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Iran: Ahdvazi (Ahvaz) people; activities of Ahvaz Peoples Front

No mention of a group by the name of Ahvaz Peoples Front could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

While Nations Without States contains an entry entitled "Arabistan; Arabestan; Ahvaz; Khuzestan" (1996, 28), it is not clear in the sources consulted by the Research Directorate whether Iranian Arabs are also identified as an ethnic group with the name of Ahdvazi or Ahvaz. Nations Without States states that the capital of Arabistan is Ahvaz (Ahwaz) and that 2,977,000 of a total population of 3,165,000 Arabistanis, live in Iran (ibid.). In further information:

Location: Arabistan lies in southwestern Iran, a lowland region forming part of Tigris-Euphrates Valley between the Iraqi border and the Zargos Mountains at the head of the Persian Gulf.

Political Status: Arabistan has no official status; the region called Arabistan by nationalists forms the province of Khuzestan in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Flag: The Arabistani flag, the flag of the national movement, is a vertical tricolor of red, white, and black bearing a centred green, five-pointed star surrounded by a green circle.

People: The Arabistanis are a Semetic Arab people made up of thirty tribal groups that are ethnically and culturally related to the Arab peoples to the west but are not closely related to Iran's majority Aryan population. The Arabistanis, who speak an Arabic dialect with a marked Farsi (Iranian admixture), are mostly Shia Muslims, adhering to the branch of Islam predominant in Iran, with a Sunni Muslim minority concentrated in the coastal areas. …

The centralization of government, under the Pahlevi dynasty [1925], included the official elimination of the privileges of the Iranian state's numerous ethnic and religious minorities. In 1928 the inhabitants of Arabistan, again rechristened Khuzestan, came under intense pressure to assimilate, with ethnic clothing outlawed, Arabic language publications banned, and all schools order to teach only in Farsi, Iran's official language.

The Arab league, founded in 1945, demanded independence for Arabistan, and the province remained one of the focal points of Arab nationalism throughout the 1950s. In 1958 a radical Arab nationalist government took power in neighboring Iraq and drastically increased the outside support for the nascent Arabistani nationalist movement. Exile nationalist organizations, based in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, directed operations in the province, with strikes, demonstrations, and the sabotage of pipelines and oil refineries becoming common practice.

The Iraqi government temporarily suspended overt aid to the national movement following the resolution of a long-standing border dispute with Iran in 1975. However, in 1979 Iraq resumed its support of the Arabistani nationalists following the revolution that brought a radical Islamic government to power in Iran. The Arabistanis, viewed by the new Islamic government as potential agents for rival Iraq, suffered severe suppression even though they had initially supported the revolution. Betrayed by the revolutionary government, the Arabistanis launched a renewed campaign of sabotage.

The Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, citing the harsh treatment of the Arabistanis, declared the 1975 border agreement void and, on the same day, 22 September 1980, launched a military invasion of Iranian Khuzestan. The conflict soon bogged down and became an eight-year war of attrition. By 1988 Arabistan's cities, ports, and oil fields lay in ruins, but still under Iranian control.

Abandoned by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which turned its attention to nearby Kuwait in 1990, the Arabistanis have looked beyond Iraq to the other Arab states for support. Drawing on Arab sympathy and monetary aid, the Arabistani nationalists compare their situation to that of the people of Palestine, another Arab nation under foreign military rule (ibid., 29-30).

The following references provide partial corroboration of the above. An outline for a first year university course in Comparative Foreign Policy at the University of California - Santa Cruz, states that "Arabistan in the southern part of Iran is almost entirely Arab" (1998). Chaliand (1993) and Lyle (1999) cited on the Website of Adherents.com indicate that approximately 2,000,000 Iranians are Arab and that "most of them live on the Persian Gulf islands or in Khuzistan which has been called Arabistan in various times in Iran's history" (2000.). An 8 December 1998 Tehran Times article reported that 2.5 million Iranians of Arab origin live in the Province of Khuzestan. Other sources also reported that the war between Iran and Iraq began as an effort by Saddam Hussein to "liberate" Arabs in Khuzistan (Arabistan) (Richman 10 Jan. 1985; van Bruinessen 1992). One source commented that "neither the Arabs of Khuzistan nor the Iranian Kurds rallied to Saddam's support" (ibid.).

