Mohtaram, a 55-year-old government clerk in Iran, has not seen her son since he illegally crossed the Turkish border five years ago and applied for asylum at the UN office in Ankara, lying that he was a Baha’i, a sect whose followers face severe persecution in Iran.
“He had no choice. He was a smart educated man with no future in Iran,” Mohtaram explained. “His case has been rejected once already but it will be revisited,” she told Rudaw. “If Rouhani can ensure some kind of future for the educated children of the lower-middle-class families, my son will come back. Many uprooted youth will go home.”
M. Z., a 57-year-old Azeri-Iranian dentist in Toronto, believes that Rouhani will not act on improving human rights issues. “World powers are mainly concerned with nuclear issues and turn a blind eye to the recent executions,” he complained.
For Iran, “good international relations will translate into further violations of the rights of the ethnic groups in Iran, a phenomenon that the West will happily overlook,” agreed Somaieh, 32, who was raised in an ethnic minority in southern Iran and now attends McMaster University.
Hesam, a doctorate student in Hamilton, told Rudaw that the Iranian students he now sees arriving at McMaster are different from those in the past.
“Every year, I see more hard-line, pro-government students who leave Iran only and only because even they, with all their connections to the Iranian regime, feel the economy is crippling.”
