Kia: Northern Ireland had a referendum on devolution as a result of a peace agreement between the British government and the republican and loyalist movements. That referendum approved devolution and now there is a cross-party coalition government in Northern Ireland, which remains a part of the UK with the consent of the people. Once a country accepts the principle of self-determination and equality for provinces such as Northern Ireland, separatist tendencies diminish. I have said repeatedly that Khuzestan and other Iranian provinces with large non-Persian ethnic groups that hold long-standing grievances should be given devolution in order to ensure Iran’s unity and territorial integrity. Federalism is a constitutional arrangement that has worked well for many mature and stable democracies such as the US and Germany. What I find puzzling is the tendency of many nationalists to portray federalism as separatism and, moreover, accuse supporters of federalism “foreign agents”. Many of these elements are the same ones that seek foreign support to overthrow the current regime. I don’t know whether they regard such a concept as undermining the benefits they see from the centralisation of power in Iran – a process that has merely led to totalitarianism under both the Pahlavi monarchy and the Islamic republic.
