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| Bahram Asadi, Poet, writer, and director of Yaz Publishing |
Poet, writer, and director of Yaz Publishing in Urmia, Bahram Asadi, has published an open letter protesting the severe censorship imposed on Turkish books in Iran.
In a letter shared on the Telegram channel of Yaz Publishing, Bahram Asadi described Ebrahim Raisi’s administration as the worst period for publishing Turkish books.
Asadi revealed examples of censorship applied to books prepared for publication by Yaz Publishing over the past two years. According to him, Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance refused to grant publication permits for several books, claiming that many words used in them were in "Istanbul Turkish."
The examples provided in Asadi’s letter show that the ministry’s experts demanded changes, including replacing the term “Turkish” with “Azeri” or “Azerbaijani” to describe the language and writing the name of Urmia according to its Persian pronunciation. In one notice, the ministry referred to those who wrote the name "Urmia" using Turkish pronunciation as separatists.
“All these examples consist of corrections requested from us by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance over the past two years. These are all notices sent to Yaz Publishing. Other Turkish publishers are not exempt from these rules. They may have either published or refrained from publishing similar documents according to their discretion,” said the director of Yaz Publishing.
According to the documents shared by Əsədi, the title of the book prepared for publication, Dahilik və Yetənəklər (Genius and Talents), as well as expressions used in the book such as “bütünləşdirmək” (integration), “qar çiçəyi” (snowflower), “uçaq” (airplane), and “ayaq izləri” (footprints), were claimed to be in "Istanbul Turkish" and were requested to be changed.
The ministry also demanded the removal of a poem titled Azerbaijan from a poetry collection.
“The entire poem must be removed. The content used in it is against national unity. For example, the poet refers to a province as a homeland instead of the country,” read a letter sent by Iran’s Ministry of Culture to Yaz Publishing.
Some notices also required the front pages of Turkish books to be written in Persian.
The ministry demanded extensive revisions for several books for which Yaz Publishing had sought publication permits. For instance, one notification stated, “All words in Istanbul Turkish must be removed from the book, in accordance with the rules set for previous books, and replaced with local Azerbaijani words.”
For some books, the ministry required the addition of specific explanations. For example, in a correction notice for a children’s book, it was written: “Considering that this book is prepared for children, a preface must be included explaining the historical and cultural truths. It should state that Turkish is not the native language of Azerbaijan. The native language of Azerbaijan is Azari, one of the Iranian languages, and Turkish has been the dominant language in Azerbaijan for approximately the past 4-5 centuries.”
The list of corrections demanded by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for various books included the removal or alteration of numerous words and expressions deemed to be in "Istanbul Turkish," such as “alqış” (applause), “geyim” (clothing), “mürgüləmək” (dozing), “doğru-düzgün” (correct), “öyrənmək” (learning), “genəl” (general), “sıra” (row), “duyğu” (emotion), “davranmaq” (behavior), “doğa” (nature), “üst keçid” (overpass), “öyrətmən” (teacher), “sağlam” (healthy), “fırça” (brush), “diş məcunu” (toothpaste), “simgə” (symbol), “göy qurşağı” (rainbow), “çevrə” (environment), “ölçüt” (criterion), “özgürlük” (freedom), “yoxsul” (poor), “bölüm” (chapter), “ön söz” (preface), “anlayış” (concept), “sınamaq” (examining), “başlanğıc” (beginning), “yeni il” (New Year), “il bayramı” (holiday), “yemək” (meal), “durum” (situation), and “qayğı” (concern).
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Urmiyədəki Yaz nəşriyyatının direktoru İranda türkcə kitablar üzərindəki senzuraya etiraz bildirib