"At Sea" (Dənizdə) Play Performed in Turkish at Tabriz City Theater

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, February 26, 2025

The poster of the play Dənizdə (At Sea).

The Turkish-language play At Sea (Dənizdə), directed by theatre arts instructor and director Ali Fotouhi, has been on stage at Tabriz City Theater since Sunday.

According to reports from Nasr News and various social media channels, the play is being performed at the Ustad Sadiqi Hall within the Tabriz City Theater complex and will run for 10 days.

Originally written by renowned Polish playwright Sławomir Mrożek, the play has been translated from English into Turkish by Mehdi Velizadeh.

Turkish-Language Play 'Sattar Khan: National Hero' Wins Hearts in Tehran and Tabriz

 Ahmad Dursun/Anadolu Agency - January 29, 2025

The Turkish-language theater play Sattar Khan: National Hero was met with widespread acclaim from viewers in both Tehran and Tabriz.

This play highlights the sacrifices of Sattar Khan in the struggle for freedom, as well as the cultural diversity and historical heritage of Iran.

The play was initially performed in Tabriz for 20 days, with 25,000 spectators attending, before being included in the Fajr International Theater Festival in Tehran.

Local Cinema and the Language of Film | On Decentralized Filmmaking

  By Riza Siyami – December 11, 2024

One of the essential needs of Iranian cinema is to move away from the capital and make films rooted in local geographies. Naturally, attention to diverse languages can attract audiences who speak in their mother tongue.

While Iranian cinema has successfully crossed geographical borders and gained international acclaim, it remains overly centralized within its own borders—with most films being, in essence, “Tehran films,” featuring modern urban lifestyles and narratives set in the capital. Stories of various ethnic groups are still underrepresented. Although in recent years we have seen more local filmmaking, the press conference for Niki Karimi’s Atabai highlighted the question of language in cinema: Is Persian necessary for Iranian film, and does using a local language undermine a film’s “Iranian-ness”? This debate gains urgency as more critically acclaimed films have recently been made in local languages.

The play Leyli and Majnun was staged in Ardabil after Tabriz

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, November 27, 2023

Leyli and Majnun Play - Ardabil

The play Leyli and Majnun, directed by Yaqub Sadiq Jamali and adapted for the stage in the Turkish language, was performed in Ardabil after its debut in Tabriz.

According to reports and images released by the semi-official ISNA news agency, the play was staged at the Fadak Art and Culture Complex in Ardabil and was met with great enthusiasm by local art lovers.

An Interview with Aria E. Torkanbouri: Azerbaijani-Turk Composer and Ethnomusicologist

Vahid Qarabagli
The Caspian Post
08 July 2022

Vienna-based composer, ethnomusicologist and music theorist, Aria Torkanbouri, discusses some "not encouraging" realities for Azerbaijani-Turk musicians in Iran.

Aria E. Torkanbouri

Aria E. Torkanbouri is a Vienna-based composer, ethnomusicologist and music theorist. He was born in 1989 in Tabriz (Iranian Azerbaijan) and studied in Baku, Germany and Istanbul. While he started out writing pop-rock tunes and later moved into contemporary operatic genres, his themes have consistently focused on subject matter close to his roots as an Azerbaijani-Turk.

Aria Torkanbouri: In Iranian Azerbaijan, We Face Assimilation in Music Just as We Do in Language

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, February 11, 2022

Aria E. Torkanbour

Composer and musicologist Aria Torkanbouri discusses how the art of music in Iranian Azerbaijan is experiencing assimilation from two directions. In an interview with VOA, he shared insights about his work and the state of music in Iran.

The Dead Cities of Cinema

Milad Balisini – Radio Zamaneh – January 20, 2022

Following the public screening of the film Atabay, directed by Niki Karimi, in recent weeks, many residents of Turkish-speaking cities in Iran have flocked to cinemas to watch the movie, primarily due to its use of the Turkish language. With over 4 billion tomans in sales, Atabay has become one of the highest-grossing films in the country. However, many fans from these same cities have voiced their concerns online about the lack of cinemas in their hometowns. Some social media users have reported traveling to neighboring cities to watch the film, while others have written about their town’s cinema being abandoned for years. This article aims to highlight the benefits of cinema, its significance, and the disparities in the distribution, capacity, and quality of cinemas across Iran's provinces.

