Azerbaijani Human Rights Centre Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. I am [inaudible], I am from [inaudible], representing the South Azerbaijani Turks in Iran. We have been victims of discrimination and violations of human rights. In the area of linguistic and cultural life, millions of Azerbaijani students are deprived of education in their mother language. The Azerbaijani Turkish language is consistently restricted, censored, and suppressed in all official institutions, such as courts, [inaudible] cultural and media activities. Concerning civil and political rights, activists, who advocate for freedom of expression, political participation, and protection of ethnic identity, face arbitrary detention, long-term imprisonment, torture, and continuous threats. In the economic and development sphere, Azerbaijanis are subjected to discriminatory state policy, including structural unemployment, forced migration, destruction of local agriculture, severe environment ecocide, such as the systematic drying of [inaudible] lake and rivers. This directly undermines the livelihood of millions of Azerbaijanis. We call upon the United Nations Human Rights Council to: • • • hold the Iranian regime accountable by putting pressure on it to fully implement its international obligations, including providing ethnic data, ensuring the right of self-determination of nations in Iran, protecting the ethnic identity of nations, guaranteeing security and human rights, and cooperating with the international community to uphold internationally recognized human rights standards. Ensure the immediate and unconditional release of all Azerbaijani political and human rights activists. Imprisoned human rights activists, [inaudible], are on hunger strike over 32 days, and many more human rights activists and their families have joined this hunger strike to condemn the Iranian’s regime unlawful arrest Urgent action to end linguistic, cultural, and ethnic discrimination against the Turkic Azerbaijani people. The Turkic Azerbaijani people are over 30 million people seeking their [CUT OFF BY CHAIR].

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