 |
| Poet and Translator Saleh Sajjadi (Photo: El Bilimi Official Instagram Page) |
Two cultural institutions in Tabriz, "El Bilimi" and "Evdə Al," which are active in the field of book publishing, organized an event to introduce the Azerbaijani publishers "Savalan İgidləri" and "Yaşmaq."
This was shared on the Instagram pages of these institutions in Tabriz. The event featured writer and journalist Alireza Sarrafi, Ammar Ahmadi, the owner of "Savalan İgidləri" publishing house, notable figures in the field of Turkish book publishing such as Alireza Aqdami Baher, Saleh Sajjadi, Reza Hosseini Beqanam, Said Mughanli, the owner of "Yaşmaq" publishing house, and Navid Mohammadi.
During the event, Azerbaijani cultural activists expressed concerns about the rise in book prices, the promotion of reading habits in society, and particularly the challenges related to the publication of Turkish books in Iran.
One of the speakers, poet and researcher Saleh Sajjadi, criticized the Iranian Ministry of Culture's "illogical instructions" regarding the writing rules for Turkish books. He stated that the instructions harm the linguistic structure of texts written in Turkish and urged publishers and cultural activists to protest this situation seriously.Sajjadi noted that, according to the new guidelines, publishers are required to write all borrowed words in their original form, as they appear in the source language. He gave examples of words borrowed from Persian and explained that the Ministry demands these words be written according to Persian orthographic rules, rather than following Turkish phonetic rules in the Arabic script.
He emphasized that "minor elements should conform to general rules, not the other way around," and that borrowed words should be adapted to the Turkish language. He added that when a word enters a language, it adopts the phonetic and phonological characteristics of that language and is changed to fit it. "If we write a word in its original form, it disrupts the structure and rhythm of the text or poem," he added.
 |
| Participants of the "Meeting with Savalan İgidləri" event (Photo: Elbilimi Official Instagram Page) |
Sajjadi also shared his difficulties in obtaining publication permission for the Persian translation of his book "Dede Korkut." He said that the Iranian Ministry of Islamic Guidance rejected the publication of the book under the claim that it violated "publication rules." He later learned that some individuals supporting the "Iranian nationalism" ideology had sent letters to the Ministry, claiming that the "Dede Korkut" work did not belong to Iranian culture and contained Pan-Turkist messages.
Despite these obstacles, he mentioned that, through the intervention of certain individuals, the first publication of the book was achieved with great difficulty. However, when they applied for a second publication through another publishing house, the Ministry once again blocked it for the same reason.
Cultural activists, writers, and publishers in Iranian Azerbaijan have long criticized the problems they face in publishing and licensing Turkish books. For example, in July of the previous year, researcher Seyid Javad Miri had noted that some of his books had been unable to obtain licensing for years.
Urmia-based publisher Behram Asadi stated that when applying for a license for a Turkish-language children's book, the author was required to state that Turkish is not the native language of Azerbaijan, which he described as an attempt at assimilation.
Hassan Goli, the deputy head of the East Azerbaijan Guidance Office, stated that book licenses are issued based on their conformity with "the Turkish language of Iranian Azerbaijan" and the "Tabriz dialect." However, cultural activists and publishers argue that the censorship applied to Turkish works and the linguistic criteria set by the Ministry harm the Turkish language.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
İran Azərbaycanında türkcə əsərlərin nəşrində senzura və çətinliklər davam edir