The Influence of Turkish TV Series on Turks in South Azerbaijan and Iran

Vahid Qarabagli
The Caspian Post

07 December 2021

Amongst Turkey’s fastest-growing exports are its TV drama serials. Known as televizyon dizileri or dizi for short, these are currently watched by an estimated 700 million people in more than 146 countries, from Latin America to the Balkans, the Middle East to Southeast Asia. Worth barely US$100,000 in 2008, dizi-exports have exploded over the past decade and by 2020 were worth an annual $500 million. And that number is expected to double again by 2023. Remarkably, Turkey is now the world’s second-largest exporter of TV drama after the US. 

“If We Hadn’t Made This Film in Turkish, It Would’ve Come Out Ridiculous”

Farhikhtegan Daily – Araz Matlabzadeh – 4 November 2021

A haunting tale rooted in language and land—Skin speaks Turkish not by chance, but by necessity.

Interview with Bahram Ark, Director of Skin

The film Skin (2020) has two directors, both born on 7 August 1989. Of course, that’s our way of saying there are two individuals—but Bahram says he and Bahman are one person in terms of directorial identity: “one soul in two bodies.” The Ark brothers are emerging talents from Tabriz whose entry into Iranian cinema has been significant. Iranian cinema often resists filmmakers from the provinces entering its professional sphere, but when that barrier is broken—even once—the results can be fresh and extraordinary, such as Ehsan Abdi‑Poor from Bushehr in literature and cinema, and the Ark brothers from Tabriz.

In this in-depth and friendly conversation, Bahram reveals another side of himself and his brother—beyond the joking at press conferences or brief festival interviews. We delve into their cinematic world, their literary influences, and their belief in local folklore and grandmother’s lullabies.

Tabriz Sculptor Ruhi Tuna Passes Away

 VOA Azerbaijan - November 1, 2021

Ruhi Tuna Working on the Statue of Dr. Javad Heyat, a prominent surgeon, writer, and linguist, renowned for his contributions to modern medicine and preserving Turkish culture and language in Azerbaijan and Iran.

Tabriz-born sculptor, painter, and political activist Ruhi Tuna passed away on October 30 in Toronto, Canada.

According to information obtained by VOA from his close associates, the artist had been suffering from cancer.

Ruhi Tuna began his creative journey in sculpture at a young age. While in Tabriz, he carved statues of prominent Azerbaijani historical figures such as Sattar Khan and Bagher Khan.

Turkish Cinema in Iran

 The Caspian Post - Anar Tabrizli - October 14, 2021

Making movies has changed a lot over the years, and Turks in Iran have been around for all of it. Image: yotanan chankheaw/Shutterstock

The widely anticipated release of Tarlan, a film made by Mohammad Hosseini, is the latest of several big-name Iranian Azerbaijani movies to emerge in recent years. Given Iran’s large Azerbaijani-Turk population, it is understandable that the country’s cinema, like many other cultural fields, has been influenced by Azerbaijanis. However, it has been a struggle. For most of the 20th century, Iranian filmmakers of any linguistic group were obliged to make their movies in Farsi. And even in that language, Azerbaijani Turkish accents were all too often used to suggest that a character had lower status. It has been a long time coming, but that has started to change significantly in the last few years. 

Turkish Cinema in Iran

 Riza Siyami – February 27, 2020

Like many other phenomena, Iranian cinema owes much to the Turks of the country. The arrival of the first cinematograph in Iran in 1900 (1279 in the Iranian calendar) by Mozaffar al-Din Shah Qajar, a Turkish king of Iran, is considered the starting point of Iranian cinema.

Director Riza Siyami: There is Rapid Progress in Turkish-Language Cinema in Iran

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, February 19, 2020

Riza Siyami, film director

Riza Siyami had previously expressed that it would be sufficient to produce two Turkish-language films per year in Iranian Azerbaijan. However, speaking to Voice of America, the director emphasizes that the situation has now changed. According to him, "the progress over these four years has been faster and stronger than we expected."