The following is written under a heading entitled "Arabs" within the Iran section of the World Directory of Minorities:

There are probably one million Arabs, mainly Shi'i, living primarily along the Gulf littoral in the province of Khuzistan and more generally in the south. The Arabs of Khuzistan and of southern Iraq form a cultural unit. Many Arabs on the coastline are Sunni, originally from the Arabian Peninsula, and have a history since the sixteenth century of migrating between the east and west sides of the Gulf. They are thus thought of as neither wholly Iranian nor wholly Arab. As a group they are known as Hawila (sing. Huli (m) Huliya (f)). In spite of such factors Iraqi attempts to foment unrest for the Pahlavis and the Islamic republic have beenlargely unsuccessful. Arabs of Khuzistan demanded autonomy, like the Baluch, Kurds and Turkoman in 1979, but demonstrated their loyalty to the Islamic regime during the Iran-Iraq war 1980-8 (1997, 342).

A december 1998 Tehran Times report discussed the Arabs of Iran:

Majlis deputy from Khuzestan Province, Faramand Hashemi Zadeh, told an Egyptian weekly that the Islamic government in Iran does not differentiate between Arabs and non-Arabs living in Iran. …

In reply to a question as to why the province is not called "Arabistan'' instead of "Khuzestan'', Hashemi Zadeh said in Khuzestan "there is no sensitivity at all over the name as some imagine.'' "It is certain that since its establishment in 1979, the Islamic Republic does not differentiate between Arabs and non-Arabs," stressed Hashemi Zadeh who hails from Khuzestan. He said, quoted by IRNA, that the situation in Khuzestan was far better today than under the rule of the Shah, citing as an example the current Iranian Defense Minister Admiral Ali Shamkhani, who is of Arab origin. Majlis MP said that directors in five municipalities in Khuzestan where the majority was non-Arab Iranians, were Arabs.

Hashemi Zadeh said following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran has given great importance to Arabic all over the country and not only in Khuzestan.

Arabic has become the second language after Persian, he said, pointing that Arabic was spoken on the streets in Khuzestan. "If you visit Ahwaz, the capital of Khuzestan you will find the people speaking about everything in total freedom and without any reservations, unlike in some other countries," he said (8 Dec. 1998).

Referring to an editor of a Saudi weekly newspaper, Mideast Mirror reported in 1996 his claims that:

The best proof of the weakness of sectarian links is the Iranian regime's attitude to Shiite Arab residents of southwestern Iran, in the area known as Ahvaz (Arabistan). These Shiites are openly maltreated because they are ethnic Arabs, and the area has witnessed anti-government unrest. If Iran maltreats its Shiite Arabs, it is natural that political ties between Tehran and Shiite movements in the Arab world should be prone to change (7 Feb. 1996).

A 21 April 2000 report from the Iraqi newspaper Al-Iraq contains information on a group called the Arab Front for the Liberation of Ahvaz (AFLA) that "organized a ceremony [in Iraq] marking the 75^th anniversary of the occupation of Ahvaz and the 19^th anniversary of its inception." The ceremony included speeches by the AFLA secretary general and another on behalf of the Arab Socialist Ba'th Party (ibid.). The latter

considered the AFLA inception a historic event in the life of our Arab people in Ahvaz, who have expressed their determination to continue with their quest for resurgence and liberation. …

The ceremony was attended by comrades the secretary and members of the Abu-Ja'far al-Mansur Party Branch Command, AFLA cadres, and a crowd of Ahvaz people (ibid.).

The AFLA also issued a statement claiming that little attention was paid to Ahvaz needs (ibid.).

A 30 May 2000 Reuters article reported that Iraq was "cooperating" with the UNHCR in order to arrange for the voluntary return of refugees who included Arabs who had been displaced from the Ahvaz region of Iran as a consequence of the 1980-1988 war between the two countries. The Head of the Legal Office of the Foreign Ministry did not state whether Iran had accepted the return of the refugees (ibid.).

