The Shirdel family, living in Tabriz, was able to obtain an identity card for their child with the name "Türkay" after about 9 months of struggle.
Abbas Lisani's telegram channel shared a copy of Türkay Shirdel's identity card.
The Shirdel family had initially faced rejection from the Tabriz registration office and then from the East Azerbaijan Civil Registration Directorate when they attempted to obtain an identity card for their daughter with the Turkish name they had chosen. As a result, they were forced to appeal to Tabriz’s general court.
After the court accepted their complaint, the identity card was issued for their daughter, born in the early days of January, nearly 9 months later.
This is not the first time the name "Türkay," given to both girls and boys, has been registered through court intervention in Iran. The name Türkay has previously been registered through court decisions in Iranian Azerbaijan. In June 2021 and April 2022, families in East Azerbaijan province who were unable to obtain identity cards for their children with the name Türkay filed complaints in court, successfully registering the name.
In recent years, there has been an observed increase in the number of families in various provinces of Iran, particularly in areas with a Turkish population, who choose Turkish names for their children. Families tend to prefer names that are particularly popular in Turkey. According to the recent data released by the Zanjan Civil Registration Directorate, "Ayhan" was the most popular male name in Zanjan province in the first half of the current 1402 Hijri year.
Families in Iran's Azerbaijan region and Tehran, who have been unable to obtain identity cards for their children with Turkish names for months or even years, are trying to make their voices heard through social media. Previously, it was reported on social media that Iranian officials had refused to issue identity 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 families repeatedly approached registration offices or the courts.
Civil registration offices in various cities often refuse to issue identity cards for names chosen by families, citing reasons such as the names not having Iranian or Islamic origins, being foreign, or not being on the approved list.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Təbrizdə daha bir ailə Türkay adlı uşağına məhkəmə yolu ilə şəxsiyyət vəsiqəsi alıb