Voice of America, August 6, 2014
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Hadi Bahadori
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Approximately 2,000 historical Turkish names were altered during the Pahlavi era and afterward, replaced with fabricated names of unclear origin. These remarks were made by Hadi Bahadori, Deputy Governor for Development Affairs of West Azerbaijan Province, during an interview with Tasnim News Agency.
A professor at Urmia University and former member of Urmia City Council, Bahadori, commented on the removal of “Pahlavi” names in West Azerbaijan Province.
In June of the previous year, Hadi Bahadori was elected as a member of the Urmia City Council during the Islamic City Council elections in Iran. Shortly afterward, he resigned from the council after being appointed as Deputy Governor. Bahadori had been supported in the elections by the "Voice of Urmu Azerbaijan" coalition, formed by a group of cultural activists in Urmia.
In recent months, the Urmia City Council initiated efforts to restore the original Turkish names of neighborhoods and regions whose names had been changed to Persian, adopting several decisions in this regard.
Following these activities, the Urmia Municipality installed signboards throughout many areas of the city over the past two weeks, displaying the original Turkish names of neighborhoods and streets.
Link to the original report in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Vali müavini: İran Azərbaycanında 2000 tarixi türk adı farsa çevrilib
