When Babek Became a Movement

Heydar Bayat  — July 2, 2021

Babek Fort

Babek is one of the most contested figures in our history. Persians regard him as a symbol of resistance against the Arabs, someone who fought to restore the dignity lost through earlier defeats. Turks, meanwhile, portray him as a symbol of devotion to Azerbaijan whose sole aim was its advancement. There are also differing views concerning his ethnicity and beliefs. Nasser Pourpirar apparently maintained that neither Babek nor Babek Castle ever existed in Iran.

For me personally, Babek’s political, religious, and ethnic identity is not important. The path remains open both for historians to conduct research and for mythmakers to invent historical tales. The essential point is that, between 1996 and 2006, the Turkish identity movement succeeded in presenting a narrative of Babek and his struggle that anti-Turk forces—with their hundreds of public and private institutions in Iran and the West—could neither defeat nor silence.

A generation had decided that, this time, it would narrate its own past and present—and it succeeded. For me, the story of the Babek Castle gatherings represents a moment when a new generation of Turks placed its own imprint upon its history, and did so successfully.

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Babak and the Commemoration Ceremonies for Babak among Iran’s Turks

Dr. Fazıl Özdamar, Center for Iranian Studies (İRAM), November 4, 2020

Iran, one of the countries with the largest Turkish population after Türkiye, was a region under Turkish political and cultural rule for centuries. As in the past, Turks living in Iran continue to exert their cultural influence today across a broad range of fields—from architecture, music, and poetry to handicrafts, narrative traditions, and the motifs woven into carpets.

Language is naturally one of the principal means through which cultural elements are preserved and transmitted to future generations. However, throughout the Pahlavi period, which began in 1925 and ended in 1979, all Turkish-language cultural activities—including education and publishing in the mother tongue—were prohibited. Iranian Turkish intellectuals, poets, and writers faced repression because of their efforts to engage with the Turkish language and culture.

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The Babek Castle Congress: Azerbaijani Turkish Identity, Mass Mobilization, and State Repression in Iran

Tuesday, July 7, 2020 - Author: Parviz Yari

The historic Babek Castle is located at an elevation of 2,300 metres, three kilometres from the town of Kaleybar and 180 kilometres northeast of Tabriz.

“Disturbing public order,” “acting against national security,” “propaganda activity against the establishment through the distribution of leaflets,” and “participating in the illegal Babak Castle ceremony” are among the most common charges brought in recent years against Azerbaijani people and civil activists for attending the gathering known as the “Babak Castle Congress.”

The Babak Castle Congress, also known as the “Babak Castle Qurultay,” is held annually on the second Thursday and Friday of the Iranian month of Tir, coinciding with the birthday of Babak Khorramdin. Since the late 1990s, local people and Turkish civil activists have gathered at Babak Fortress, located three kilometres from the city of Kaleybar in East Azerbaijan Province. Participants come not only from the surrounding region but also from distant areas, often travelling to the fortress on foot. There, they express their demands through traditional music, street theatre, and public speeches.

“Babak Castle Is a Site Where Turkish (Azerbaijani) Activists Voice Their Demands”

July 7, 2019 — Gozaar

Babak Castle is a structure situated on a mountain at an elevation of 2,300 metres, three kilometres from Kaleybar in East Azerbaijan Province.

The fortress was built during the Sasanian period and takes its name from Babak Khorramdin, who rebelled against the Abbasid caliphs approximately 1,100 years ago.

Every year in Iran, a number of Turkish (Azerbaijani) activists gather for the annual Babak Castle ceremony in Kaleybar County, East Azerbaijan Province, where they voice their demands and grievances.

Under Article 27 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, public gatherings and marches are declared permissible, provided that participants do not carry weapons and that the gatherings are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam. Nevertheless, every year, as the date of the ceremony approaches, a number of activists in Turkish-populated regions are summoned or arrested.

On Saturday, July 6, 2019, we spoke with Ali Azizi, a Turkish (Azerbaijani) activist, about the Babak Castle gathering.

Iran: Release Azerbaijani Turkic minority rights activists detained for peaceful cultural gatherings

11 August 2018 - Index Number: MDE 13/8889/2018 - Also available in English , فارسی , Türkçe

Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release activist Ebrahim Nouri, as well as anyone else still arbitrarily detained after the arrest of around 120 people in connection with two separate Azerbaijani Turkic cultural gatherings that took place in July and August 2018. The authorities must drop any charges against Ebrahim Nouri and anyone else targeted solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, including through their advocacy promoting the rights of the Azerbaijani Turkic minority in Iran.

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"Babak Castle, stadiums, or social media, all channels must be used"

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, August 02, 2018

Mehsa Mehdili

In an interview with Voice of America, Mehsa Mehdili explains the differences between the Babak Castle march in Iranian Azerbaijan and other protest platforms used by Turkish activists.

Mehsa Mehdili, a political activist living in exile in Turkey, says that the Babak march, especially in terms of being a platform for dialogue and thought and also becoming a tradition, distinguishes it from other forms of protest.

