December 8, 2021
Ahmad Naderi, Vice-Chairman of the Education and Research Committee in the Iranian Parliament, announced his opposition to teaching ethnic and local languages, as approved by the committee. He stated that implementing Article 15 of the Constitution, passed by the committee, is against national security.
In an interview with the official news agency IRNA, Naderi described teaching in ethnic languages as disruptive to Iran’s historical order and a source of artificial and exhausting disputes.
While ignoring Iran’s monolingual education system, Naderi claimed, “There has never been and will never be any intention to impose the Persian language or to prevent the use of local and ethnic languages.”
No Such Thing as the Persian Ethnicity
He reiterated the argument that “there is no ethnicity called Persian in Iran,” a statement recently propagated by many intellectuals supportive of the regime to promote monocultural policies and deny diversity in Iran. He added, “From a historical linguistic perspective, Persian can be considered the mother, cultural, and historical language of all Iranians.”
The MP did not explain why other ethnic groups and nationalities in Iran should be educated in an ethnic language that allegedly does not exist or why such a language has been designated as the country’s “official language.”
National vs. Local Language Dichotomy
Naderi characterized the teaching of ethnic languages as creating a dichotomy between “national language” and “local language.” Claiming there are no legal restrictions on other languages, he said, “All Iranians consider this language (Persian) their heritage, and local languages have always been free alongside the national language. There has never been even a single instance of prohibiting the use of local languages in social, political, or cultural contexts.”
National Language or Official Language?
By referring to Persian as the “national language,” Naderi exceeded the Islamic Republic’s Constitution, which designates it as the “official language.” He called for a ban on any legislation regarding other languages in Iran, saying, “We should not legislate in a way that disrupts the natural linguistic order in Iran or turns cities and neighborhoods into arenas of linguistic disputes.”
Language, Dialect, and Accent
Introducing himself as an anthropologist, Naderi discussed the approximate number of local languages in Iran but failed to differentiate between language, dialect, and accent. This reflects the policy of denial and silence regarding Iran's current linguistic and ethnic diversity. He mentioned the existence of approximately 500 dialects and local languages in Iran and stated that teaching in ethnic languages would cause internal divisions among ethnic groups.
Justice
Naderi argued that teaching in local languages in one region would harm other languages present in the same area. He claimed that such actions would violate “justice” and the linguistic rights of various language groups.
In his view, all non-Persian languages in Iran should be deprived of and prohibited from education to ensure justice is applied equally to everyone.
Enemies’ Plan
The MP, emphasizing that the Persian language is a key pillar of “Iranian identity,” claimed that teaching ethnic languages is part of the enemies’ agenda. He said, “Currently, various groups supported by Iran’s enemies are seeking to weaken Iran’s national identity. We must ensure that no law or policy inadvertently weakens Iran’s national language.”
In this context, Colonel Nader Moradi, head of Tehran’s Police Department of Public Places, said on Sunday, December 5, that business names in Tehran must be Persian. He stated, “The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is the authority for naming businesses, and according to a directive issued to the police, business names must be Persian.”
Moradi emphasized, “Using local names (Turkish, Kurdish, Luri, Northern, etc.) for businesses is prohibited and considered illegal.”
Both the Islamic Republic and the previous regime in Iran have sought to assimilate ethnic groups and nationalities into the dominant culture through homogenization programs, banning education in mother tongues, and citing the preservation of national unity as a pretext.
The link to the MP's interview in Farsi on IRNA:
نماینده مجلس: طرح آموزش زبانهای قومی خلاف امنیت ملی است