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| Samad Pourmusavi |
Recently, McGill University’s Mosaïque: Research Network for Studies in Literacy, Discourse, and Society organized an online symposium titled "Language, People, and Society: Iranian Minority Languages and Literary Traditions." The participants of the symposium presented their papers in Turkish, Kurdish, and Persian.
One of the participants, researcher and language rights activist Samad Pourmusavi, spoke to Voice of America about his presentation titled “The Azerbaijani National Movement and the Idea of Establishing Underground Language and Culture Centers” and also shared his views on the language issue in the current national movement.
The panel included presentations by Hussein Heydari on “The Historical-Social Function of the Turkish Language in Qazvin Province,” Hacer Kabiri on “Language Use and Identity Struggles of Turkish Women in Iran,” Ramin Jabbarli on “The Change of the Mother Tongue of Ethnic Minorities in Iran,” and a joint presentation by Samad Pourmusavi and Vahid Qarabagli.
In his presentation titled "The Azerbaijani National Movement and the Idea of Establishing Underground Language and Culture Centers," Samad Pourmusavi highlighted the language and history courses and meetings organized in the 1990s, particularly by the late historian and author of The Ancient History of Iranian Turks Mohammad Taghi Zehtabi.
"There was an Azerbaijani Cultural Center in Tabriz established by Dr. Zehtabi and many of the elders of the national movement. This center became a means for many cultural movements in the 1990s. At that time, they were able to attract students to this center. The main work was enlightenment. Dr. Zehtabi held lessons there. The young people studied language, history, and literature, and by creating other courses, they brought what they learned there... We also wanted to implement this in classrooms for children back then. Classes were organized for children in homes," Pourmusavi told Voice of America.
Samad Pourmusavi emphasized the importance of restarting such educational activities in Iranian Azerbaijan.
He stated, "At one time, writing and reading Turkish properly was both a source of pride and a reflection of how much people believed in what they were saying. There was deep thought behind this. Because, in the end, the national movement aims to change society against an unjust system. One way to achieve this change is through resistance. Another is through education and enlightenment. A lot of importance was placed on this in those years... Now we are witnessing a different situation. I think education and enlightenment, along with a cultural movement, must be started again, and activists must return to their language."
Pourmusavi stressed that many of the problems in Iranian Azerbaijan stem from "the lack of a language."
"Today, for example, some say 'our problem is not just the language.' It’s true that our only problem is not language. However, many of our problems are due to the lack of a language. Because without a language, we have no independent identity. Without an identity, you are deprived of many rights... Today, I can say that this movement or national struggle has changed its view of language, and the struggle itself has now primarily become about language. The responsibility for this lies directly with the activists and intellectuals, those defending the rights of the Turkish language in Persian," Pourmusavi stated.
Samad Pourmusavi added, "Back in those years, the idea was that language gives us a different national existence. Without a distinct national existence, all our wealth will be seized in the name of those who have national existence. Without language, we are like people without an ID card. When we restore our language rights, we will also restore our national rights. When we give up our language rights, our national rights will no longer be recognized officially, but will only be acknowledged by the colonizer’s definition. We will all become 'everyone.' They say there is oppression for everyone in Iran. This happens in many places in the world. When the element that distinguishes minorities disappears, that minority community becomes invisible. If the language or the core element creating national existence is eliminated, national issues will become invisible."
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Səməd Purmusəvi: İran Azərbaycanında bizim bir çox dərdimizin səbəbi dilsizlikdir