Word: azerbaijani
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...roots of last week's upheaval go back to 1923, when the agricultural region of Nagorno-Karabakh, three-quarters of whose population is Armenian Christians, was made part of the largely Muslim Azerbaijan Republic. Claiming that they are discriminated against by the Azerbaijani majority, Nagorno- Karabakh's 120,000 Armenians have long wanted to meld their 1,760-sq.-mi. enclave into the Armenian Republic. Earlier this month officials of the Armenian Republic proposed annexing Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous backwater that produces grapes, tobacco and livestock. Moscow rejected the request...
...meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet last November, onetime Azerbaijan KGB Chief and Party Leader Geidar Aliyev, 59, was also moved into the government's ruling inner circle. Gromyko's elevation to the same rank as Aliyev may have been intended to check the ambitious Azerbaijani...
...government of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini moved to challenge its foreign critics, it also cracked down on its internal dissidents. Following a week-long series of antigovernment riots by Azerbaijani militants, Revolutionary Guards in Tabriz raided and ransacked the headquarters of the Muslim People's Republic Party, which professes loyalty to Ayatullah Seyed Kazem Sharietmadari. Four people were killed in the predawn assault; eleven dissidents were captured and executed by a firing squad after a summary trial. According to reports from Kuwait, several Iranian army officers were secretly executed for plotting a military coup against Khomeini's theocratic regime...
...spiritual leader of Iran's revolution might indeed be feeling some strain. Even as he basked in the adulation of the mobs at Qum, armed Azerbaijani militants loyal to Ayatullah Seyed Kazem Sharietmadari were battling Khomeini's followers and Revolutionary Guards in the streets of Tabriz. Last week's outburst, the latest clash in a simmering Azerbaijani rebellion against the central government, left at least six dead and 100 wounded before Tabriz was brought under control by local police, army troops and Revolutionary Guards...
With the referendum behind him, the next step for Khomeini was to name the members of his new government. But this process was suddenly interrupted by the revolt of the Azerbaijani Turks, who follow the leadership of Iran's second most powerful ayatullah, Sharietmadari. They number about 13 million out of Iran's total population of 35 million, and have long sought autonomy. When Sharietmadari expressed mild reservations about the new constitution-he wanted some checks on Khomeini's power-and said that he would boycott the polls, most of his followers in Azerbaijjrfi followed suit...