Board of Trustees Dr. Taghi Alereza Dr. Iman Foroutan Mr. Parviz Haddadizadeh Dr. Bijan Karimi Dr.

Hassan Kianzad Ms. Soheila Nikpour Mrs. Sara Safiri

August 25, 2012 Honorable Dana Rohrabacher 101 Main Street, Suite 380 Huntington Beach, CA 92648 RE: Rep. Rohrabacher Urges Secretary Clinton to Back Freedom from Iran for Azeris Dear Representative Rohrabacher, The New Iran, Inc., is a grass root opposition group with members who are Iranians living inside and outside of Iran, and some are also residents of the state of California. We are disappointed and incredulous by your recent letter to the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, whereby you have requested that American government help separatists in Iran; stating that borders of nations comprised of cultural minorities such as Iran are mere library maps, that since Azerbaijan politicians think of expanding their territory, they may be justified to do so since they have kinship similar to those Azeris who live in west and east Azerbaijan region of Iran. The New Iran, a democratic opposition movement to the Islamic Republic, believes in five essential principles and protecting existing territorial integrity of Iran is one those principles. Your suggestions have insulted our members as well as many Iranian nationals. Your letter contains many factual errors regarding Iran and the Azeri ethnic group. Your historical recollection of Azerbaijan and Iran is simply wrong; in the 19th century during Russian expansionist acts of war Iran lost territories of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. During the history of Iran, dynasties have come and gone and some have been Azeri, Kurdish, and others. Our history refers to all of them as Iranians. Your recommendation for a secessionist foreign policy approach as a solution to the tyrannical regime in Iran is naive and uneducated. A countrys map is as powerful a symbol of national unity as a flag; and that national unity in Iran includes multi-ethnic make-up of Kurds in the northwest, Arabs in the south, Baluch in the southeast, and others. Strategy of breaking up nations in the Middle East into smaller nations by emphasizing their ethnic heritage is not a new idea. Professor Bernard Lewis, at the Bilderberg Meeting in Baden, Austria, on April 27-29, 1979 "proposed the fragmentation and balkanization of Iran along regional, ethnic and linguistic lines. In May of 2009 at the AIPAC annual conference Jane Harman (Democrat-California) explained how to "handle Iran," promoting "separation" of ethnic groups in the country, with the goal of increasing dissent. During the Bush administration, the plan was "limited covert action carried out by proxy, in the case of the Baluch, through Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and in the case of the Kurds by the C.I.A. in cooperation with Israels Mossad." The C.I.A. provided weapons aid and training to the main Kurdish rebel group in Iran, according to U.S. journalists, Jon Lee Anderson and Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker and Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times. On 27 December
www.TheNewIran.com info@thenewiran.com 855-NEW-IRAN (855-639-4726) 4570 Van Nuys Blvd #197 Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 1

2009, Selig S. Harrison, at the New York Times, wrote about Tehran's Biggest Fear. According to Harrison, the biggest threat to the ruling ayatollahs and generals in Iran comes from the separatist groups in Kurdish, Baluch, Azeri and Arab ethnic minority regions that make up some 44 percent of Iran's population. "Iran will not become another Yugoslavia. The issue for Iran, is not country-making (nation-making), Iran's democratic political movement does not accept such backward schemes, we condemn any such endeavors to break up Iran's territorial integrity; such schemes will raise the wrath of Iranian people, and will be considered betrayal even by Kurds and Azeris of Iran. Sincerely, Dr. Bijan Karimi Acting Executive Director The New Iran bijan.karimi@nahademardomi.com

cc: Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State US Department of State 2201 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20520

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855-NEW-IRAN (855-639-4726)