Anti-Kurdish chants in Urmia raise concern over ethnic tensions

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian authorities have placed the blame on a single individual for inciting ethnic tensions after anti-Kurdish slogans were chanted at an Alawite religious gathering in West Azerbaijan’s city of Urmia on Saturday. The incident followed massive Newroz, Kurdish New Year celebrations in Urmia, which saw the participation of some 150,000 Kurds.

The West Azarbaijan Police Information Center was quoted by Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency on Sunday as announcing “the arrest of an individual” who “engaged in incitement and insult toward citizens.”

The incident took place at a ceremony where Alawites were marking the martyrdom of Imam Ali (599-661 CE), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet of Islam Muhammad.

The event is central for Alawites who consider Imam Ali as the heir to the Prophet. Both Urmia’s former and current provincial parliamentary representatives, as well as the governor, were attending the ceremony.

Social media footage from the ceremony showed the crowd chanting anti-Kurdish slogans, including: “Urmia belongs to the Turkics and will remain Turkic … No Kurd can pass here if a Turkic doesn’t allow it,” and “Azerbaijan will never part from Khamenei," referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The crowd additionally chanted, “Hasani, where are you to back and support the Turkics?” in reference to the controversial cleric Gholamreza Hassani who until January 2014, served as Khamenei’s representative in West Azerbaijan Province and the Friday Prayer Imam of Urmia.

Hassani is believed to have stood behind a bloody 1979 massacre of Kurds in the village of Qarna in Naqadeh county, West Azerbaijan, which sparked deadly ethnic and armed conflicts in the country between Kurdish and Turkic residents.

Urmia is the capital city of West Azerbaijan Province in northwestern Iran. It is known for its diverse ethnic and religious composition, and is home to Turkic-speaking residents who practice Shiite Islam, Kurdish residents who primarily adhere to Sunni Islam, as well as communities of Assyrians and Armenians, who are predominantly Christian.

The controversial chants come after Urmia was recently scene to massive Kurdish New Year, Newroz festivities where an estimated 150,000 Kurds participated.

While Kurdish communities across the world marked Newroz between March 21 and 23, Kurds in western Iran (Rojhelat) began their celebrations weeks in advance. The Urmia gathering was one of the largest Kurdish congregations recently reported.

Iran has frequently clamped down on Kurdish celebrations during Newroz, banning some Kurdish symbols and songs and prohibiting Kurdish attire, namely the Jamaneh and Khaki.  

The Jamaneh and khaki are traditional Kurdish outfits often worn by Kurdish groups that oppose the Iranian establishment. They are widely seen as symbols of resistance among Kurds, many of whom share images of themselves wearing them on social media as an act of dissent.

Iran additionally prohibits the Kurdish folk dance, known as Halparke, that is also performed by mixed groups of men and women who dance holding hands, a custom not welcomed by Iran’s political and religious authorities.

Last week, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) deployed to Kurdish-majority regions and set up temporary checkpoints to interrogate people, according to the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network.

Meanwhile, the Oslo-based Hengaw Human Rights Organization reported on clashes between the Newroz celebrators and Iranian security forces in Kurdish-majority regions.

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