Taher Shir Mohammadi - Deutsche Welle Farsi - February 21, 2016
February 21 is International Mother Language Day, and February 26 marks Iran's parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections. What connection exists between these two events, and how impactful is the demand for mother tongue language inclusion in the candidates’ platforms and voting outcomes?
Discussions on the Issue
Latif Izadi, a journalist and the editor-in-chief of the Olkamiz website in Golestan Province; Heydar Bayat, an Azerbaijani poet and scholar of religion based in Qom; and Mohammad Raouf Ghadiri, a Kurdish member of the fifth and sixth parliaments and a former advisor to the Speaker of the Parliament on Kurdish and Sunni affairs, shared their perspectives with Deutsche Welle on mother tongue languages and the upcoming parliamentary elections in Iran.
According to Latif Izadi, who writes in Turkmen and Persian, the mother tongue issue has no significant presence as a demand in election campaigns. He states:
“With the coming to power of the ‘Prudence and Hope’ administration, opportunities for Kurdish language instruction in universities in Kurdistan were facilitated. In Turkmen Sahra, there is currently disagreement among experts on a unified Turkmen alphabet, but there is hope that the next parliament will provide opportunities for teaching the mother tongue, particularly at the elementary school level for Turkmen children.”
The Positive Impact of Campaigning in the Mother Tongue on Votes
Izadi notes that local and ethnic candidates connect with voters in their mother tongues. He explains:
“Turkmen candidates deliver speeches in Turkmen. They use Turkmen poetry in their campaign brochures. In Turkmen-populated villages and towns, people mostly speak in their mother tongue, and fluency and oratory in the mother tongue have a positive impact on securing votes.”
Izadi also emphasized that “people vote for rational candidates, not extremists,” and described the election of rational candidates as a step toward the implementation of Articles 15 and 19 of the Constitution, which pertain to the mother tongue.
A Contrasting Perspective
Heydar Bayat, the Azerbaijani poet and scholar of religion, is less optimistic. He argues that candidates advocating for mother tongue education are disqualified by the Guardian Council. Bayat states:
“Pro-Azerbaijani identity-seekers wanted to vote for independent candidates who had programs for environmental issues, the economy, and the defense of their identity. However, their representatives were disqualified, leaving them deeply disappointed.”
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| Heydar Bayat is a poet and scholar of religion based in the city of Qom. |
Bayat adds:
“The issue of the mother tongue and its instruction in schools has been raised in various forms in parliament but has not yet become a general concern or demand among representatives. President Rouhani did not seriously address this matter either. In Tabriz, Rouhani promised that the Azerbaijani people would have an academy and that Articles 15 and 19 of the Constitution would be implemented. Azerbaijani intellectuals, poets, and writers worked to articulate their demands, which Rouhani accepted. However, after taking office, these individuals were labeled as separatists.”
The President Also Speaks Turkish During Elections
Bayat further elaborates on the role of the mother tongue in election campaigns:
“Candidates in Azerbaijan deliver speeches in Turkish. If they do not speak Turkish, they cannot connect with the voters. A candidate who does not speak Turkish will not be accepted by the people. The issue of identity-seeking has become a significant matter in Azerbaijani society. The hegemony of the Turkish language in Azerbaijan is such that even national figures like the President, when visiting Azerbaijan, attempt to recite poetry from Heydar Baba (a Turkish Azerbaijani poem by Mohammad Hossein Shahriar) or speak in Turkish. A large portion of rural Azerbaijan, where voter turnout is high, does not speak Persian at all, forcing candidates to speak in Turkish.”
Heydar Bayat, who writes poetry in Azerbaijani Turkish, stated that Mother Language Day ceremonies are held in Iran, but their occurrence depends on the general security climate in the country:
“When security pressures are lower, these ceremonies increase; when security pressures are higher, they decrease. Celebrations of Mother Language Day in Iran are largely symbolic and aim to emphasize the issue of the mother tongue.”
Bayat added that the people of Azerbaijan no longer need to address this issue symbolically, as thousands of individuals are actively engaging with the subject. They write poetry, compose articles, and produce content about the mother tongue. He concluded that “the issue of the mother tongue in Azerbaijan has moved beyond symbolic and emblematic stages to become a matter of thought, reflection, and production.”
Elections as a Step Toward Realizing the Demand for Mother Tongue Rights
Mohammad Raouf Ghadiri, a Kurdish representative in the fifth and sixth parliamentary terms, had his candidacy rejected by the Guardian Council for the tenth parliamentary elections. Speaking to Deutsche Welle, he explained:
“In the fifth parliament, I was part of the reformist minority, and in the sixth, I served as the Speaker's advisor on Kurdish and Sunni affairs. I considered it my duty to assist the country’s political system in having the courage to implement the unfulfilled and unenforced Articles 15 and 19 of the Constitution. Unfortunately, there are political factions within the state apparatus that, while accepting the Constitution, have no desire to implement it. I believed that the demands of ethnic and religious minorities should become a strategic national policy.”
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| Mohammad Raouf Ghadiri is a former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Iranian Parliament). |
Ghadiri mentioned that during the electoral campaigns of Mohammad Khatami, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mehdi Karroubi, and Hassan Rouhani, he succeeded in drafting declarations and demands for minorities:
“When these declarations were transformed into the demands of ethnic and religious minorities, the current president officially accepted them [the 10-point declaration for ethnic and religious groups]. This issue became part of the discourse for all the country’s ethnic and religious minorities. One of the points in this declaration refers to the mother tongue.”
Ghadiri urged the Rouhani administration to decisively and seriously implement the 10-point declaration. In his view:
“There must be proper planning for the mother tongue. A budget should be allocated, and the necessary books and teaching methods should be provided. We are hopeful that the government will make efforts in the future, and we would have been pleased if ethnic and religious forces committed to these demands had been elected to parliament to support the government in this endeavor.”
The former MP noted that most advocates for mother tongue rights were disqualified from running. Nevertheless, he recommended voting for candidates among those available who genuinely believe in the people's rights. Ghadiri remains optimistic that this will help resolve the issue of the mother tongue in Iran in the future.
The link to the original article in Farsi on Deutsche Welle Radio: