Mehmet Rıza Heyet: Alemolhoda's Words Incite Hate Against Turks and Arabs

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, June 27, 2023

Dr. Mehmet Rıza Heyet

Recently, numerous Turkish activists from Iranian Azerbaijan and the Qashqai regions issued a joint declaration condemning Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s wife, Jamileh Alemolhoda, for her “racist and hate-filled remarks against Turks.”

Political activist and Ankara University lecturer Mohammad Rıza Heyet, one of the drafters of the statement addressed to various institutions, spoke with Voice of America. Heyet described Alemolhoda's remarks as expressions of hatred not only toward Turks and Arabs within Iran but also toward those living in neighboring countries.

Linguistic Policy and the Structure of the Azerbaijani National Government

Dr. Riza Heyet

The group photo of the founders, members, and supporters of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party led by Seyed Jafar Pishavari.

The one-year period of the "Azerbaijani National Government," established in Southern Azerbaijan in 1945, which lasted until 1946, was of vital significance, especially in terms of linguistic and socio-cultural aspects, for the Turks of Southern Azerbaijan. The Turks of Iran, who had been defeated in the political struggle in 1925, were subjected to a severe phase of Persianization along with a prohibition on their language. This phase, which lasted for more than 15 years, was briefly ended in 1945 with the establishment of the "Azerbaijani National Government" by the politicians and intellectuals of Azerbaijan, with Seyed Jafar Pishavari at the forefront. The establishment and continuation of the "Azerbaijani National Government" aimed at eradicating assimilation policies and instilling national identity awareness in the Turks of Southern Azerbaijan during a turbulent one-year period. The linguistic policy of the Turkish language in the "Azerbaijani National Government" gave national identity to the Turkish language. Turkish became the official language of Azerbaijan. Along with the development of the Turkish language in schools, courts, and all official bodies, opportunities for the education and preservation of the languages of other minorities were also provided. In just one year, the number of published books exceeded one hundred volumes. The population of poets and writers of Azerbaijan was established, and cultural relations between the two Azerbaijans were developed. However, with the dissolution of the Azerbaijani National Government in 1946 and the re-subordination of Azerbaijan to the Pahlavi regime, a new and longer period of Persianization began.

Mehmet Rıza Heyet: Stateless Turks' Expectations from the Turkic Council Are Mostly Cultural

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, April 29, 2021

Mehmet Rıza Heyet

Turkologist scholar Mehmet Rıza Heyet, in a conversation with Voice of America, states that "Turkic communities without a state, including the Turks in Iran, under the current circumstances, can only have expectations from the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States (Turkic Council) in cultural and artistic fields."

"Javad Zarif’s Reaction to Erdoğan Removed the Taboo on the Turkish Issue in Iran"

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, December 18, 2020

In an interview with VOA (Voice of America), Mehmet Rıza Heyet stated that Iran’s reaction to the poem recited by Turkish President Erdoğan during the parade in Baku was a hasty decision made under pressure. According to him, Iran unintentionally removed the Turkish issue from being a taboo by reacting impulsively to it—an issue it had attempted to suppress for nearly a century.

"With this reaction, Iran essentially demonstrated that its weakest point is Turkishness. I will do whatever it takes to suppress Turkishness," said Heyet, a lecturer at Ankara University.

"In This Draft Constitution, We Have Set Out the Conditions for Coexistence"

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, December 12, 2018

Mehmet Rıza Heyet

"In fact, this is, in a way, about setting out our conditions," says Mehmet Rıza Heyet, head of the Tabriz Research Institute, who proposed the draft constitution for the Federal Republic of Iran, in an interview with Voice of America. "That is, after so much discrimination, oppression, pressure, and division, we can live together under certain conditions. Without these conditions, coexistence will not be possible."

Turkish Language Politics in Iran and Southern Azerbaijan: 'Istanbul Turkish' vs. 'Tabriz Dialect'

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, August 19, 2015

Memmed Riza Heyat

Turkologist M. Riza Heyat evaluates the state policy regarding the Turkish language in Iran

Turkologist Məhəmməd Rza Heyat discussed the opening of the “Istanbul Turkish Language and Literature” department at Urmia University and the efforts of officials in the South to create a different “standard language” from the writing languages used in Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan in an interview with Voice of America. The editor of Varlıq magazine and a lecturer at Ankara University from the South emphasized that “Istanbul Turkish” is a wrong and unscientific term, and the “Tabriz dialect” does not possess the characteristics of a standard language.

Mehmet Rıza Heyet: A System That Seeks to Erase the Turkish Language Won’t Establish a Turkish Language Institution

Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, April 4, 2015

Dr. Mehmet Rıza Heyet

“You continue the assimilation policies inherited from the Pahlavi era, and at the same time, you promise to create an institution to protect the very language you aim to destroy. I believe this is not feasible. It’s a facade.” These are the words of South Azerbaijani Turkologist and academic Mehmet Rıza Heyet regarding promises over the past two years about establishing a “Turkish Language Institution” in Iran.

The Historical Name of Our Language: From Nizami Ganjavi to Shahriyar

M. Riza Heyet – Varlıq Magazine – Spring and Autumn 1997

Mehemmed Riza Heyet

Through an examination of literature by poets from Azerbaijan, this article explores how they historically called their language Turkish, despite the colonial and nationalist policies of the twentieth century that sought, for ideological and political purposes, to erase the historical continuity of this name.

The true name of our mother tongue is clear to the majority of our people—particularly to those who have not read, or rather have been unable to read, the fabricated history books. For centuries, our people have identified themselves as Turks and called their language Turkish (Türki or Türkçe), affirming this openly and courageously at all times and in all places. Unfortunately, however, today our mother tongue is referred to by various names in both Northern Azerbaijan and Iran, with each person naming it according to their own preference. This process of fabrication began in 1936 at Stalin’s direction. With the intention of separating the Muslim Turkic peoples from one another and severing their ties to their past, Stalin ordered the name “Turk” to be erased throughout the Soviet Union; consequently, our language, which had always been called Turkish, was officially registered as the “Azerbaijani language” from that day onward.