SANAM was founded by professor Chehraganli who had led and started the movement of the making massive the thinking of the Azerbaijani Turk and the struggle for the Azerbaijan rights in the open battle standing the tortures, arrests, very heavy pressures and his partners in the secret condition under the various codes in 1995.
He led and is still leading the massive actions, oppositions, the enlightenment movement, the heightening up of the national consciousness happening in the Southern Azerbaijan and the fight of national revival. Taking into account the state of the country of Iran, it is functioning in the capacity of Southern Azerbaijan National Movement here. SANAM – resting on the Turkish nature, Modernity and the Faith freedom, is a great democratic, political -social party that possesses millions of supporters and gathering hundreds of scientific- literary, national-cultural, social political units around.
Tens of members of the SANAM became the victims of the regime. Thousands of members and supporters are under the pressures of the regime, hundreds of members and supporters are in prisons. The Central Headquarters of the SANAM is situated in the Southern Azerbaijan. Its address remains in secret. The committees and departments of SANAM are functioning in the other regions of Iran. SANAM is mainly functioning in the Southern Azerbaijan. Since 2002 the foreign representations of SANAM has been opening. At present, 24 representations -Bureau of the United States of America, Europe, Turkey and also the Azerbaijani Republic have been functioning. SANAM is the international organization that is known by the European Union, European Parliament, different commissions of the UNO, many international units including the democratic states.
SANAM by resting on the International Law and principles is fighting for the restoration of the right of “determining its own destiny” of the Southern Azerbaijan. SANAM is against every kind of violence and prefers the peaceful political struggle methods.