Disclosures About Lawmaker's Son Raises Outcry In Iran

Erdogan told reporters on the return flight that the leaders of Russia and Iran shared Turkey’s concern with confronting ‘terrorism.’ While Erdogan, President Vladimir Putin and Iranian leader Ali Khamenei all agreed that the United States should withdraw its troops from north-easy Syria, where they control some oil-fields, both Putin and Khamenei cautioned the Turkish president against an attack on Kurdish forces.

According to a text released by the presidential office, Erdogan continues to insist that an offensive against the main Kurdish group, the PYD (Democratic Union Party), remains possible as long as Turkey’s ‘security’ concerns are not met.

Russia, Turkey, and Iran have worked to coordinate their various interests in Syria through the Astana process, which began in 2019. But with 3.5 million refugees in Syria and a swathe along the border under Kurdish control renamed ‘Rojava,’ Erdogan reiterated Tuesday the option of establishing a ‘safe zone’ inside Syria.

The PYD is linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been active mainly in Turkey since the 1980s, and to Pejak, which operates in Iranian Kurdistan. The three share the ultimate aim of one Kurdistan uniting areas from Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran.

But if Ankara and Tehran share antipathy to Kurdish autonomy, they have taken opposite sides in the Syrian war, with Iran alongside Russia backing President Bashar al-Assad and Turkey aiding mainly Sunni rebels.

The PYD has long played an on-off game with Assad, given a general Kurdish antipathy towards mainly Arab Sunni militants. Erdogan Tuesday accused the PYD of “draining” Syria petrol and selling it to Assad’s government. The PYD has also been aided by the US, ostensibly because of its role fighting the Islamic State group (Isis).

Words ‘not enough’

The trilateral summit in Tehran, which dealt with issues including food supplies arising from the Ukraine crisis, showed Erdogan’s dissatisfaction with what is becoming a settled situation in northern Syria.

“You say you understand Turkey’s concerns and we thank you for this,” Erdogan reportedly told Putin and Raisi. “But words alone are not enough.”

But the summit was also an opportunity for Erdogan to meet Putin who for the first time left the former Soviet space. The Turkish president also made Putin wait nearly one minute in an awkward situation before he appeared and greeted him for a bilateral meeting. Many saw this as a payback for all the occasions when the Kremlin boss has made Erdogan and others wait for him.

Iran’s formal position is that all concerned should respect international borders. Khamenei warned Tuesday that ‘terrorism’ in Syria was not limited to one group and that any Turkish intervention would “benefit terrorists,” destabilize the region, and “impede Syria’s political actions.” Iran may be concerned that a Turkish military operation, and the possible return to Syria of radicalized Sunni refugees, could willingly or otherwise strengthen Islamists opposed to Assad.

“We emphasised that the Syrian government must have control over all areas in the country,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told a press conference following the summit.

“I will not give an interview because I believe we don't have morality police for hijab… there are only exceptional cases … Speaking of these is psychological and political warfare,” Abdollah Ganji, the former editor of the IRGC-linked Javan newspaper who is now chief editor of Tehran municipality’s Hamshahri newspaper, told reformist Etemad daily.

Meanwhile an incident on July 19 shocked many Iranians. A patrol van arrested a young woman who was in the street with her mother. She launched herself again the vehicle as it tried to move, throwing her body on the hood. The van kept moving forward trying to scare her to let go.

Other hardliners proudly defend strict hijab enforcement, while even some ‘reformists’ loyal to the Islamic Republic coyly defend it.

The Islamic Republic has launched an extensive campaign this summer to force women to fully comply with hijab rules. Hardliners often say defiance of hijab is a plot by “enemies” of the Islamic Republic and “cultural onslaught”.

Such campaigns aren't unprecedented, but activists say this year there is more public debate and more defiance by women due to a campaign against compulsory hijab launched last week quickly picking up through the social media and more confrontations between anti-hijab women and hijab enforcers.

On July 12, following a call by women’s rights activists for civil disobedience social media exploded with dozens of videos and photos of women unveiling in public with the hashtag of ‘No2Hijab’. Women’s rights activists say forcing women to follow a certain dress code is a violation of their human rights.

Government enforcers and even every member of the public has the right to warn women whose appearance does not conform with the government’s prescribed rules of hijab.This kind of warning, called “Enjoining the Good and Forbidding the Evil", however, increasinglu leads to confrontations in public.

Sepideh Rashno, a 28-year-old artist, writer and editor who got into a quarrel on a bus with another woman who ordered her to cover her hair, was arrested on Saturday for her defiance. The quarrel became so frantic that other passengers intervened and kicked the hijab enforcer out of the bus. Members of the public have similarly come to the aid of women berated or threatened by hijab enforcers and helped rescue them in similar recent incidents.

In the past few weeks authorities have also shut down some businessessuch as cafes and restaurants and detained their female patrons for ‘improper hijab’ and arrested nature touristsfor flouting their hijab, dancing, and drinking in the depths of northern forests.

Some politicians and activists say the government is using more strict enforcement of hijab rules this summer to distract people’s attention from more fundamental issues such as the current economic crisis that has affected the majority of lower income and even middle-class Iranians.

