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| Teoman Aktan, political analyst |
Seventy-nine years have passed since the Azerbaijan Democratic Party (ADP), under the leadership of Seyyed Jafar Pishevari, established the short-lived Azerbaijan National Government in Tabriz.
Political analyst and activist Teoman Aktan, in an interview with Voice of America, discussed the significance of the ADP in Iran’s contemporary history and the perspectives of Iranian intellectuals and politicians on that period. In the interview, Aktan emphasized that the negative campaigns against the ADP are part of the Iranian government’s policy to marginalize Turkish identity and exclude Turks from the political arena.
Referring to differing views on the ADP within Iran, he stated, "This movement has been portrayed in different ways among Iranian intellectuals. Notably, some left-leaning intellectuals have framed the Azerbaijan Democratic Party as a model of the struggle for class equality but ignored its emphasis on national liberation. On the other hand, intellectuals close to the central government have generally presented the ADP as a separatist movement and sought to discredit its theses and reforms."
Aktan noted that the negative campaigns against the ADP are part of the Iranian government’s strategy to marginalize Turkish identity:
"We face the reality that these negative campaigns and slander against the ADP are essentially part of the Iranian central government’s strategy to marginalize Turkish identity. Turkish identity has been systematically turned into an object of hate within the Iranian political sphere, making its exclusion easier. This discrediting has been carried out by distorting historical facts, and as a result, the political movements of Turks in Iran have been portrayed as dangerous elements."
Teoman Aktan highlighted that Seyyed Jafar Pishevari and other leaders of the ADP were at the "center of this demonization campaign" in Iran’s modern history. According to him, "Pishevari and figures like him were targeted to obscure the social and political significance of the ADP."
In recent months, some politicians and media figures in Iran have criticized President Masoud Pezeshkian for meeting with Turkish activists and for remarks allegedly associating him with pan-Turkist groups. These critics have suggested that his actions evoke comparisons to Seyyed Jafar Pishevari.
According to Aktan, "This demonization policy in Iran’s modern history continues today. Turkish political figures face similar perceptions of threat. For example, even the recent comparisons between President Pezeshkian and Pishevari aimed to distance him from Turkish issues, reflecting a current instance of this strategy. Portraying Pezeshkian as a threat and frequently comparing him to Pishevari to alienate him from Turks is a strategy widely employed in Iranian politics, media, and political circles. These comparisons frame Turkish identity as a national security issue and seek to weaken the political presence of Turks. The demonization of Turkish political figures and the vilification of their movements serve the purpose of isolating Turkish identity from the political and public spheres, rendering it completely ineffective."
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Teoman Aktan: Azərbaycan Demokrat Firqəsinin qaralanması İranda türk kimliyini siyasi sahədən uzaqlaşdırma siyasətinin bir parçasıdır