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| Mansour Haghighatpour is an Iranian politician who was born in Tehran to parents from Ardabil. |
Mansour Haghighatpour claims that the Azerbaijani population belongs to the "white" race and is distinct from the "yellow" Turks.
“We are not Turks; we are Azeris. Our race is Iranian, our color is white, and our eyes are normal. Turks, on the other hand, are from the yellow race, have almond-shaped eyes, and round cheeks,” said Ardabil MP Mansour Haghighatpour, stating that the Turkish Language Institute is unnecessary for Iranian Azerbaijan.
In an interview with Elpress, an online newspaper based in Tabriz, Haghighatpour’s comments sparked widespread outrage on social media.
Posts and images labeling the MP as "anti-Turk" were widely liked and shared by users on Facebook pages such as "Ardabil," "Signature Campaign for Establishing the Turkish Language Institute," and "Azerbaijan’s Pride."
Cultural activists from southern Azerbaijan, along with several well-known writers, cultural figures, and politicians, criticized President Hassan Rouhani for failing to fulfill his promises regarding the establishment of a Turkish Language Institute. However, according to Ardabil’s MP, such an institution should be established in countries where real Turks live, such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, rather than in Iranian Azerbaijan.
“Although we now speak Turkish, our native language is the Azeri dialect of Persian. Turkish spread among the people during the Seljuk rule over Iran and Azerbaijan,” said Haghighatpour, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security commission. He alleged that the demand for establishing a Turkish Language Institute in Tabriz is driven by political motives.
Last January, Ardabil’s Friday Prayer Imam and the Supreme Leader’s representative in Ardabil province, Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Hassan Ameli, proposed designating January 19 as “World Muslim Azeris Day.”
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Ərdəbil millət vəkili: Biz azəri və iranlıyıq, türklər kimi “badam gözlü” və “sarı” deyilik