By Taher Shir Mohammadi – Deutsche Welle Persian, 24 January 2014
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| Ismail Jabarzadeh, the Governor of East Azerbaijan Province |
The Governor of East Azerbaijan Province, during a meeting with cultural and artistic elites in Tabriz, announced plans to establish the “Azerbaijani Turkish Language Academy.” He invited experts and writers to collaborate on the initiative. Deutsche Welle spoke with three experts on the matter.
The Tasnim news agency (dated 17 January 2014) quoted Ismail Jabarzadeh, the newly appointed governor of East Azerbaijan Province, as saying that an Azerbaijani Turkish Language Academy would be established in Tabriz. According to Tasnim, the governor stated:
“This initiative is an effective step in the province’s cultural development, and I expect all experts and writers to help realize this promise.”
Jabarzadeh had previously emphasized during his inaugural address in November 2013:
“Creating and launching the Azerbaijani Turkish Language and Literature Academy is my top priority in the province, and fulfilling this important promise of Dr. Rouhani is my pledge to the people of East Azerbaijan.”
The governor invited literary figures to contribute to the project, saying:
“We need the expertise of university professors, intellectuals, and cultural and literary elites of Azerbaijan to prepare the groundwork for establishing this academy in Tabriz.”
He described Azerbaijani language and culture as one of the "sweetest and most eloquent languages in the world for introducing Islam and Iran to the global audience" and called on all literary and academic activists to strive for its revival.
Younesi: Mother-Tongue Education on the Government’s Agenda
Ali Younesi, the President’s Special Assistant for Ethnic and Religious Minorities Affairs, also spoke to the Mehr news agency (17 January) about plans for mother-tongue education among ethnic groups. Younesi told Mehr:
“In meetings with the Minister of Education, we decided to design a structured program to address this issue. Teaching in mother tongues is among the Ministry of Education’s initiatives, and research on its implementation is underway.”
Regarding how the program would be implemented, Younesi said:
“The Education Ministry will design the teaching of ethnic languages to the necessary level. After preparing the required programs, the results will be announced.”
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| Ali Younesi acknowledges that the government has not fulfilled its promises to the ethnic groups of Iran. |
Cultural Experts Respond to the Governor and Younesi
Six months into the administration of President Rouhani, dissatisfaction among ethnic and religious minorities over unfulfilled promises is growing. Rouhani had pledged that representatives of ethnic and religious minorities would be included in his cabinet, Articles 15 and 19 of the Constitution concerning mother-tongue education in schools would be implemented, and the government’s security-oriented approach to ethnic issues would change.
Many supporters of the government in ethnic and religious regions have lost hope for these promises, believing that Rouhani’s administration lacks the ability to resolve their concerns.
Heydar Bayat, an Azerbaijani cleric based in Qom, who publishes his Azerbaijani Turkish poetry on the Alma Yolu website and is familiar with Azerbaijan’s language and culture issues, told Deutsche Welle that it is time to act on these promises. Bayat said that school textbooks should be prepared in collaboration with experts, and mother-tongue education in schools must begin as soon as possible.
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| Heydar Bayat, poet and writer |
Bayat criticized the decision to task the East Azerbaijan Governorate with establishing the Azerbaijani Turkish Language Academy, calling it a "reduction" of the issue. He added:
“We do not have a clear definition of Azerbaijan provinces. How many provinces do we have, and what is the population of Azerbaijani Turks in Iran? Should the responsibility for establishing the academy lie with the Tabriz Governorate, or should a national center be established?”
This expert emphasized:
“Even if the Turkish Language Academy is established in Tabriz, it must have a national scope rather than being managed under a single governorate. For instance, the Qom Seminary is not under the jurisdiction of Qom Province’s governorate; it is an independent, national institution. Similarly, we need a national center.”
“Everyone Reads Shahriar’s Turkish Works”
Bayat also discussed the state of Azerbaijani Turkish books and publishing:
“Almost all Azerbaijanis can read our mourning literature in Azerbaijani Turkish, and Shahriar’s Heydar Baba is universally read. Shahriar’s collected Turkish works are perhaps the only literary pieces with nationwide distribution. I believe their circulation is no less than Persian literary works by figures such as Nima, Shamlu, and Moshiri. Therefore, there is significant interest in Azerbaijani Turkish literature in Iran. If the government legitimizes it and addresses publishing and distribution issues, it will greatly contribute to the development of the language.”
Bayat further criticized Ali Younesi for not having met with Azerbaijani intellectuals.
Dissatisfaction Among Ethnic Minorities Over Rouhani’s Unfulfilled Promises
Shiva Farhmandrad, a writer and translator of Azerbaijani Turkish literary works into Persian, including the opera Koroghlu, said:
“It seems the government has started taking some steps, but how successful these efforts will be depends on their implementation.”
Farhmandrad emphasized:
“We have enough specialists to establish the Turkish Language Academy. However, we lack enough teachers to teach mother-tongue education in schools. In my view, establishing the academy is not the top priority unless teaching Azerbaijani Turkish is included among its objectives. The most urgent task is forming committees to explore the feasibility of training mother-tongue teachers and preparing textbooks for elementary schools.”
Farhmandrad noted that the academy project should not be limited to Azerbaijanis alone but should be part of a national framework addressing similar issues for all ethnic groups in Iran.
“Free Azerbaijan’s Cultural Activists!”
Ahmad Omid Yazdani, author of the Comprehensive German-Azerbaijani Dictionary and head of the Academicians of Germany-Azerbaijan in Berlin, criticized the Iranian government for pursuing a policy of “brutal assimilation and cultural erasure of the country’s ethnic groups.”
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| Ahmad Omid Yazdani, the author of the German-Azerbaijani Dictionary |
Yazdani recalled that during the Khatami administration, promises were also made to ethnic minorities, but they were never fulfilled. He stressed that if the government does not support mother-tongue education and if it does not begin in preschools and primary schools, these languages are doomed to extinction.
Yazdani further stated that the authorities should first release Azerbaijani and other ethnic civil rights activists imprisoned for demanding the implementation of constitutional provisions regarding mother-tongue education.
The head of the Academicians of Germany-Azerbaijan in Berlin added regarding the establishment of an Turkish Language Academy in Tabriz:
“If establishing the academy means setting up private classes, it shows a disregard for the country’s mother tongues. We live in the 21st century, and banning a people’s language is the greatest insult to a nation. In the past 34 years, while the Islamic Republic has recognized the country’s multiethnic nature in its constitution, Articles 15 and 19 have remained on paper. Civil activists calling for these articles’ implementation are in prison.”
The experts interviewed by Deutsche Welle emphasized that their problem is not the absence of laws or a language academy but the government’s lack of will to fulfill legal demands, including the teaching of mother tongues. They accused Rouhani’s administration of falling short, like previous governments, in implementing constitutional provisions on mother-tongue education.
The link to the original article in Farsi on DW Persian:
وعده تاسیس فرهنگستان زبان ترکی آذری در ایران