Tabriz Twins Finally Receive ID Cards After Year-Long Struggle Over Turkish Names

Hamid Melikoglu, Voice of America, December 15, 2023

Tabriz Registration Office

After more than a year of delay, the twin children from Tabriz, İlkay and Türkay, were finally able to obtain their ID cards from the Tabriz Registration Office.

Human rights defender Sina Yusifi shared the news on his X (formerly Twitter) account, posting a copy of the twins' ID cards.

He also pointed out that "Most of the names in the Turkish language of the Turks in Iran face restrictions at the Registration Office, and parents are forced to go through a lengthy legal process by appealing to the courts."

İlkay and Türkay were born on November 15, 2022, and their ID cards were issued on December 4 of the current year.

It is believed that many families in Iranian Azerbaijan who choose Turkish names for their children face difficulties obtaining ID cards. Only a portion of these families’ struggles with the registration office are shared on social media.

In recent years, there has been a noticeable trend of parents in regions with Turkish populations in Iran preferring Turkish names for their newborns.

According to the policies of the Iranian Registration Office, families who choose Turkish names for their children often face numerous obstacles. These challenges sometimes become so severe that some families are unable to obtain ID cards for their children for months or even years.

Many parents, particularly ethnic Azerbaijanis, interpret these obstacles as a form of opposition from the government against the increasing use of Turkish names. On the other hand, this action is seen as a form of civil disobedience in the struggle for the cultural and linguistic rights of national minorities in the country.

Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Təbrizli əkizlərə bir ildən sonra şəxsiyyət vəsiqəsi verilib

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