How Going to Babak Castle Became Political?

April 21, 2016 - Mashallah Razmi

The gathering at Babak Castle has evolved into an impromptu assembly for raising the demands of the Azerbaijani Turks. According to those who participated, there is a noticeable emphasis on Azerbaijan's cultural characteristics, such as the Turkish language, Turkish poetry, music, and dance.

Babak Khorramdin led a political-social movement in Azerbaijan starting in 201 CE, opposing the Abbasid Caliphate, which lasted for 22 years. In reality, the Khorramdin movement was both a resistance by the people of Azerbaijan against foreign invaders and a result of the wars and conflicts between the Abbasid Caliphs and the Byzantine Empire in the West and the Khazar Empire to the north of Azerbaijan. Babak’s followers utilized these empires as a rear support.

Babak's original name was Hassan, and his father's, brother's, and son's names were also Islamic. Therefore, the claim that Babak rose up against Islam seems to be unfounded. Babak's uprising was against oppression and occupation, coinciding with a local alliance against the injustices of the Caliph Mamun.

"When the news of 'Harthama's' death reached his son (Hatam) who was in Armenia, he learned what had happened to his father, who died in Mamun’s prison. He then wrote letters to the free people of the region and the kings of that land, calling them to rise up against Mamun's caliphate. It is said that Babak’s revolt started because of this event, and he continued his struggle for over two decades." (1)

For centuries, Arab historians wrote biased accounts of Babak, attempting to portray him as an enemy of Muslims, calling him a Mazdaki (follower of the Mazdak movement), of dubious origins, and the offspring of a wandering oil seller and a one-eyed woman. As Saeed Nafisi said:

"Great men do not need us to know about their parents and families. The only thing we need to know about them is what they did." (2)

After the Constitutional Revolution and the rise of Iranian nationalism, new interpretations of Babak Khorramdin's movement began to emerge. He was hailed as a national hero who stood against the Arab invaders. Azerbaijanis also view Babak as their national hero, as he was born in the village of Bilalabad near the Aras River, and all of his struggles took place in Azerbaijan. The fortress of Jumhur (or ‘Dezh-Baz’) in the vicinity of the city of Kalibar was the center of Babak's resistance.

In 1975, the archaeological team of the Ministry of Culture and Art conducted the first excavations at the Jumhur Castle, discovering:

"...beautiful pottery from the third century AH (Hijri), including plates and bowls, which had holes at their edges. Soldiers used to tie these with strings to their horses. These discoveries, along with historical evidence from both Arabic and Persian historians, confirmed that 'Dezh-Baz' was one of Babak Khorramdin's main strongholds." (3)

Further studies showed that the castle had been inhabited until the 7th century, and coins from the 6th and 7th centuries were found there, dating to the era of the Atabeg dynasty of Azerbaijan and the Horsemen.

For years, Babak's admirers visited the Jumhur Castle to commemorate his struggles. After the Iran-Iraq war, visits to Babak's castle became more popular. Azerbaijani university students would visit in groups of several hundred, and local officials encouraged these visits as part of the tourism industry. However, the Islamic Republic's security concerns regarding popular gatherings, along with other factors, eventually politicized visits to Babak's castle.

Factors that heightened the security concerns and ultimately led to the prohibition of gatherings at Babak Castle include the following:

  1. The Emergence of Cultural Activism in Azerbaijan: The idea of cultural activists gathering at Babak Castle first emerged in 1996 during the fifth parliamentary elections in Tabriz, when the Ministry of Intelligence prevented the election of a candidate who advocated for the cultural rights of Azerbaijanis. Mr. Mahmoud Ali Chahergani, a university professor and the head of the student militia, was running on a platform that included the right to education in the native language and ending discrimination. He received the most votes in the second round of elections, but he was summoned by the intelligence services of Tabriz, and despite not being given a reason, was forced to withdraw. When he refused, he was arrested, and a young cleric was introduced in his place. The public announcement read:

"...We inform the residents of the Tabriz constituency that Mr. Mahmoud Ali Chahergani has announced his withdrawal from the second round of elections, and as a result, Mr. Yaqoub Entezar Qaramelki has replaced him on the list of candidates." (4)

The emphasis on the unique cultural elements of Azerbaijan is more apparent than anything else at the gathering at Babak Castle.

