Word: million
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Iran's northwestern city of Tabriz (pop. 1 million), tens of thousands of Azerbaijani Turks, the country's largest ethnic minority, revolted against Khomeini's rule shortly after a referendum had made him a virtual dictator for life. The rebels are followers of Ayatullah Kazem Sharietmadari, who is both Khomeini's leading religious rival and Iran's foremost Muslim moderate. They demanded autonomy for Azerbaijan...
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...
Khomeini also reacted cautiously, pleading that Iranians cease fighting among themselves and concentrate "on the confrontation with the U.S." But he acted quickly to forestall trouble in the province of Kurdistan, to the south of Azerbaijan. The 4 million Kurds, who revolted unsuccessfully against Tehran's rule last summer, had boycotted the referendum too. Late last week Khomeini's revolutionary guards that were supposed to pull out of Kurdistan stayed on. The Ayatullah also faces potential trouble among Iran's other minorities, particularly the Baluchi tribesmen in the southeast, Turkomans in the northeast and the Arabs...
...American television viewers, school seems to be out in Iran, but despite the marchers, the universities are open and classes are generally well attended. More than 200,000 of 35 million Iranians go to the 53 universities and technical schools. Tuition is free, and many students pursuing graduate degrees may linger on campus well into their late...
Beyond that, Khomeini's Islamic revolution over the long term probably poses as great a threat to the Soviet Union, with its huge Muslim population (some 50 million) as it does to U.S. interests. Moscow's best hope lies in the fact that as long as the current state of near anarchy prevails in Iran, there is the chance of a new revolution that would bring the Marxist left to the fore...