To: President Ahmadinejad
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Iran

Copy : Kofi Annan
Secretary-General of United Nations


Stop depriving the identity of the children of Iran!

Autumn has arrived in Iran, and according to the tradition, millions of happy and excited children set out to their classrooms for the first time. First day at school is a day many children through out the whole world dream about and anxiously look forward to.

Now they, like so many before them, will get to learn to read and write, and to meet new comrades. But what quite half of the schoolchildren in Iran don’t know is that what’s waiting them in their classrooms is far darker than they can ever imagine. Soon they will learn that education in their mother tongue not only is forbidden, but that it’s also associated with great shame and punishment.

Iran is a multicultural country with several large ethnic groups represented, among them Azerbaijani-Turks, Persians, Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and Baluchis. Over half of the country’s population is of non-Persian origin; despite this the only official language of the country is Persian. In paragraph 15 and 19 in Iran’s constitution it is elucidated that use of mother tongue in education is permitted, yet the only language learned and used in the school system is Persian.

Like the rest of the world, Iran is today a country in change. We all know that the school period is a crucial milestone in every human beings life and that the first years in school have a great importance for the development of an individual. It is therefore important to remind the Iranian government of taking care of its cultural diversity and richness, instead of trying to eliminate it. Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Arabic, Turkmen and Baluchi schoolchildren in Iran need all the help they can get to be able to study in their mother tongue, to be able to be proud over themselves and their origin.

Nergiz Nedaei,
Chairman of the Azerbaijani-Turkish Youth Association in Sweden
Tel: +46 31 3310918

Hélène Goudin, member of the European parliament (junilist)
helene.goudin@telia.com

Gudrun Schyman, member of the Swedish parliament
Former chairman of the Left party
Tel: +46 8 7864652

Anders Bengtsson, member of the Swedish parliament (Social-democrats)
Tel: +46 8 7864756

Mikael Damberg, member of the Swedish parliament (Social-democrats)
Tel: +48 8 786 46 97


Kent Harstedt, member of the Swedish parliament (Social-democrats)
Chairman of the Swedish UNICEFTel: +46 8 7865647

Lars Johansson, member of the Swedish parliament (Social-democrats)
Tel: +46 8 786 47 85

Hillevi Larsson, member of the Swedish parliament (Social-democrats) Tel: +46 8 786 43 99
Anne Ludvigsson, member of the Swedish parliament (Social-democrats)
Tel: +46 8 7865313

Yoomi Renstrom, member of the Swedish parliament (Social-democrats)
Tel: +46 08 7864799

Ameer Sachet, member of the Swedish parliament (Social-democrats)Tel:+46 8 7864732

Anna Sjodin, Chairman of Swedish Social-democratic Youth
Tel: +46 8714 48 00

Asa Westlund, member of the European parliament (Social-democrats)
awestlund@europarl.eu.int

Carl B Hamilton, member of the Swedish parliament (Liberal Party)
Chairman of the EU-commission
Tel: +46 8 7865765

Anita Brodén, member of the Swedish parliament (Liberal Party)Tel: +46 8 786 4481

Kerstin Heinemann, member of the Swedish parliament (Liberal Party)
Tel: +46 8 7864744
Fredrik Malm, Chairman of the Liberal Youth Association in Sweden
Tel: +46 8 410 242 32

Cecilia Malmstrom, member of the European parliament (Liberal Party)
cmalmstrom@europarl.eu.int

Gunnar Nordmark, member of the Swedish parliament (Liberal Party)
Tel: + 46 8 7864182

Birgitta Ohlsson, member of the Swedish parliament (Liberal Party)
Tel: +46 8 786 47 30

Tore Robertsson, Industrialist
Member of Malmo municipal executive board (Liberal Party)
Tel: +46 40 944030

Nyamko Sabuni, member of the Swedish parliament (Liberal Party)Tel:+46 8 786 43 10

Olle Schmidt, member of the Swedish parliament (Liberal Party)
Former member of the European parliament
Tel: +46 8 410 242 15.

Cecilia Wigstrom, member of the Swedish parliament (Liberal Party)Tel: +46 8 786 5616

Christer Winback, member of the Swedish parliament (Liberal Party)
Tel: +46 8 7865557

Tove Fraurud, chairman of the Association for Young Lefts in SwedenTel: +46 8 654 31 00

Berit Jòhannesson, member of the Swedish parliament (Left Party)
Tel: +46 8 7864678

Kjell-Erik Karlsson, member of the Swedish parliament (Left Party)Tel: +46 8 786 47 79

Sten Lundstrom, member of the Swedish parliament (Left Party)
Tel: +46 08 7864624

Rolf Olsson, member of the Swedish parliament (Left Party)Tel: +46 8 7864650

Jonas Sjosted , member of the European parliament (Left Party)
jsjostedt@europarl.eu.int

Sven Erik Sjostrand, member of the Swedish parliament (Left Party)Tel: +46 8 -7864581

Camilla Skold, member of the Swedish parliament (Left Party)
Tel: +46 8 7864682

Tasso Stafilidis, member of the Swedish parliament (Left Party)
Tel: +46 8 786 57 12

Eva-Britt Svensson, member of the European parliament (Left Party)
e-b.svensson@bredband.net

Karin Thorborg, member of the Swedish parliament (Left Party)Tel: +46 8 7864618

Staffan Danielsson, member of the Swedish parliament (Center Party)
Tel: + 46 8 7864437

Lena Ek, member of the European parliament (Center Party)
lek@europarl.eu.int

Agne Hansson, member of the Swedish parliament (Center Party)
Tel: +46 8 786 4297

Kenneth Johansson, member of the Swedish parliament (Center Party)
Tel: +46 8 7865346

Hakan Larsson, member of the Swedish parliament (Center Party)
Tel: +46 8 786 44 33

Johan Linander, member of the Swedish parliament (Center Party) Tel: + 46 8 786 44 42

Sven Brus, member of the Swedish parliament (Christian-democrats)Tel: +46 8 7864759

Per Landgren, member of the Swedish parliament (Christian-democrats)
tel. +46 8 786 43 53,

Torsten Lindström, member of the Swedish parliament (Christian-democrats)
Tel: + 46 8 7864686

Alf Svensson, member of the Swedish parliament (Christian-democrats)
Former chairman of the Christian-democratic Party
Tel: + 46 8 786 50 11

Anders Wijkman, member of the European parliament (Christian-democrats)
Former vice general secretary of the United Nations
Former general secretary of Swedish Redcross
anders@wijkman.nu

Christoffer Fjellner, member of the European parliament (Conservative Party)
cfjellner@europarl.eu.int

Cecilia Magnusson, member of the Swedish parliament (Conservative Party)
Tel: +46 8 7864637

Alexander Chamberland, mouthpiece for the Green Youth party in Sweden
Tel: +46 704 36 86 91

Mona Jonsson, member of the Swedish parliament (Green Party)
Tel: +46 8 7864535

Jan Lindholm, member of the Swedish parliament (Green Party)Tel: +46 8 7864443

Carl Soderbergh, general secretary Swedish Amnesty
carl.soderbergh@amnesty.se