Ural Hatemi: There is a New Wave of Turkish Cinema in Iran

 Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, February 17, 2020

Ural Hatemi

Ural Hatemi, the editor-in-chief of the "Maduniyyet" magazine published in Ankara, and sociologist, states, "The current interest in Turkish-language films in Iran has a history. This did not happen overnight or within a year or two. It started many years ago and has now reached its current success."

Turkish Language at the Farsi Festival | Uproar at Niki Karimi’s Film Panel

Dr. Milad Azimi – Hamshahri – February 9, 2020

Ms. Niki Karimi’s film, Atabai, was screened at the Fajr Film Festival. I have not seen the film, but I watched the entire press conference. What caught my attention was the uproar over the Turkish language used in the film. A reporter asked why, since Persian is the official language of the country, an Iranian film should be watched with Persian subtitles. Mr. Hadi Hejazifar, one of the actors who jokingly called himself a “six and eight-cylinder Turk,” called the reporter’s question “fascist.” However, he apologized at the end of the session for his harshness. This shows how sensitive, delicate, and inflammatory this issue is and how it can easily become a source of conflict, hostility, scandal, slander, and division.

Turkish Film Controversy at Iran's Fajr Film Festival

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, February 8, 2020

Niki Karimi & Hadi Hejazifar

A heated debate took place during the press conference of the Turkish-Persian language film Atabay, which was screened at Iran's Fajr Film Festival. Screenwriter Hadi Hejazifar responded to a journalist who criticized the film being made in Turkish, calling the journalist's views "fascist thinking."

After Protests, Permission Granted for a Turkish-Language Film Screening in Iranian Azerbaijan

Hamid Məlikoğlu, Voice of America, October 24, 2019

Following protests, the Turkish-language film Kömür (The Charcoal) was granted permission to be screened in cinemas, just one day after being banned by the directive of the Ardabil Province Department of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

The film’s director, Esmail Monsef, announced this development on his Instagram account on October 23.

The religious body that regulates all cultural activities in the Islamic Republic initially justified halting the screening in the province as a measure to “prevent the activities of Pan-Turkists.”

Leila Norouzi's Film Takes Second Place at Turkish Festival

 Hamid Melikoglu, Voice of America, September 27, 2019

Leyla Novruzi, filmmaker

The short film Qara Yol (Black Road) won second place at the Bursa Film Festival in Turkey.

A ceremony was held as part of the "International Yed-i Velayet 7 Vilayet Short Film Festival," organized by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Cinema Directorate and the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with "Ehli Sanat Senima" and the Cultural Association.

In the short films category, directors Ozan Sihay and Tufan Şimşekcan took first place, Iranian Azerbaijani director Leila Norouzi earned second place with Qara Yol, and Tolga Okur placed third with Arise.

92-Year-Old Ashiq Yusuf Ohanes Passes Away in Urmia

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, May 12, 2019

Ashiq Yusuf Ohanes

Ashiq Yusuf Ohanes, who dedicated his life to the development of the Urmia Ashiq School, like his grandfather Ashiq Iso and father Ashiq Yaghub, passed away on May 12 at the age of 92 in his hometown of Urmia.

Born in 1927 in the village of Taka Diza near Urmia, into a Christian Assyrian (Aysor) family, Yusuf chose to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather in his teenage years, continuing their art.

Author of the Song ‘Ayrılıq’ Passes Away

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, February 9, 2019

Farhad Ibrahimi

Farhad Ibrahimi, the lyricist of “Ayrılıq,” one of the most famous songs in the Turkic world, passed away at the age of 84 in Ardabil, Iranian Azerbaijan.

Renowned songwriter and poet Farhad (Rajab) Ibrahimi was born in 1935 in the village of Korabazli, located in the Yurtchu region of Ardabil.

Ibrahimi is the lyricist behind songs such as Ayrılıq (Separation), Açıl Səhər (Awaken, Morning), and Ağlama (Don’t Cry), composed by Ali Salimi.