Washington, Sep 13 - Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) has introduced a House Concurrent Resolution that states the “Azeri people, currently divided between Azerbaijan and Iran, have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country, if they so choose.”

“The Azeri people have an innate right to choose their own political structure and to choose their country,” said Rohrabacher. “It is not up to bureaucrats in Washington or the mullah dictatorship in Iran. The ethnic Azeri’s in Azerbaijan enjoy sovereignty and independence; there is no reason why the Azeri population in Iran should not be able to make that same choice. This principle holds true for all the people who live in Iran.”

Rep. Rohrabacher wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton previously that the Azeri homeland was split between Imperial Russia and the Persian Empire in 1828 without the consent of the Azeri people. Inspired by political discussions currently ongoing within Azerbaijan’s Parliament, Rep. Rohrabacher stated that,

“My resolution puts the US on the side of the Azeri people and with the people within Iran,” said Rohrabacher. “If the people on the ground don’t want to be ruled by the mullah dictatorship in Iran, then we should support their right to determine their future through a referendum. It is disconcerting to me that the State Department and Tehran agree that the people of Iran should be forced to live within the borders and under the same jurisdiction no matter how the majority of the Azeris believe. I am calling on the government of Iran to provide its Azeri population with a referendum to determine their own future state.”

Rep. Rohrabacher is Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

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