Vahid Jalalzadeh, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran for Consular and Parliamentary Affairs, visited Azerbaijan last Friday. He met with state and government officials.
Vahid Jalalzadeh later met with Azerbaijani journalists. Responding to Modern.az's question, "Are Azerbaijani-language schools expected to open in Iran in the near future?", the diplomat noted that, according to the country's constitution, education in the mother tongue is legal.
It is interesting, if this is the case, then why have Azerbaijani-language schools not been opened in Iran until now? Have requests been made to the government for the opening of Azerbaijani-language schools, and how have they been responded to?
Ahmad Obali, founder and head of Günaz.TV, originally from South Azerbaijan, stated in a conversation with us that the Iranian regime is built on Persian nationalism, and whether there is a law or not, they do not want to recognize any rights related to mother tongue or national identity for non-Persian nations:
“Leave aside the decision; they do not even tolerate the discussion of the issue, considering it a threat to themselves. During the Sattar Khan movement and the revolution, the issue of mother tongue education came to the agenda. However, in both cases, the issue was not resolved. In general, they do not want to bring this issue up for discussion. That is, they perceive the discussion of this issue as a national threat to themselves. The first such discussion took place during the Sattar Khan movement.
During Sattar Khan's time, a system like federalism was emerging. They named it provincial and regional councils (anjumans). Anjuman, meaning a place for assembly/council. Just as Azerbaijan had its own assembly during the Soviet era, there was also a general Supreme Assembly. A similar system was to be established in Iran. But that was never implemented. The issue was examined by a commission led by Beheshti, and the right to education in both Persian and the mother tongue was enshrined in Article 15 of the Constitution. The Baloch people asked Beheshti whether mother tongue education would be at the expense of the state or the people's own funds? Beheshti replied that schools should be opened at the state's expense. All of this was written into law. Imagine, Iran is the only country in the world that arrests those who demand the full implementation of its Constitution. That is, we must look at the actions. What practical steps have been taken so far?
We know that as long as Persian nationalism persists in Iran, it doesn't matter if the mullah regime leaves and a shah comes in its place, mother tongue schools will not be opened”.
A. Obali emphasized that if someone applies to open an Azerbaijani-language school in Iran, they will not be allowed to:
“Many people in Tabriz wanted to open schools. Not even schools, but mother tongue courses. They were not allowed to do so. Hasan Agha Damirchi had come forward with such an initiative, and they closed his music school. They said, 'What if you teach the mother tongue here under the guise of a music school?' The Iranian regime has a policy. Because we are numerous and have statehood traditions, they are particularly afraid of us.
Because Persian nationalism is racism, they replace its name with 'Iranian nationalism' and pursue their policies. They have adorned a sparrow and made it resemble a nightingale. Persian nationalism historically has one main enemy: Turks. Ferdowsi wrote his 'Shahnameh' based on this. The main theme of all the epics in the 'Shahnameh' is the war between Iran and Turan.
Now, because the main enemy of this Iranian nationalism is Turks, they are currently focused on Azerbaijan. They intend to strike, crush, destroy, and keep Azerbaijan as weak as possible. The target is North and South Azerbaijan, and finally Turkey. Turkey is strong. They want Turkey and Azerbaijan not to be a source of inspiration as two strong states for South Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani enmity is for this reason, it's not that they are in love with Armenians or anything like that…
We are considered their main enemy. They will never give us not only schools but not even courses in our mother tongue. Now they say there should be a mother tongue course at Tabriz University. However, they have made that course very weak/insignificant. I call that language 'Fazari'. From the first year of the revolution, there were courses in Armenian, English, and German. But they did not allow them in Tabriz. Now they are doing us a favor by saying there is a course in Tabriz. But we want mother tongue schools, not that, meaning it should be taught in the mother tongue from childhood”.
A. Obali also spoke about a decision made by the Iranian side 5 years ago:
“They said that children must take exams in Persian. If a child does not know Persian perfectly, they should be considered mentally deficient and sent to a school accordingly. They force mothers and fathers to speak Persian with their children at home”.