His supporters held a protest outside the local government building, where security forces used violence to disperse them, resulting in injuries and arrests. Some of those arrested were later sentenced to five years in prison. Following this, gatherings of cultural activists were completely banned, and repression against them increased. As a result, cultural activists concluded that achieving national demands through elected institutions in the Islamic Republic was impossible due to the concentration of power in appointed bodies, and thus, they needed to apply pressure from below. Unable to gather in the cities, they chose to hold their meetings outside urban areas, where such gatherings were not prohibited by law. In this context, Babak Castle was chosen as a suitable place for such gatherings. In 2000, cultural activists managed to gather a large crowd at Babak Castle on July 1st, with the state-run media in East Azerbaijan reporting that 200,000 people attended the gathering. During this event, the activists issued a declaration titled "Azerbaijan Speaks," outlining their cultural, economic, and political demands. This caught the local security authorities by surprise and led to an official decision to prevent future gatherings at the castle.

  1. International Political Context: After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the increased likelihood of an attack on Iran, security concerns in the Iranian government grew, especially regarding ethnic movements. Some U.S. think tanks, such as the American Enterprise Institute, argued that ethnic minorities formed the majority of Iran's population and suggested that the U.S. should support these groups to change the Iranian government.

Gilles Riaux, a French researcher, suggested that one reason for the Iranian government's heightened sensitivity to ethnic movements was the perceived threat of U.S. intervention. He noted that the U.S. and its allies might use ethnic movements to weaken Iran. This context of potential foreign intervention contributed to the Iranian government's security concerns regarding ethnic movements within the country.

  1. Opposition from Iranian Nationalists: The gathering at Babak Castle not only worried Iranian officials but also alarmed certain Iranian nationalists, who viewed any form of decentralization or granting of cultural rights to ethnic minorities as a threat to Iran's territorial integrity. Proponents of Iranian nationalism, including Parviz Varjavand, the leader of the National Front, warned that such gatherings were part of a foreign-backed plot to promote separatism. Varjavand wrote to President Mohammad Khatami, expressing his concerns about the gathering at Babak Castle:

"...The indifference to this creeping movement has reached such a point that this year, with the full support of Turkey, Azerbaijan, and their agents, one of the brightest figures of Iranian independence against Arab invaders, Babak Khorramdin, is being exploited as a symbol of separatism and independence. On July 1st, thousands of people were brought to Babak's castle in Kalibar, where some even sang 'Yasha Yasha Azerbaijan,' a slogan associated with the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan." (7)

In conclusion, the Iranian government's security concerns, the threat of foreign intervention, and the pressures from Iranian nationalists converged to politicize the annual gatherings of Azerbaijanis at Babak Castle. After the election of President Ahmadinejad and the establishment of his security-focused government, many people were arrested and imprisoned for attempting to organize gatherings at Babak Castle.

  1. Dīnuri, Ibn Qutaybah,... Misr al-Azhar 1943 Venice; see also History of Iran from Islam to the Seljuks, edited by R. N. Frye, translated by Hassan Noosha, Amir Kabir Publishing, Tehran, 1363.

  2. Saeed Nafisi, Babak Khorramdin, the Brave Hero of Azerbaijan, Foroughi Bookstore, Tehran, 1342.

  3. Behrooz Khamaei, Historical Castles of Azerbaijan, Ashina Publishing, Tabriz.

  4. Tabriz Provincial Government Announcement No. 143/11161, dated 30/1/75.

  5. "Student Voice" Magazine, report by Mir Qasem Bani Hashemi on Tabriz elections.

  6. Gilles Riaux – Ethnicity and Nationalism in Iran, Editions Karthala, Paris, 2012. 

  7. Link to source.


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