Independent Southern Azerbaijan - some clarifications

The author makes some inaccurate claims in his article. Author writes that “The historic and ethnic links between Iranian Azerbaijan and the former Soviet Republic of the same name, now an independent state, on its northern border are not as significant as you might think, or as some politicians make out”

The historic and ethnic relations between Azeris in independent Azerbaijan and Azeris in Iran are more than significant. These are the same people and speak the same language, Azerbaijani, which is one of the dialects of Turkic language.

For many years these people who live now in different countries have been within the same state.

Thousands of Azerbaijanis in northwest Iran are protesting a newspaper cartoon that compared the ethnic group to cockroaches.
Five people were killed when Iranian security forces fired on demonstrators in Ardebil, Naqadeh and Meshkin Shahr. Dozens of others were injured and hundreds were arrested

Four people were killed and 43 others injured in northwest Iran during protests over a cartoon in a government newspaper deemed insulting to ethnic Azeris, the ISNA news agency quoted a police official as saying Sunday.
General Hassan Karami, commander of security forces in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, said the casualties occurred in the town [...]