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| Salmas, West Azerbaijan - Ferdowsi Statue |
Iranian newspapers have strongly protested the decision of the Salmas City Council and Municipality.
The removal of the statue of the great Persian poet Abulqasem Ferdowsi, known for his anti-Turkish stance and who lived in the 10th-11th centuries, from one of the city squares in Salmas has sparked widespread anger from Iranian newspapers, news agencies, and nationalist groups both within Iran and abroad.
According to Azerbaijani websites and Iranian media, the Municipality of Salmas, located in the West Azerbaijan province, announced last week that the statue and name of Ferdowsi had been removed from one of the city’s squares. Several photos documenting the removal of the statue have been published in the media.
Although the square was officially named Ferdowsi Square, the local population had known it as Shahbani Felek. The new official name of the square is Revolution Square.
Despite some discontent with the new name, Azerbaijani websites and Azerbaijani activists view the removal of “the statue of an anti-Turkish figure from a city inhabited by Turks” positively, citing public protests.
Azerbaijani political expert Umud Evrən commented on the situation, stating:
“The decision by the Salmas City Council and Municipality to remove the name and statue of Ferdowsi is a democratic move that deserves praise. I believe that if there had been no restrictions, the square would have been named after someone who served Salmas, instead of being called Revolution Square.”
However, news agencies such as Fars and ISNA, as well as many newspapers, including the Law newspaper, known for its proximity to Iran’s Minister of Justice (former Intelligence Minister) Mustafa Purmohammadi, have harshly criticized the Salmas Municipality’s decision.
Tehran newspapers have suggested that the removal of the statue in Western Azerbaijan has the fingerprints of Pan-Turkists and separatists.
Many of those protesting the removal of the Ferdowsi statue are from Azerbaijani cities. Rza Sheybani, a poet from Tabriz who earned praise from Iran’s supreme religious leader Khamenei for his poetry, expressed that he saw the removal of the statue as an attack on Iranian culture.
In an interview with the Fars news agency, the poet from Tabriz stated:
“I am sorry that some infamous individuals, remnants of separatists and divisive forces, have started a campaign against Ferdowsi and those who defend him... Pan-Turkism is spreading false information about Ferdowsi. Ferdowsi never humiliated the people of Azerbaijan... He wrote poems against the ‘Mongol Turks,’ who were savage and enemies of Iran.”
In June 2013, some politicians elected to the city councils of cities in the West Azerbaijan province, including Urmia and Salmas, had promised during their election campaigns to fight policies that targeted Turkish identity and culture.
Following these promises, last year, the Urmia Municipality began placing signboards with the original Turkish names of neighborhoods and streets in many areas of the city.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
İran millətçilərindən Salmasda Firdovsi heykəlinin götürülməsinə geniş təpki