WAN – Bakhtiari Unity Party Secretary Faramaz Bakhtiar said: "By establishing a federal administration system and regional governments, it will be possible to achieve democratic goals to a certain extent."

 

Faramaz Bakhtiar, Secretary of the Iran-Bakhtiari Unity Party, belonging to the Lor people, shared his assessments with Mezopotamya Agency (MA). Recalling that the Lor people, who live in western and southwestern Iran, are among the founders of the Elamite civilization that endured for 2,200 years, Bakhtiar stated that the Lor people have played very important roles throughout Iran's historical periods.

 

 

'THE WAR WAS EXPECTED'

 

Stating that the recent war was an expected development, Bakhtiar noted that the true victims of the war are the peoples of Iran. Bakhtiar noted that the peoples are experiencing great difficulty in meeting their livelihoods, nutrition, inflation, lack of medicine and other basic living needs at this point.

 

Bakhtiar said: "These forces aim to gain access to raw materials, oil and natural gas in the Middle East and in developing countries. To achieve these goals, they bring proxy actors who will protect their own interests to the helm of governments. They have never genuinely aimed at the freedom or liberation of peoples under oppression."

 

'THE REGIME'S ECONOMIC SYSTEM HAS GONE BANKRUPT'

 

Stating that "the ideological and economic system of the Iranian regime has gone bankrupt," Bakhtiar said the regime's elite has been transferring their wealth abroad through corruption and that the Iranian rial has lost very serious value.

 

Bakhtiar said: "Within the country, political freedoms are being severely restricted, and a military-security atmosphere is being imposed over society. Every form of protest is being ruthlessly suppressed, and the mass execution of young activists and individuals expressing identity demands is becoming widespread in prisons."

 

WOMEN AND YOUTH ARE THE PIONEERS OF THE STRUGGLE

 

Stating that as the peoples of Iran their fundamental demand is to live within a secular and federal democracy, Bakhtiar said these demands have made women and youth more visible in the struggle. Assessing the participation of minorities in protests in their own regions, Bakhtiar said that the development of modern identity-based thinking in the Middle East and the existing systematic repression have made the struggle more radical.

 

Bakhtiar added: "Women have an important place in these struggles and are playing an extremely active and rational role. They understand discrimination and national oppression more clearly. Through their struggle against compulsory veiling, they have challenged the state and enabled the spread of feminist movements within a patriarchal-religious regime."

 

'THE PEOPLES HAVE SUCCEEDED IN TURNING CRISES INTO OPPORTUNITIES'

 

Bakhtiar stated that through the policies it has applied for years the Iranian regime has kept the peoples outside of power and marginalized them, and that the peoples have turned this situation into an opportunity by developing identity consciousness and raising awareness in their own regions.

 

Referring to the conference held at the European Parliament on 11 June where the future of Iran was discussed, Bakhtiar noted that they exchanged views with opposition groups abroad. Stating that the struggle currently being waged for the Lor people means emancipation, an independent identity and the enjoyment of human rights, Bakhtiar added: "In order to achieve these goals, the national diversity in Iran must be accepted and officially recognized. The Lors have a population of approximately 15 million and are unfortunately subjected to national discrimination and repression. We demand a fair sharing of political power and national wealth among all oppressed national communities."

 

Stating that the struggle can be expanded by increasing national consciousness, building intellectual and theoretical foundations and strengthening diplomacy, Bakhtiar said: "By creating a society free of discrimination and the understanding of superiority, by establishing a federal administration system and regional governments, and by implementing the individual and collective rights enshrined in human rights principles, it will be possible to achieve democratic goals at least to a certain extent."

 

MA / Ceylan Şahinli