Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, September 1, 2023
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| Murtuz Nurməhəmmədi in front of the Sufiyan registration office. |
Iran's civil registration authority has refused to issue an ID card for a newborn girl named "Hunay" from the Nurmehemmedi family in East Azerbaijan province.
According to information spread on social media, the Nurmehemmedi family, residents of Nadarlı village, applied for an ID card for their daughter with the name "Hunay," which they had chosen in Turkish, at the civil registration office in the city of Sufiyan, Shabestar.
Hunay’s father, Murtuz Nurmehemmedi, initially tried to pre-register the name online but received an SMS informing him that the name "Hunay" would not be accepted for an ID card.
On Wednesday, Murtuz Nurmehemmedi again visited the Sufiyan registration office, only to be refused once more. He protested the decision of the registration office and is currently awaiting a response to his appeal.
For months and even years, families in Iranian Azerbaijan and Tehran have been struggling to obtain ID cards for their children with Turkish names they have chosen. These families are trying to raise their voices through social media. Previously, there were reports on social media that Iranian authorities had refused to issue ID cards for names such as Alp Orhan, Sevgi, Yağış, Oğuz Kaan, Onur, Alparslan, Atakan, Ayıl, Hakan, Anar, Türkay, Tarkan, and Volkan. Some of these names were later registered after repeated appeals to the registration offices or courts.
In recent years, the number of families in regions with large Turkish populations in Iran who choose Turkish names for their children has been increasing. Families tend to prefer names that are particularly popular in Turkey. In various cities, civil registration offices refuse to issue ID cards for names that are not of Iranian or Islamic origin, are foreign, or are not included in the list of approved names.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Şərqi Azərbaycan vilayətində qeydiyyat şöbəsi Hunay adlı uşağa şəxsiyyət vəsiqəsi vermir