Iran newspaper cockroach cartoon controversy

The cartoon depicts nine methods of dealing with cockroaches including dialogue, oppression, elimination, population control, and violence.

[2][3] The controversy resulted in massive protests in May 2006 throughout the predominantly Azerbaijani-populated cities of Tabriz, Urmia, Ardabil, Zanjan, and Naghadeh, as well as a number of smaller towns.

[10] Abbas Maleki, a senior research fellow at Harvard University and former deputy foreign minister of Iran, supported this thesis, stating:

Don't forget, Mr Mahmudali Chehregani, one of the pan-Turkist leaders agitating for a separatist Azeri agenda, was in Washington last year by invitation of the Defense Department.

[10]Reuel Marc Gerecht, reportedly a former CIA operative, had stated in the early 1990s: "Accessible through Turkey and ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, eyed already by nationalists in Baku, more westward-looking than most [of] Iran, and economically going nowhere, Iran's richest agricultural province was an ideal CIA [covert action] theater.

"[10] One factor driving the protests was the separatist GünAz TV channel, which incited parts of the population to riots and agitation.