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| Right: President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani. Left: His advisor on ethnic affairs, Ali Younesi. |
“The Persian language belongs to all of us, and all ethnic groups (non-Persians) take pride in the Persian language... whether we are Baloch, Kurdish, Turkish, or Persian, our ethnicity is Iranian... All these ethnic groups have chosen Persian as their national language,” emphasized Ali Younesi, Special Assistant to President Hassan Rouhani on issues concerning non-Persian ethnic groups and religious minorities in Iran.
In an interview with the Intikhab Culture and Press Institute’s website, the former minister of intelligence stated, “Non-Persian ethnic communities are not a threat to Iran, and the state is working to meet their demands.”
“All non-Persian communities take pride in the Persian language, but they also want to preserve their own languages,” said the president's assistant, without touching upon whether there are any specific plans regarding the demands of non-Persian ethnic groups. No country has appointed a special assistant to the president on issues related to non-Persian ethnic groups and religious minorities. Ali Younesi is the first politician to be appointed to this position.
According to Iranian media, since taking office in September, Younesi has been holding meetings with representatives of Iran's non-Persian and religious minority communities. While it has been reported that he met with some Turkish representatives from Iranian Azerbaijan and other regions of the country, their identities have not been disclosed.
ISNA news agency reported that the president's assistant recently met with the Archbishop of the Armenian Catholic Church, Karakehyan.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Əli Yunesi: İranda qeyri-farslar da fars dili ilə fəxr edir, bu hamımızın dilidir