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| Masoud Pezeshkian, President of Iran |
On Sunday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei signed the decree appointing Masoud Pezeshkian as the 9th president of Iran. Pezeshkian will take office officially on July 30 after swearing an oath in the Iranian Parliament to protect Iran’s “official religion, the Islamic Republic system, and its constitution.”
Sociologist and political activist Vahid Qarabagli discussed Pezeshkian’s tenure as a member of parliament representing Tabriz, his candidacy for president, and his statements and discourse since being elected president in an interview with Voice of America.
Many Iranian experts believe that Iran's Supreme Leader has allowed Pezeshkian to become president in light of the country’s foreign and internal challenges. According to Qarabagli, Pezeshkian’s candidacy was supported with the expectation that he would help Iran navigate upcoming domestic and foreign crises more smoothly.
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| Vahid Qarabagli |
Qarabagli highlights that Pezeshkian stands out from previous presidents and officials because he has strongly addressed religious and ethnic discrimination.
“As a presidential candidate, Pezeshkian stated that there has been discrimination against Sunnis and ethnic groups in Iran. They are not equally represented in state positions. For example, there is economic and cultural discrimination in the provinces of Baluchistan and Azerbaijan. For a presidential candidate, and now a president, to speak out about this discourse is very important,” the sociologist explains.
He emphasizes that the fight for equal rights by non-Persian communities in Iran has been ongoing for years. “The Turkic people, Baluchis, Turkmen, Kurds, and Arabs who have faced discrimination have been fighting for this cause for years so that this discourse is recognized as part of Iran’s reality. Pezeshkian’s actions strengthen this discourse. This is a struggle. I do not think that Pezeshkian will solve these issues during his term. These are deep-rooted issues. They are the products of the past century, shaped by ideologies and policies that have now been institutionalized. But at the same time, there has been resistance to this throughout the past century,” he adds.
Pezeshkian’s use of the Turkish language in his speeches and social media posts after becoming president has been interpreted differently by experts and activists. Some Turkish activists have criticized Pezeshkian for ending a response to a post from the Supreme Leader's account with the word "yaşasın" (long live), seeing it as populist.
“Pezeshkian even as a member of parliament in the past decade, raised these issues. He speaks Turkish fluently. Typically, Turkish-speaking representatives or officials from Azerbaijan speak Turkish with many Persian influences, only using Turkish verbs. Pezeshkian has always stood out in this regard. I do not think his use of Turkish now is populist. It is actually part of his character. As president, he does not hide his Turkish identity and openly declares it. This is important because in the past century, they tried to create a unified Iranian identity in Iran, ignoring different identities. But Pezeshkian’s use of Turkish shows that the Turkish language is important in Iran. If we imagine a just system, where different ethnic groups are represented, Turkish should also be an official language in Iran, and Azerbaijani politicians use it freely. We should envision such a goal for the future,” Vahid Qarabagli concludes.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Vahid Qarabağlı: Pezeşkian prezident olduqdan sonra da türklüyünü gizlətmir, bu önəmlidir