VZCZCXRO9294
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHKUK
DE RUEHKB #1156/01 3400914
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 050914Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAKU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0479
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 3164
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0129
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAKU 001156 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/06/2018 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL TU AZ IR
SUBJECT: IRAN/AZERBAIJAN: DISPARATE IRANIANS NETWORK AT 
WOMEN'S RIGHTS CONFERENCE 
 
Classified By: POLECON COUNSELOR ROB GARVERICK FOR REASON 1.4 (B&D) 
 
 Istanbul Conference Post Mortem 
------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  (C) Baku Iran watcher met for two and a half hours on 
December 3 with prominent Azerbaijani human rights activist 
Novella Jafaroglu and fourteen other Azerbaijan residents who 
had just returned from participating in a November 28-30 
Iran-Turkey-Azerbaijan women,s rights conference in 
Istanbul.  The conference was indirectly supported by USG 
Iran civil society promotion funds (unbeknownst to most of 
the Iranian and Turkish participants).  Jafaroglu, the winner 
of several international awards for her human rights and 
peace promotion activities, was the main organizer of the 
Istanbul conference which included 53 formal participants 
including prominent activists from Iran and the Iranian 
diaspora, as well as Turkey and Azerbaijan.  According to 
Jafaroglu, no press was present. 
 
¶2.  (C) Istanbul Iran watcher attended the conference and 
will report highlights septel.  This cable provides a 
post-mortem on the event and related comments from 
Azerbaijan-based participants (including two Iranians).  In 
addition to Jafaroglu, the Azerbaijani delegation included 
several other prominent human rights and civil society 
figures, as well as two academic experts on Iran from Baku 
State University (Azerbaijan,s &Harvard8).  Several of the 
Azerbaijani attendees (including Jafaroglu) have family ties 
to Iran, and some have recently traveled there. 
 
Conference Attracts Iranians 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Most of the Azerbaijani group praised the Istanbul 
conference as a resounding success that could represent a 
breakthrough for Iranian civil society activists in their 
ability to network with and get their story out more 
effectively to the international human rights community.  A 
total of 22 delegates from Iran and five from the Iranian 
diaspora attended.  In addition, several delegates noted that 
approximately twenty Iranian students in Turkey came to the 
meeting on the first day without invitation and ended up also 
taking  part in its formal and informal discussions. 
 
¶4.  (C) Although Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi did not 
attend, several delegates noted that she sent a 
congratulatory letter and was represented by some close 
associates.  Other prominent Iranian figures did attend, 
including Hamburg-based Sayeed Hasan Shariatmadari, whose 
"straightforward and completely factual" speech on the first 
day of the conference was cited by several participants as a 
highlight.  Jafaroglu said that a written report on the 
conference and a DVD including conference speeches are under 
preparation and will be provided to Iran watcher within the 
next week. 
 
Turks, Azerbaijanis &Shocked8 By Iran Conditions 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶5.  (C) Several delegates commented that before hearing and 
meeting with Iranian speakers at the conference they had not 
realized how "awful" and "primitive" the human rights reality 
in Iran really is.  Reports which shocked them included 
details on child execution, stoning, allegedly common raping 
of arrested female activists ("including virgin girls") by 
police, and legalized repression of women "even written in 
their Constitution."  According to the Azerbaijanis, the 
Turkish human rights figures that attended the conference 
were equally amazed at the trials and challenges related by 
the Iranians. 
 
Turkish NGO to Spotlight Iranians 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C) One result, according to Jafaroglu, is that the 
Ankara-based Turkish World Research Center, her Turkish 
partner in organizing the event, has decided to dedicate one 
full day of a planned international human rights conference 
it is hosting in Ankara on December 20-22 to Iranian human 
rights issues.  She added that the Turkish group will provide 
financing to bring several Iranian activists to this meeting. 
 
 
BAKU 00001156  002 OF 003 
 
 
Disparate Iranians Meet and Network 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) Jafaroglu also pointed out that the Iranian attendees 
 at the Istanbul conference included Azeris, Kurds, Ahwaz 
Arabs, and Turkmen, as well as ethnic Persians, while Iranian 
political tendencies represented included nationalists, 
monarchists, democratic liberals (like Shariatmadari), 
communists, and reformist Islamists. 
 
¶8.  (C) A Baku-based Iranian activist asserted that normally 
it is impossible for such disparate individuals to hold a 
meeting together even overseas, much less inside Iran.  She 
opined that the Azerbaijani-Turkish organizing umbrella and 
the non-political agenda gave these Iranians a unique 
opportunity to meet together in a cooperative and 
non-confrontational environment.  An Iranian feminist present 
agreed, observing that the Iranian participants worked 
together without tension at the event, and held extensive 
discussions and exchanges with each other in the evenings and 
outside the formal contours of the conference.  She called 
this Iranian networking &by far the most important success 
of the conference. 
 
Iranian Feminism ) Strongest in the Region? 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (C) The Iranian claimed that the growing cadre of 
educated women and the &systematized8 repression of women 
by the Iranian regime have ironically resulted in an Iranian 
feminist movement which is both larger and more sophisticated 
that found in the Caucasus or Turkey.  At the same time, she 
noted that in addition to promoting Iranian-Iranian 
networking, events like the Istanbul conference are extremely 
helpful in giving &voiceless8 Iranian activists greater 
access to the outside world and knowledge on how to more 
effectively interact with it. 
 
Private Freedom, Public Repression 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (C) An Azerbaijani who said she frequently visits 
relatives in Iran interjected that over the years she has 
observed an increasing contrast between the gradually 
liberalizing condition of women &behind closed doors in the 
home8 and the repressive restrictions they face in public 
society and before the law due to regime practices.  In the 
face of objections from others in the group, she argued that 
the situation in much of Iran is the opposite of many other 
countries where the laws are liberal but private social 
attitudes and practices are not.  Comment: Though some 
participants disagreed with her claims, her comments echo 
what we have heard from some other Iranian sources.  To the 
extent it exists, it is unclear if this &private 
liberalization8 process is mainly an urban/middle class 
phenomenon or a trend in wider society as well.  Iran watcher 
will continue to collect informed views on this topic.  End 
Comment. 
 
Need for Follow-Up and Sustainability 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (C) A frequently repeated theme among the Azerbaijani 
activists is that the Istanbul conference was successful, but 
only as a &first step.8  Many emphasized the need for 
strategic follow-up sustainability in the effort to bolster 
Iranian civil society and better get the word out 
internationally about the current challenges facing women and 
larger society in Iran.  Apart from further efforts in the 
area of women,s rights, Jafaroglu related recommendations 
from members of Ebadi,s group that separate regional 
conferences focusing on children,s rights, drug addiction 
and HIV/AIDS, environmental pollution, and other social 
issues be organized. 
 
¶12.  (C) Jafaroglu and several other Azerbaijanis speculated 
that these conferences could be held in Azerbaijan, Turkey, 
or somewhere in Europe ) all agreed it is desirable, but 
none believed it is possible, to hold such conferences in 
Iran. Another activist suggested that the USG consider 
indirectly funding a notional information center for Iranians 
in Baku (an activity which might not go down well with the 
GOAJ authorities). 
 
BAKU 00001156  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶13. (C) Iran watcher urged the experienced group to 
collectively brainstorm and develop more concrete proposals 
for new projects that would be both effective and practical, 
and they agreed to do so.  Iran watcher obtained contact data 
for all of the Azerbaijan-based participants, and will be 
following up with several of them individually on Iranian 
issues in coming weeks. 
DERSE