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| Milad Balisini |
In recent times, protests against the censorship imposed by Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance on Turkish-language books have been increasing significantly.
Milad Balisini, a researcher and writer from Iran's East Azerbaijan province, told Voice of America that as the number of people writing and reading in Turkish in Iran increases, the censorship policies against Turkish literature have also become more systematic.
According to Milad Balisini, “We have faced the censorship of Turkish books in Iran from the beginning. However, recently, as pressure increases and writers and publishers expose this pressure, we have been seeing it more often. If we look back, both our Turkish-speaking audience and our writers have grown. The more enthusiasm and passion there is for reading, writing, and creating in Turkish, the more the authorities have made censorship an issue and tried to make it more systematic... The number of Turkish readers and writers is increasing, and content production in Turkish is growing. As a result, systematic censorship is also intensifying.”
Balisini states that as pressures increase, more examples of censorship against Turkish books are being revealed. According to the cultural activist, these examples of censorship cover various categories, including words, concepts, historical perspectives, content, and discourse in Turkish books.
“To give an example, they demand changes starting with the name of the language itself. For instance, in a children's book, they asked the author to change the name of the language—don’t write ‘Turkish’; instead, use names like ‘Azerbaijani’ or ‘Azari.’ Beyond that, they interfere with words, claiming, ‘This is Turkish from Turkey, this is Turkish from the Caucasus; remove this and replace it with that, or use the generalized equivalent.’ What this so-called generalized equivalent means, no one knows. There are plenty of examples like this,” Balisini said.
According to the open letter published by Bahram Asadi, for some books prepared for publication, the Ministry of Culture required the addition of specific explanations. For instance, in a correction notice sent for a children's book, it was written: “Considering that this book is for children, a preface must be included explaining historical and cultural truths, stating 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 of Azerbaijan for approximately the past 4-5 centuries.” Moreover, a poetry collection was asked to remove a poem titled “Azerbaijan” from the book.
According to Milad Balisini, one of the objectives of censorship on Turkish books in Iran is to prevent the formation of a unified written Turkish language across various regions.
“For example, Turks in Zanjan and regions south of Zanjan use the word ‘tükənmək’ (to deplete). However, in regions north of Zanjan, such as Tabriz, Urmia, and Ardabil, this word has been forgotten... If this word, for instance, is written in Zanjan or Hamedan and then used in Tabriz, Urmia, or Ardabil, forgotten words may come back into usage and re-enter the language of Turks in other regions. This could lead to the formation of a unified Turkish across a broad area. But they don’t allow this, even if we don’t use words created by linguistic institutions in Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan. However, we should benefit from the words used in Turkey and Azerbaijan as well,” Milad Balisini added.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Milad Balisini: İranda türkcə yazıb-oxuyanların sayı artdıqca, senzura siyasəti də daha sistemli hal alır