 |
| Atalay |
The family of a 4-year-old named Atalay is unable to secure an identity card for their child.
Atalay’s father, Ali Aslani, told relatives that he had filed a complaint with the East Azerbaijan Registration Department. "I have also contacted Tehran several times. However, they refuse to issue an identity card with the name Atalay," he said.
According to Ali Aslani, the Iranian Registration Department rejected issuing an identity card for Atalay because it is a Turkish name.
After the East Azerbaijan Registration Department refused to register an identity card for Atalay, the family approached the central Registration Department in Tehran. However, the Tehran office also rejected issuing an identity card with the name Atalay and asked the East Azerbaijan Registration Department to convince the family to choose another name.
Since the Aslani family did not receive a positive response from the Tehran Registration Department, they filed a complaint with the court. The Aslanis stated that "deciding on prohibited names is the job of the Registration Department's Supreme Council, not the court." As a result, the court ruled in favor of the Registration Department, and the family was unable to obtain an identity card for their child with the name Atalay.
In Iran, the phenomenon of families choosing Turkish names for their children has been increasingly popular. Majid Imami, the secretary of the Public Culture Council, stated on an Iranian television program that the number of "non-Iranian and non-Islamic" names in the country has been increasing in recent years, adding that "many of these names are Kyrgyz and Mongolian." He expressed concern over the rise of these names and emphasized the need for measures to prevent this trend. His statements sparked reactions among social media users in Iranian Azerbaijan, who criticized his use of "Kyrgyz and Mongolian names" instead of referring to Turkish names.
Meanwhile, Sina Yusifi, deputy chair of the Human Rights Commission of the East Azerbaijan Bar Association, reported on his Twitter account that complaints from families choosing Turkish names for their children and the Registration Department’s opposition to these names have significantly increased.
The Iranian Registration Department’s practice of requiring families to choose names from a prepared list or face denial of an identity card has led many families to file lawsuits to obtain identity cards with their preferred names. In some cases, courts have ruled in favor of the Registration Department, and as a result, these families' children are unable to obtain identity cards for years, depriving them of many social services.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
İran Azərbaycanında 4 yaşlı Atalaya şəxsiyyət vəsiqəsi verilmir