Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, October 3, 2020
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| Mehdi Neimi |
In an interview with Voice of America, Mehdi Neimi states that while the demand for education in the Turkish language is of utmost importance for national activists in Iranian Azerbaijan, ensuring that this demand is not fulfilled is equally crucial for the Iranian authorities.
He emphasizes that education in the Turkish language has always been at the top of the demands list for the South Azerbaijan National Movement:
"The language issue has existed in our society not only since the Islamic Revolution but even before that. If we look at the words of the late Seyyed Jafar Pishevari, we can see this clearly. After the establishment of the National Government in 1945, one of the first steps taken in South Azerbaijan was to write shop signs in Turkish."
According to Mehdi Neimi, while national activists in Iranian Azerbaijan strive persistently for the implementation of mother tongue education, the authorities equally resist granting this right.
"For years, the issue of mother tongue education has always been at the top of the demands list for national activists in South Azerbaijan. If we look at the other side, it is just as important for them to prevent this from materializing. We call it mother tongue education, but they view it as a political tool. They see it as a sensitive issue, as if our nation learning its mother tongue will somehow take the ruling power away from them."
Neimi considers the establishment of the Turkish Language Department at Tabriz University and the graduation of its first students a success for the national movement:
"Although our nation’s real demand is education in the mother tongue—meaning all subjects being taught in their native language—the Turkish language department at Tabriz University is still a small achievement. We cannot settle for just this, but it is still something to be happy about. For years, when the government officials needed the people's support, they would speak positively about the mother tongue issue, yet nothing would come of it. But now, at least with the Turkish language department at Tabriz University, we have seen some results. There is another positive aspect as well: If, in the future, mother tongue classes are established in our villages and cities, at least we can say that the teachers for those classes are already being trained today."
At the same time, he criticizes the curriculum of the Turkish language program, highlighting the presence of political and ideological orientations.
*"I am not talking about the general courses—whether they studied engineering or anything else, they would still have to take those general courses. However, in the core subjects, they have placed Persian grammar alongside Turkish grammar. But these students are not studying Persian; they are studying Turkish.
In the specialized courses, for example, there is a subject titled ‘Persian-writing poets of Azerbaijan.’ And it’s not just a single course—there are multiple courses on this topic. There is a clear focus on this issue. The curriculum is filled with Persian poetry and literature.
Then they have added courses like ‘The Impact of the Islamic Revolution on the Turkish Language’ and ‘The Influence of Turks on the Persian Language.’ These kinds of subjects take the program out of the realm of language education and steer it toward a political direction,"* Mehdi Neimi adds.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
“Təbriz Universiteti türk dili bölümünün tədris proqramında siyasi istiqamətlər var”