“I believe they want to sweep the fundamental issues under the carpet so that we would not take heed of people’s fundamental problems and concerns, particularly those of the lower-income classes,” former reformist lawmaker Parvaneh Salahshouri said in an interview with reformist Etemad newspaper published July 18.

Salahshouri also opined that the ruling hardliners are more heavy-handed in dealing with hijab issues because they have to satisfy their supporters who strongly advocate enforcement of hijab rules.

In a joint press conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Tehran on Wednesday, Hossein Amir-Abdolahian said that the trilateral meeting in Tehran on Tuesday sought to prevent war and militarism between Syria and Turkey and solve the issues in a political way. 

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin were in Tehran July 19 for talks within the Astana mechanism, focused on the constitutional system, political transition, security and resettlement in Syria.

The Iranian FM said during the meeting with Turkey and Russia, the withdrawal and cleansing of terrorist groups from Syria was emphasized. 

Describing the Astana format summit in Tehran as successful, Mekdad said "Syria is positive about the results of the trilateral summit in Tehran," thanking Iran for preparing "a balanced statement on results of the summit, reaffirming the need to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria."

"It is necessary to deprive Turkey of any pretext to invade the Syrian territory," he said, adding "Ankara's intention to create a border security zone north of Aleppo will lead to an armed conflict. We oppose Turkey's aggressive plans, Ankara's policy of Turkification and support for terrorist groups."

A few hours after their joint presser on Wednesday, Turkish warplanes and artillery attacked areas populated by tourists and villagers in Duhok, Iraqi Kurdistan, killing at least 10 people and injuring 25 others.

Ministry spokesman Naser Kanaani said, “We definitely expect that respected foreign ambassadors residing in Tehran do not comment and intervene on Iran's internal issues.”

Iranian media have often perceived Levan Dzhagaryan's (Jagarian) controversial behavior as intervention in Iran's internal affairs or as flat insults although he does not seem to be bothered by the accusations.

Kanaani added that the foreign ministry is absolutely sensitive to these issues and will act based on its inherent responsibility.

“We must refrain from fueling issues that cause unnecessary problems in our relations with our neighbors,” he emphasized. “We must read Dzhagaryan's statements carefully and see how much his opinion is consistent with his statements.”

On social media and recently in Tehran media, however, Iranians have been demanding an answer to the ambassador's outrageous and provocative remarks. 

“Where are the government and the foreign ministry?" Khabar Online, a moderate conservative news outlet in Tehran asked on Sunday, July 17, after Dzhagarian told Sharq newspaper a day earlier that "We have always been on Iran's side, but the West want to bring their absurd values such as homosexuality and other dirty things to Iran but we object to that!"

Many Iranians on social media reminded the ambassador that Russia is a large producer of pornography in the world.

In his weekly press conference, foreign ministry spokesman Naser Kanaani was asked about reports that Iran might sell military drones to Russia for its war effort in Ukraine, which he did not deny. Instead, he said, “Iranian and Russian technological cooperation predates developments in Ukraine. Any linkage between our cooperation with Russia with developments in Ukraine is intentionally biased.”

He went on to reiterate that Iran pursues “political solutions for this crisis.”

The US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan recently said that Russian officers visited Iran in June and July to review possible drone purchases.

US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley told CNN on Tuesday that any drone shipment from Iran was “of course of concern” and would “bolster Russia’s ability to wreak havoc.” He said it “speaks volumes” that Iran would be in a position where it sold drones to Russia “against its professed position of neutrality in the conflict.” Without giving details, Malley said the US would “use the tools at our disposal” to sanction any supply of weapons to Russia.

Kanaani in his briefing said, however, “Russian and Iranian ties are bilateral, based on the interests of the two countries and do not concern the American government, which cannot comment about the relationship.”

Kanaani also said that he cannot confirm if Ukraine was discussed between presidents Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran Ebrahim Raisi when they met in Tehran on Tuesday, although “naturally international issues are discussed in multilateral meetings,” he added.

However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in his meeting with Putin clearly backed Russia’s “initiative” in attacking Ukraine, saying that if Moscow had not taken that step, NATO would have started a war anyway.

“Nato is a dangerous creature,” Khamenei said, “[that] didn’t recognize any limits or borders. If you cannot stand up to them in Ukraine, then a little while later, with the excuse of Crimea, they would have started this war anyway,” Khamenei told Putin.

Speaking about Iran’s talks with the United States to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement known as JCPOA, Kanaani rejected US statements that the latest meeting in Doha in June failed. “As a matter of fact, these were good talks,” he insisted.

He went on to speak with optimism that the diplomatic process is well and alive and the European Union is pursuing discussions with the two sides.

Kanaani reiterated Iran’s position that it needs “serious guarantees” about the US commitment to a new agreement and “verification” that Washington carries out its obligations.

Eleven months of talks in Vienna to revive the JCPOA came to a stop in March as Iran demanded the lifting of all sanctions introduced by the US after former President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018.

Kanaani also repeated remarks by Khamenei and Raisi on Tuesday that the United States should withdraw its troops from Syria.