The Annual Gathering of Turks at Babak Castle: What is it About?

Alirza Quluncu, BBC Persian, 1st August 2018

Babek Castle, Kalibar, East Azerbaijan.

The annual gathering at Babak Castle, located in the Kalibar County of East Azerbaijan province, began in the late 1990s.

At that time, civil rights activists of the Turkish community were looking for platforms and opportunities to express their demands from the government and communicate their messages to various layers of society. A group of political activists in Azerbaijan, who had hoped for political and cultural openness from the "Reformist government," soon became disillusioned and had to choose between joining the ranks of the reformists or continuing to work within the framework of ethnic and linguistic rights. Additionally, the bloody events of July 18 and 20, 1999, at the Tehran and Tabriz universities, especially the more intense repression in Tabriz and its limited media coverage, showed that security agencies had greater leeway to suppress protests in peripheral areas outside the capital.

Mehdi Neimi: The Babak Castle March Has Symbolic Importance

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, July 30, 2018

Mehdi Neimi

The annual Babak Castle march, traditionally held on the second weekend of summer in Iranian Azerbaijan, has not had the same grandeur since 2005. Turkish activist Mehdi Neimi, in an interview with Voice of America, evaluates the efforts to reinstate this march on a large scale. He emphasizes that this march holds symbolic significance for the National Movement.

"The Government Fears the Street Movement"

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, July 14, 2018

Akbar Abulzadeh 

Approximately 80 Turkish activists have been detained since last week in connection with the annual march to Babak Castle in the Qaradağ region of South Azerbaijan. Dozens of other activists have been summoned by the Ettelaat (intelligence) agencies or threatened over the phone. Speaking to Voice of America from the Qaradağ region, activist Akbar Abulzadeh explained the events and assessed the Iranian authorities' sensitivity towards the traditional Babak march.

Arrests in Iran Following the Babak Castle Ceremony

 Deutsche Welle Persian – Taher Shirmohammadi – July 8, 2018

Following the Babak Castle ceremony, a number of Azerbaijani civil activists were arrested. Ahmad Omid Yazdani, an Azerbaijani author and writer, told DW Persian that 30 detainees had been released, but the fate of many others remained unknown.

The annual Babak Castle gathering was held under unprecedented and intensive security measures from the afternoon of Thursday, July 5, until the evening of Friday, July 6, 2018. This year’s ceremony differed from those of previous years. The number of arrests was higher than in preceding years, and arrests continued even after the ceremony had ended.

Number of “Detainees” at Babak Castle Gathering “Exceeds 50”

Radio Farda - July 7, 2018

Toward Babak Castle

According to several news and human-rights websites, the number of civil activists arrested in recent days ahead of the annual gathering at Babak Castle in East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran, has reportedly risen to “more than 50.”

According to HRANA, a website that reports on human-rights issues, “widespread arrests have taken place, particularly in the provinces of East Azerbaijan and Ardabil.”

Radio Farda was unable to independently verify these arrests.

Babak Castle is a fortress dating from the Sasanian era, situated atop a mountain near the city of Kaleybar in East Azerbaijan Province.

In recent years, a number of Turkish and Azerbaijani activists have gathered annually at the castle in mid-July, where they hold celebrations and voice their social and ethnic demands.

"The Babak Castle March Has Always Frightened the Iranian Government"

 Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, July 6, 2018

Babak Castle March – July 2003

The mass arrests of Turkish activists ahead of the traditional Babak Castle march in South Azerbaijan indicate that the Iranian government fears the march being held with the same scale and significance as in the past. This opinion was expressed by Şahin Xiyavlı in an interview with Voice of America.

The human rights advocate spoke about the ongoing wave of arrests, as well as the history and importance of the annual Babak Castle march.

The Babek Castle Gathering and “Punishment Before the Crime”

Hasan Rashidi — July 5, 2018

At the Babak Castle gathering in July 2002, activists from Ardabil hold a placard reading: “Babak has always been the loud voice of the nation of Azerbaijan against oppression and oppressors.”

It appears that this year, on July 5 and 6, 2018—Thursday and Friday, a ceremony was expected to be held at Babak Castle near the city of Kaleybar in East Azerbaijan, similar to those organized between 2000–2004. The event was to coincide with the birthday of Babak Khorramdin, the historic Azerbaijani hero who fought against the tyranny of the Abbasid caliph for twenty-two years.

As in those earlier years, participants would probably have commemorated Babak Khorramdin, played traditional ashik music, performed ashik songs, and organized other civic and cultural activities. Some participants might also have called for the implementation of Articles 15, 19, and 48 of the Constitution.

Babak Castle and Cyrus’s Tomb: Azerbaijani Civil Rights, State Repression, and Selective Democracy in Iran

Mahdi Hamidi — October 30, 2017

Activists display a placard reading, “Don’t forget the 30 million South Azerbaijan[i] Turks,” during the annual Babak Castle gathering in the early 2000s.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Azerbaijani people and civil activists gathered at Babak Castle every July to celebrate Babak’s birthday through dance, music, poetry recitations, and speeches. They used this occasion in an entirely peaceful and civic manner to express Azerbaijan’s democratic demands.

