The Government of Iran and Widespread Promotion of “Afghan-phobia”

After a large wave of migration of Afghan citizens started due to political and regime change in Afghanistan, and a significant amount of Afghans immigrated to Iran, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, despite the fact that it first started the census process and issued granted temporary residence, but soon the process of deporting immigrants without valid residency documents began with full force.

Along with this process, the “Afghan-phobia” project was also launched on a large scale, which led to unfortunate and harmful consequences for Afghan refugees in Iran. The collective attacks of Iranians on the residential areas of Afghan immigrants, insults and humiliation in the streets and public places, beating refugees and refusing to pay the wages and salaries of a large number of migrant workers were part of the damages that the Afghan-phobia project imposed on Afghan refugees.

Even though the government of Iran calls Afghan-phobia the work of foreign media and, in their own words, hostile media, and puts the snow on the roof of others, the evidence clearly shows that this project is organized in a calculated way by circles inside the Iranian government.

Iran’s government media have played the most important role in increasing the amount of “Afghan-phobia”. Some of these media deliberately show the number of Afghan immigrants in Iran more than the actual statistics in order to incite the public against the refugees and make them riot and protest. It has been seen many times that these media, which are mostly governmental, talk about the presence of 6 to 7 and 10 million Afghan immigrants in Iran and make the atmosphere tense with this deliberate exaggeration.

These media are still seeking to show the presence of Afghan immigrants in Iran as a security threat. The Iranian yellow media has repeatedly magnified the few and limited crimes committed by immigrants and by generalizing it to the entire immigrant population, they consider their presence as a serious threat and security risk for Iran. Undoubtedly, such unrealistic mindsets have changed the way many Iranian citizens view and behave towards Afghan immigrants in a negative direction and make the situation for immigrants worse than before.

In the latest case, one of the parliamentarians of Iran, which consists of people close to the government, has announced the presence of 17 million Afghan immigrants in that country. This statistic, which everyone agrees is a lie, and none of Iran’s government departments are able to prove and justify it with any logical reason, clearly proves the role of Iran’s government circles in promoting the Afghan-phobia project.

The most important thing is the way words are used by Iran’s government departments, which directly spreads Afghan-phobia. Using the compound word “alien citizens” clearly shows the bad intentions of the Iranian government. This word in itself carries a negative meaning, because the use of the word “alien” for immigrants closes the way for any kind of cooperation, pity, compassion and philanthropy and instead sows hatred and evokes a sense of rejection and opposition.

This is while the use of the terms immigrant, refugee, displaced person and asylum seeker, which are in fact the true definition of Afghans living in Iran, while it imposes international legal and legal requirements on the Iranian government, morally and psychologically also forces Iranian citizens to It does humanitarian cooperation and prevents any type of panic and panic.

Therefore, it is the government of Iran that is deliberately promoting the Afghan-phobia project and thereby inciting Iranian citizens against Afghan refugees.