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| Mehsa Mehdili |
Recently, the ban on the Kirpi book series published in Turkish for children at the Tabriz Book Fair has sparked widespread reactions in local newspapers and on social media.
In an interview with Voice of America, Southern Azerbaijani activist Mehsa Mehdili provides information about the incident and evaluates the pressure placed on Turkish publishers in Iran.
“The Kirpi book series is published by the Bayel Culture Association and with permission. In Iran, it is generally impossible to publish books without authorization,” she states.
Mehsa Mehdili believes that one of the main reasons for the banning of the Kirpi books at the fair is their target audience, which includes children and parents.
“The association not only publishes books for children but also produces toys and instructional books for parents on how to raise their children… In other words, it addresses both children and their families. Teaching families to speak Turkish, developing their ability to think in the language and raise their children in it — this is a very important task,” she says.
Mehsa Mehdili views the ban on the Kirpi book series as an example of the systematic pressure faced by Turkish publishers working with Turkish language and Azerbaijani history.
Recently, the pressure on individuals and organizations involved in the publication, distribution, and sale of books in Turkish in Iranian Azerbaijan and Tehran has sharply increased.
Turkish publishers are not only subjected to pressure from government forces. Last May, an attack by "pan-Iranist" forces on the pavilion of a publishing house from Iranian Azerbaijan at the Tehran International Book Fair drew widespread reactions.
According to Mehdili, while the Iranian government punishes Turkish publishers working in a culturally acceptable manner with state authorization, it protects the forces that attack these publishers:
“The Pan-Iranists, and the forces we call Pan-Azeri, who do not even consider themselves Turkish but instead call themselves Azeri… These people are free to attack publishers who present their books in a cultural manner. These rogue actors are so unchallenged that they are not punished, interrogated, or held accountable. The government protects them and, on the other hand, severely punishes Turkish publishers who want to preserve their identity through cultural means.”
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Məhsa Mehdili: İranda türk naşirlər sistematik basqı və hücumlara məruz qalırlar