Iran newspaper cockroach cartoon controversy
Encyclopedia
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
, published in the Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian holiday-magazine of Iran-e-jomee, drawn by the cartoonist Mana Neyestani
Mana Neyestani
Mana Neyestani is an Iranian cartoonist. He is the brother of Touka Neyestani, who is also a cartoonist.-Biography:He is of Iranian Azeri ethnicity. Riots erupted by ethnic Azeris in Iran when they took offense in Mana Neyestani's , published in the children's section of the 12 May 2006 supplement...
, an ethnic Iranian Azeri. The cartoon, published in the children's section of the newspaper on May 12, 2006, allegedly insulted the Azerbaijani people
Azerbaijani people
The Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighbourhood states, Georgia, Russia and formerly Armenia. Commonly referred to as Azeris or Azerbaijani Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to...
by depicting a child speaking in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
to a cockroach
Cockroach
Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
, which was replying in the Azerbaijani language
Azerbaijani language
Azerbaijani or Azeri or Torki is a language belonging to the Turkic language family, spoken in southwestern Asia by the Azerbaijani people, primarily in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran...
, saying "namana?" ("what?"). However, namana is also a slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
word used in Persian. In other sections of the cartoon, the cockroach also speaks in Persian (the second picture).
Contents of the article
The article which the cartoons accompany is entitled "How to stop the cockroaches from making us into cockroaches?" It is a satirical article in a children's weekly newspaper. The text of the paragraph in image 1 is translated as follows:The article's use of the key words "dialogue" (گفتمان) and "violence" (خشونت ورزی), plus discussions about problems understanding the language of the "cockroaches," can be interpreted as tacit references to the reformist's nomenclature in contrast to the language of the conservatives in Iran. The famous reformist motto "dialogue between civilizations" which former president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami
Mohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
was insisting on it, was a source of criticism among intelligentsia, because they thought when it was not possible to have a dialogue and mutual understanding among Iranians themselves (conservative-reformist), how could it be possible to have such a conversation between Iran and the western civilizations?
In the cartoon, a child is speaking in "cockroach language" to a cockroach, but the cockroach replies "namana?" ("what?"). Namana is originally an Azeri word, but is also used as a slang word in Persian. In other sections of the cartoon, the cockroach speaks in Persian. Following the publication of the piece, some Azeris found it insulting. They objected to the depiction of the cockroach as speaking Azeri and the insinuation that the Azeri-speaking cockroach "cannot understand human language."
Aftermath
The controversy resulted in massive riots throughout Iran in May 2006, most notably in the predominantly Azerbaijani-populated cities of TabrizTabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
, Urmia
Urmia
- Demographics :According to official census of 2006, the population of Urmia is about 871,204.- Language :The population of Urmia is mainly Azerbaijani people, with Kurdish, Assyrian Christian, and Armenian minorities...
, Ardabil
Ardabil
Ardabil is a historical city in north-western Iran. The name Ardabil probably comes from the Zoroastrian name of "Artavil" which means a holy place. Ardabil is the center of Ardabil Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 412,669, in 102,818 families...
, Zanjan
Zanjan (city)
Zanjan is the capital of Zanjan Province in northwestern Iran. It is an Azeri inhabited city. It lies 298 km north-west of Tehran on the main highway to Tabriz and Turkey and approximately 125 km from the Caspian Sea...
and Naghadeh
Naghadeh
Naqadeh , also Romanized as Solduz and Suldoz) is a city in and the capital of Naqadeh County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 72,975, in 18,320 families....
and number of smaller towns . The riots were violent in some cases, with protesters damaging public buildings and throwing stones, prompting the reaction of the Iranian police. Such riots had occurred before in recent years in many Persian and non-Persian cities of Iran as well as Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, Mashhad
Mashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...
, Arak
Arak, Iran
-Industries:thumb|right|250px|wagon parsArak is one of the main industrial cities of Iran, possessing many plants for heavy industries especially for the metal and machinery industries, including:...
, Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
, Qazvin
Qazvin
Qazvin is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 349,821, in 96,420 families....
, Isfahan, Sabzevar
Sabzevar
Sabzevar is a city in, and the capital of Sabzevar County, in Razavi Khorasan Province in northeastern Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 208,172, in 57,024 families.It is approximately 220 kilometres west of Mashhad, the provincial capital...
, Ahvaz
Ahvaz
-History:For a more comprehensive historical treatment of the area, see the history section of Khūzestān Province.-Ancient history:Ahvaz is the anagram of "Avaz" and "Avaja" which appear in Darius's epigraph...
, and Zahidan. In the current case, the violence clearly had ethnic components, but the far greater causes of the poverty and unemployment that vexes members of Azeri ethnic groups, are government corruption, inefficiency, and a general sense of lawlessness, which all Iranians, including Persians
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
, must confront. Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
claims that "hundreds, if not thousands, were arrested and scores reportedly killed by the security forces," while the Iranian authorities say 330 people were arrested during the protests, and four demonstrators were killed.
The Iranian government promptly responded to the events by temporarily shutting down the Iran newspaper, arresting the cartoonist and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Mehrdad Ghasemfar. It further accused "outside forces in playing the nationalistic card".
Possible foreign interference
Emad Afrough, head of the Majlis Cultural Commission at the time, said that pan-TurkistsPan-Turkism
Pan-Turkism is a nationalist movement that emerged in 1880s among the Turkic intellectuals of the Russian Empire, with the aim of cultural and political unification of all Turkic peoples.-Name:...
were involved in creating the tensions. Other members of the Iranian government blamed it on the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, suspecting the incitement of ethnic strife in Iran. The United States has itself confirmed that it is conducting covert operations in Iran and is allied with Iran's neighbor, the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Abbas Maleki, a senior research fellow at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, stated:
I think that when President BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
says all options are on the table, the destabilization of Iran's ethnic provinces is one of them. Don't forget, Mr Mahmudali Chehregani, one of the pan-Turkist leaders agitating for a separatist Azeri agenda, was in Washington last year by invitation of the Defense DepartmentUnited States Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
.
Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA operative, had stated in the early 1990s:
Accessible through TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, eyed already by nationalists in BakuBakuBaku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
, more westward-looking than most [of] Iran, and economically going nowhere, Iran's richest agricultural province was an ideal CIA [covert action] theater.
According to Touraj Atabaki, well-known expert on Iranian Azeris, there might be some truth behind the Iranian government's allegations of a foreign plot, yet the responsibility for the unrest lies first and foremost with the central government.
Cartoonist's apology and excuse
Later, Mana NeyestaniMana Neyestani
Mana Neyestani is an Iranian cartoonist. He is the brother of Touka Neyestani, who is also a cartoonist.-Biography:He is of Iranian Azeri ethnicity. Riots erupted by ethnic Azeris in Iran when they took offense in Mana Neyestani's , published in the children's section of the 12 May 2006 supplement...
wrote a letter to the head of Tabriz cartoonists and explained that using the Azeri expressions like "Namana"(what?) and "Sanana" (That is none of your business) in ordinary Persian is very frequent and shows the influence of Azeri Turkic in Persian language and using such expressions did not meant any insult to Azeris. He also said he has many Azeri friends and had no purpose and no reason to insult them .