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| Ibrahim Savalan |
Ibrahim Savalan states that social, cultural, and economic disasters in Iranian Azerbaijan began with the banning of Turkish in educational institutions and official state affairs. The Southern Azerbaijani writer and Turkish language teacher, in an interview with Voice of America, discussed the status of demands for education in the mother tongue in Iranian Azerbaijan. He also spoke about the movements, activities, and protests that have brought the demand for education in Turkish to the forefront and compared the importance attributed to the mother tongue factor among various non-Persian groups living in Iran.
“Education in the mother tongue is not a demand; it is a right. Even if people do not demand it, it remains their right. Therefore, in many countries, education in one’s own language is mandatory,” he stated. According to the former political prisoner, the advisor to the president of Iran on ethnic matters diminished this right by saying, "Education in Turkish is not the demand of the nation but rather the wish of a few intellectuals."
The writer points out that during the early period when modern education methods were introduced in Iran, education in Turkish was part of the agenda. He referred to the Turkish-language reading books, “Mother Tongue” and “Language of the Homeland,” prepared and published by Mirza Hasan Roshdiyya, who was the first to implement these methods in Iran and Southern Azerbaijan.
According to Savalan, “The demand for education in the mother tongue and its official recognition among Turks living in Iran is strong. This has been evident in the cultural and literary efforts that have emerged during periods when central authority weakened in the past century.”
He highlights certain historical facts in this regard.
The Turkish language teacher also shed light on the activities, campaigns, and protest actions organized to demand the right to education in the mother tongue after the Iranian Islamic Revolution. He mentioned the famous slogan, “Schools in Turkish, for Everyone,” which has been consistently chanted during mass protests.
The Southern Azerbaijani activist believes these activities and protests have had some impact:
“As a result of these demands, though insufficient, some outcomes have been achieved. Racist ideologies in Iran sought to completely erase the Turkish presence. Turkish was mocked and insulted on television, expelled from official domains, and ignored in central provinces like Tehran. I personally witnessed Turkish speakers being left without responses. However, this boycott is beginning to break. Turkish and Azerbaijani television channels have created connections between our rich culture and people. The Iranian president has made promises regarding these rights. Signature campaigns are being launched to advance these demands.”
Savalan also notes that during different periods of the past century, harsh suppression led to interruptions in the fight for language rights. Despite the lack of a free and democratic space in Iran, he expressed his happiness that these demands have still managed to survive.
He referred to recent pressures, including the closure of newspapers discussing language rights and the mass arrests of activists participating in International Mother Language Day events.
Agreeing with the notion that the mother tongue factor holds the greatest significance for Turks among Iran’s non-Persian communities, Savalan shared his thoughts on the reasons for this with Voice of America.
He explained the historical aspect of the issue as follows:
“In the past, apart from Turkish, Arabic, and Persian, no other languages in Iran have served as state, literary, or scientific languages. Today, Persian is the official language, and Arabic is taught as the language of Islam. Only Turkish, after a thousand years of dominance, has now been degraded to the level of a mere spoken dialect. This is intolerable for Turks.”
The writer also pointed out that certain ethnic groups, such as the Baloch, Kurds, and Turkmen, highlight “sectarian differences” with Persian society and pursue their demands in two directions—religious and national.
“However, for Turks, whether Azerbaijani or Qashqai, most of them being Shia, the only visible divide is linguistic,” Savalan stated.
Another issue Savalan addressed was the efforts by Iranian authorities to change the name of the Turkish language:
“When we examine it, the attention Turkish intellectuals give to the language issue stems from the insults against the Turkish language in Iran. No other people’s language has been so trampled upon. In Iran, no other people's national name has been altered. Arabs, Kurds, and Baloch have not been given alternative names. But in official contexts, Turkish has been falsely labeled as 'Azeri.'”
According to him, “Perhaps the fact that Turkish is an official language in several countries scares Iranian racists. Whatever the reason may be, it must be emphasized that no language in Iran has faced suppression to the extent Turkish has.”
Savalan further referenced an article published in the Azerbaijan newspaper in Tabriz in 1941 regarding this issue.
He stated, “That article pointed out that the banning of Turkish in educational and literary centers was the root cause of all the social, cultural, and economic disasters, as well as the reduction of Turks to a second-class status.”
Imprisoned and prosecuted multiple times for his activism, Ibrahim Savalan also shared his experiences in prison. He discussed the damages and issues faced by the population in Azerbaijan provinces due to the lack of Turkish in official institutions, including courts.
According to Amnesty International’s statements, some defendants who did not understand Persian were unable to comprehend the charges against them. The international human rights organization has noted that individuals such as Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and Shamama Ghorbani, sentenced to stoning in recent years, only spoke Turkish and did not understand the Persian-language documents they were forced to sign during interrogations.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
İbrahim Savalan: İranda heç dil türkcə qədər basqıya məruz qalmamış