Azeris in Iran

Group Profile
Although today divided between Azerbaijan and Iran by political borders, the Azeris are a single ethnic group.  Iranian Azeris are predominantly Shia Muslims.  In Azerbaijan, however, the community is largely secular, owing to the suppression of religion under Soviet rule. 

Iranian Azeris are said to live in relative peace with Persians and occupy many high positions in Iranian society.[1]  However, the group still endures significant restrictions on their rights.

Demography

Azeris today constitute 90.6 percent of Azerbaijan’s 8.1 million people.[2]  Estimates as to the group’s total population worldwide range from 20 to 33 million.[3] 

Knowledge remains incomplete as to ethnic composition in Iran.  Demographic data on the Azeri is difficult to obtain, as the Iranian government has not consistently assessed ethnic composition in its national censuses in an effort to present a unified national image.[4]  Currently though, Azeris are considered Iran’s largest ethnic minority and are believed to constitute approximately 24 percent of the nation’s nearly 65,400,000 residents, according to the latest CIA estimates, which would mean that they number roughly 15.7 million.[5]  Other recent estimates are higher though. The Ethnologue report for Iran claims that there were 23.5 million Azeri speakers in Iran in 1997,[6] and a 2002 United Nations report contends that the group may actually number 30 million.[7]

Geographic Distribution

The historic Azeri nation can be found in the northwestern provinces of Iran and the southern provinces of Azerbaijan.  This region has reportedly been inhabited by Azeris for thousands of years, meaning that their arrival on the land predates the appearance of Persians there.[8]  Most Azeris in the region still live in this area

Historic Hardship

1989 and 1990 were undoubtedly two of the most tumultuous years for Azeris.  On December 31, 1989, large numbers of ethnic Azeris on both sides of the Iranian-USSR border attacked border stations and the fence separating the two countries.  They were protesting border restrictions and demanding that the two governments allow families and friends to reunite after 160 years of formal division and 70 years of near total separation.  With an estimated three-fourths of all Azeris living outside of the Azerbaijani Republic in neighboring Iran, some politicians called for the ‘restoration of ethnic unity of Azerbaijanis living on both sides of the border’ and referred to the Azerbaijani portion of Iran as ‘Southern Azerbaijan.’  (Thousands of Azeris had crossed the border illegally over the years before the two regimes eventually agreed to ‘release steam’ by arranging for mass meetings and reunions.)   On January 4, 1990, in Baku, Azerbaijan, 150,000 people turned out to protest against the border restrictions.  On the evening of January 19, Russian troops stormed Baku to quell the unrest, leaving 132 Azeris dead.[9] 

Buoyed by Azerbaijan’s independence in 1991, Azeri nationalism in Iran continues to intensify and calls for greater cultural and linguistic rights have become more frequent.[10] 

Ongoing Hardship

Even with majority of Azeris practicing Shia Islam, their rights are restricted in much the same way as those of other Iranian minorities.  The group has been blocked from forming political parties seeking greater respect for Azeri culture.  Moreover, Iranian Azeris are not allowed to study their native tongue.  The Iranian government has banned the Azerbaijani language in schools and continues to harass activists seeking cultural rights.[11]  Iran reportedly advocates the teaching of Arabic as part of a campaign to expand the influence of Shia Islam.  Most Azerbaijani intellectuals have rejected this campaign.

The Iranian government is fearful of Azeri nationalism and has cracked down on supposed threats to national unity.  Consequently, many Azeri newspaper offices have been closed.  Additionally, Azeri protests have been disbanded with sometimes lethal force, and in 2003 a 19-year-old Azeri girl was put to death for her role in a demonstration.[12]  Azeri political participation has also been suppressed.  Dr. Mahmoud Ali Chehregani, a leading Azeri politician, was in 2000 jailed and tortured – resulting in partial paralysis – in an attempt to deny him the opportunity to run for a seat in parliament (Chehregani left Iran for the U.S. in 2002).[13]  Those who speak up for Azeri rights are often labeled as separatists or foreign spies by government officials and the state-controlled media.

In May 2006, thousands of Iranians in several cities and towns in east Azerbaijan Province protested after the official government newspaper Iran published a cartoon likening Azeris to cockroaches.  The demonstrations peaked in late May, when a number of protestors were killed or injured by state security forces in the town of Naghadeh.  Although Tehran has only acknowledged four deaths and forty-three injuries, Iranian Azerbaijani sources have put the figures significantly higher, at dozens killed and hundreds injured.  In addition, hundreds of demonstrators were arrested, with some allegedly tortured while in detention.  Although the government arrested the cartoonist and an editor and shut down the newspaper soon after the protests[14] fallout from the incident continues.  The government’s treatment of Azeri rights activist Abbas Lisani, who was detained for his role in the May 2006 protests, has drawn international scorn.  Amnesty International and other rights groups came to Lisani’s defense in January 2007 after he was moved to solitary confinement and reports emerged that he was suffering from injuries brought on by torture.[15]  The U.S. State Department also issued a statement against the treatment of Lisani in January, using his case to highlight Iran’s repression of minorities – a reality that the State Department said the U.S. is “deeply concerned” about.[16]

Although Azeris occupy many high positions of Iranian government and society (Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is himself Azeri), they do not have total freedom to exercise their cultural rights and practice their traditions.  The Iranian government has chosen to focus on the cultural similarities between the Azeri and the Farsi-speaking majority.  Nevertheless, there have been increasing reports of Azeri demands for cultural rights, as demonstrated by the May 2006 protests.

The Azerbaijan government’s support of Iranian Azeris has also created tensions between the two nations.  Still, the main grievances of the Azeri community are cultural and not separatist as is sometimes assumed.[17]