On 15 May 2000 RFE/RL Iran Report reported that:

A new website, titled Ahwaz, Arabistan (http://www.al-ahwaz.com) appears to be an appeal to Arab nationalist sentiments in Iran. The site refers to entities such as the Arabistan Liberation Movement. A similar theme appears in the Fertile Crescent homepage (http://leb.net/fchp), which refers to "Ahwaz" (rather than "Ahvaz") as the "easternmost region of the Fertile Crescent. It is currently occupied by Iran." …

The Internet appeals to Arab nationalism may be connected with the continuing dispute, which dates from 1971 in its modern incarnation, over the Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs. The United Arab Emirates claim the islands, despite Iran's historical and de facto claims. And it does not matter who rules in Iran. In March 1999, President Mohammad Khatami postponed a trip to Saudi Arabia when this issue flared up. 25 years earlier, the Iranian monarch postponed a trip to Saudi Arabia for the very same reason.

The dispute over the three islands and irredentist Arab claims traditionally hindered Iran's relations with the Persian Gulf's Arab states. Shahram Chubin of the Center for Security Policy in Geneva suggests, however, that the situation may be changing. Chubin told RFE/RL that "The UAE has tended to make this difference of view on the islands ... a barometer and the precondition for any improvement of relations between the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] and Tehran. The other GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia, think that yes, it is a nuisance, it is an irritant, but it ought not to prevent improvement of relations. So there has been a certain amount of discord within the GCC on dealing with Iran."

This source also reported on "another Iraqi-supported group …  the Democratic Revoultionary Front for Arabistan (a.k.a. Arab Popular Movement in Arabistan), which initiated a hostage siege at the Iranian Embassy in London in April-May 1980."

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Adherents.com. 2000. "Religion by Location." <http://www.adherents.com/adhloc/Wh_149.html> [Accessed 28 June 2000]

Al-Iraq [Baghdad, in Arabic]. 21 April 2000. "Iran: Ahvaz Liberation Front Marks Anniversary." (BBC 4 May 2000/NEXIS).

Mideast Mirror [London]. 7 February 1996. "Saudi Editor Explains Why It's Both Wrong and Unfair to Consider All Arab Shiites Proxies of Iran." (NEXIS)

Minahan, James. 1996. Nations Without States: A Historical Dictionary Of Contemporary National Movements. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

RFE/RL Iran Report [Prague]. 15 May 2000. Vol. 3, No. 19. ""Arab Nationalism Resurfaces - On the Internet." (NEXIS)

Reuters. 30 May 2000. "Iraq and UN Work to Repatriate Iranian Refugees." <http://www.iranstudents.org> [Accessed 31 May 2000]

Policy Analysis. 10 January 1985. No. 46. Richman, Sheldon L. "The United States and the Persian Gulf: Executive Summary." <http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa046es.html> [Accessed 28 June 2000]

Tehran Times. 8 December 1998. "Consultations Between Cairo, Damascus and Tehran; No Difference Between Arabs and non-Arabs in Iran, MP." <http://www.netiran.com/Current/TehranTimes/120898.ir> [Accessed 28 June 2000]

University of Southern California, Santa Cruz. 1998. Lipschutz, Ronnie D."Comparative Foreign Policy: Outline for a Course, Politics 163." <http://wwwcastic.ucsc.edu/~poli163/Contents.html> [Accessed 28 June 2000]

Van Bruinessen, Martin. 1992. Agha, Shaikh and State. Excerpt of book published by Zed Books Ltd. On Website of Kurdistan Web Resources. <http://www.personal.usyd.edu.au/~rdemirb1/PUBLIC/Iranwar.html> [Accessed 28 June 2000]

World Directory of Minorities. 1997. Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK.

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB databases

LEXIS-NEXIS

REFWORLD

World News Connection (WNC)

Internet sites including:

Ethnologue

Fertile Crescent

Search engines including:

Topics: Ahwazi,