The government eventually became alarmed by these civic gatherings, which were among the first of their kind. Every year, around the anniversary of Babak’s birth, the authorities blocked the roads leading to Babak Castle under various pretexts. They did not stop at closing the roads. The matter was even referred to senior religious authorities for formal rulings, and several clerics—including Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani and Abdolkarim Mousavi Ardebili—issued rulings declaring Babak an unbeliever and a heretic.

Remembering the Journey to Babek Castle

December 3, 2016 — Yousef Azizi Benitorof

During the ascent to Babek Castle — Kaleybar, East Azerbaijan, July 2002
From right: Alireza Sarrafi, editor-in-chief of the banned journal Dilmanc; Yousef Azizi Benitorof.

On the way to Babek Castle in Kaleybar, East Azerbaijan, July 1, 2002. Alireza Sarrafi and I joined crowds of Azerbaijani Turks climbing the mountainside, determined to affirm their national identity.

It was late afternoon when we departed Tehran by bus for Kaleybar. Everyone was Turkish except my son Afnan and me. Yet we were not strangers within that gathering, because we shared the same spirit and purpose. Along the way, one person played the tar, another sang, and a third performed a Turkish dance. Poetry, happiness, and music continued until morning. The same festivities continued on the second night, this time at the foot of the castle.

How Going to Babak Castle Became Political?

April 21, 2016 - Mashallah Razmi

The gathering at Babak Castle has evolved into an impromptu assembly for raising the demands of the Azerbaijani Turks. According to those who participated, there is a noticeable emphasis on Azerbaijan's cultural characteristics, such as the Turkish language, Turkish poetry, music, and dance.

Babak Khorramdin led a political-social movement in Azerbaijan starting in 201 CE, opposing the Abbasid Caliphate, which lasted for 22 years. In reality, the Khorramdin movement was both a resistance by the people of Azerbaijan against foreign invaders and a result of the wars and conflicts between the Abbasid Caliphs and the Byzantine Empire in the West and the Khazar Empire to the north of Azerbaijan. Babak’s followers utilized these empires as a rear support.

The Annual Gathering at Babek Castle: Giving Voice to the Suppressed

Alirza Quluncu
July 7, 2010 
Rooz

The Annual Babek Castle Gathering

"Disturbance of public order" or "activity against national security by participating in the illegal ceremony at Babak Castle" is one of the common accusations against Azerbaijani Turk activists in Iran. Many well-known activists have been arrested at least once for participating in this protest gathering. Hence, Turkish activists believe that it is precisely due to the securitization of this annual public gathering, coupled with severe crackdowns and the arrest of civil activists, that its significance has diminished.

FESTIVAL OF BABEK: THE LIVING SOUL OF AZERBAIJAN’S HISTORY

Dr Alireza Asgharzadeh

Every year in early July the Azeri town of Kaleyber becomes a colorful landscape of anti-colonial resistance against internal colonialism and oppression in Iran. People come from all over Azerbaijan in their hundreds of thousands to a place at the heart of which lies the famous Fortress of Bezz, a sacred sanctuary that sheltered a local resistance movement centuries ago. They gather in the town of Kaleyber to pay homage to their ancient hero, Babek Khorramdin, who over twelve centuries ago put up a fierce resistance against the invading Islamic/Arabic forces. Men, women, students, workers, peasants and farmers come to celebrate the birthday of Babek, this legendary figure who has now turned into the living soul of a people’s history of resistance and struggle. They pitch their tents around the Fortress of Bezz, the stronghold of Babek and his fighters for 23 years; they explore the Qala/Fortress from dawn to dusk; they gather around bonfires at night; they sing, dance, exchange ideas and read poetry.

The 2003 Babek Castle Declaration: Azerbaijani Turks Demands for Rights, Equality, and Federalism

Jul 03, 2006

In June 2003, during the annual Babak Castle Congress, Azerbaijani Turk activists gathered at the foot of the historic fortress to voice their collective aspirations. In a symbolic and defiant act, they issued a trilingual statement—delivered in Turkish, English, and Persian—outlining a series of political and civil demands. These demands called for education in the mother tongue, the elimination of political and economic discrimination, the establishment of a 24-hour Turkish-language television channel, and the adoption of a federal structure within the country. The statement, read by prominent activist Abbas Lisani.

However, the growing influence of these gatherings soon drew the attention of state authorities. From 2004 onward, security forces intensified efforts to suppress the annual event, erecting checkpoints, restricting access, and conducting widespread arrests in an attempt to deter public participation. Despite these measures, the Babak Castle Congress remained a significant expression of Azerbaijani Turk identity and political activism.

Iran: Authorities should exercise restraint in policing Babek Castle gathering and address human rights violations against Iranian Azer[baijan]i Turks

28 June 2006 - Index Number: MDE 13/074/2006 - Also available in English , Español , Français , العربية

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