The East Azerbaijan Province Court of Appeals has ruled in favour of a family denied a birth certificate for their child under the name "Türkay." The court stated in its verdict that the name "Türkay" is not among the "prohibited names."
This information was shared by Sina Yusufi, a lawyer based in Tabriz, who posted a copy of the appellate court’s decision on his Twitter account.
The family, residing in the city of Marand in East Azerbaijan Province, had initially approached the general court in Marand after the civil registry office refused to issue a birth certificate for their child with the Turkish name they had chosen. When the Marand court ruled in favor of the civil registry office, the family appealed to the provincial appellate court.
The appellate court’s decision stated:
"Choosing a name is one of the petitioner’s legal rights. The chosen name is not among the prohibited names and has been previously registered. Therefore, the ruling of the initial court is overturned, and the civil registry office is ordered to issue a birth certificate with the name 'Türkay.' This decision is final."
In Iranian Azerbaijan, the name "Türkay" has been previously registered through court rulings. In June 2021, another family who had been denied a birth certificate with the name "Türkay" had their complaint upheld by the general court in Tabriz.
Farhad Javadi, the author of the book Turkish Human Names, published in Iran in 2001, previously told Voice of America that the situation in the 1990s was even more challenging.
“For those wanting to give Turkish names to their children, stores, or companies, there’s no specific law explicitly prohibiting these names. But [state institutions] are instructed to find ways to prevent Turkish names from being used. They create a situation where a person spends days going back and forth, eventually becoming exhausted and giving up. They say, ‘Just give any name,’” Javadi stated in the interview.
Link to the original news in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Şərqi Azərbaycan məhkəməsi uşağına Türkay adı ilə şəxsiyyət vəsiqəsi ala bilməyən ailənin şikayətini təmin edib