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This article focuses on ethnic minorities in Iran and their related political issues and current realities.

Overview

Iran is an ethnically diverse country, with Persians forming the majority of the population. However, historically the terms "Iran" and "Persia" have refereed to a confederation of all groups native to the Iranian Plateau, and the speakers of Iranian languages, whether located in Iran or not (e.g. Tajiks, Ossetians, etc.). Therefore, historically, the use of the term "Persian" has included all the various regional dialects and subgroups of Iran.

While many Iranians identify with a secondary ethnic, religious, linguistic, or regional background in some way, the primary identity unifying virtually all of these sub-groups is their distinctly Iranian language, and/or culture. The main ethno-linguistic minority groups in Iran are the Azeris, Kurds, Arabs, Baluchis, Turkmen, Armenians, Assyrians, and Georgians. The tribal groups include the Bakhtiaris, Khamseh, Lurs, Qashqai, as well as others. Though many of the tribal groups have become urbanized over the decades, some continue to function as rural tribal societies. According to the CIA World Factbook and other Western sources, ethnicity/race in Iran breaks down as follows: Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%. However, these statistics are largely discredited and viewed as flawed by Iranians themselves, because the Western data ignores considerable intermarriage rates over centuries between these groups, and the fact that almost all of these groups speak Persian as their first language, and identify with their sub-identity only secondarily.

Moreover, there is debate as to what the definition of a Persian is. According to Western sources, such as the CIA World Factbook, anyone in Iran who associates with a regional linguistic sub-identity is deemed an "ethnic minority", even though the individual speaks Persian as their first language, and is ethnically indistinguishable from the rest of Iranians, including Persians. Conversely, Western sources erroneously define the "Persian" "ethnicity" as basically anyone living in Iran who does not claim a secondary regional linguistic identity.

While, many of these ethnic groups have their own languages, cultures, and often literature, their languages and cultures are essentially regional variations of Persian and are all native to Iran, similar to the relationship between Welsh, Scottish, and English cultures, which are all similar and are native to Britain. Despite their overwhelming similarities, in modern times, their differences occasionally emerge as political ambitions, largely as a result of provocation from outside powers. Some of these groups are also religious minorities. For instance, the majority of Kurds and Baluchis are Sunni Muslims, while the state religion in Iran is Shi'a Islam. The overwhelming majority of Persians and Azeris are Shi'a.

One of the major internal policy challenges during the centuries up until now for most or all Iranian governments has been to find the appropriate and balanced approach to the difficulties and opportunities caused by this diversity, particularly as this internal diversity has often been readily utilized by foreign powers.

According to Professor Richard Frye, non-Persian ethnic groups have put loyalty to Iran above loyalty to their ethnic group during foreign invasions because they "are conscious of the power and richness of Persian culture."

Historical notes

Iran (then called Persia) traditionally was governed over the last few centuries in a fairly decentralised way with much regional and local autonomy. In particular, weaker members of the Qajar dynasty often did not rule much beyond the capital Tehran, a fact exploited by the imperial powers Britain and Russia in the 19th century. For example, when British cartographers, diplomats, and telegraph workers, traveled along Iran's southern coast in the early 19th century laden with guns and accompanied by powerful ships, some local chieftains quickly calculated that their sworn allegiance to the Shah in Tehran with its accompanying tax burden might be optional. When queried, they proclaimed their own local authority.

Reza Shah Pahlavi, and to a lesser degree his son Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, successfully strengthened the central government by using reforms, bribes and suppressions. In particular, the Bakhtiaris, Kurds, and Lurs until the late 1940s required persistent military measures to keep them under governmental control.

Current policy

The Constitution of Iran guarantees freedom of cultural expression and linguistic diversity. Many Iranian provinces have radio and television stations in local language or dialect. School education is in Persian, the official language, but use of regional languages is allowed under the constitution of the Islamic Republic, and Azeri language and culture is studied at universities and other institutions of higher education. Article 15 of the constitution states:

The Official Language and script of Iran, the lingua franca of its people, is Persian. Official documents, correspondence, and texts, as well as text-books, must be in this language and script. However, the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian

Further, Article 19 of the Iranian constitution adds:

All people of Iran, whatever the ethnic group or tribe to which they belong, enjoy equal rights; color, race, language, and the like, do not bestow any privilege.

However, some human rights groups have accused the Iranian government of violating the constitutional guarantees of equality. In a report entitled "Iran: New government fails to address dire human rights situation", published in February 2006, Amnesty International says that constitutional guarantees are over-ruled by "an array of discriminatory laws and practices" relating to land confiscation, denial of employment and restrictions on cultural, linguistic and religious freedoms. It claims that these can result in serious human rights abuses.. Amnesty's claims are supported by some political commentators who claim the centralisation of power in Iran has generated a socioeconomic gap along ethnic lines which has led to ethnic unrest.

Nevertheless, some representatives of various ethnic minorities have enjoyed a successful political career in Iran. For example Ali Khamenei the current Supreme Leader is Azeri and Ali Shamkhani the former defense minister is Arab. Many, if not most, members of the national cultural and political elite have mixed ethnic roots, with many Iranians in Tehran of mixed Persian and Azeri origin.

Separatist tendencies, led by some groups such as the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran and Komalah in Iranian Kurdistan, for example, had led to frequent unrest and occasional military crackdown throughout the 1990s and even to the present . In Iran, Kurds have twice had their own autonomous regions independent of central government control: The Republic of Mahabad in Iran which was the second independent Kurdish state of the 20th century, after the Republic of Ararat in modern Turkey; and the second time after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

Similar tendencies have been observed in other provinces such as Balochistan, Khuzestan (see Politics of Khuzestan) and Iranian Azerbaijan. However, many have been suspected of being instigated by foreign colonial powers.

Foreign interference

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Iranian governments, both before and after the revolution, have accused foreign governments, especially the USA, UK, Israel and Russia, of attempting to de-stabilize Iran by fomenting ethnic tensions.

Imperial Russia and Great Britain had divided Iran into spheres of influence. Following the Russian Revolution, the Soviet Union attempted to organise Azeri and Kurdish separatist movements.

Some media reports have also quoted unnamed CIA agents that suggest covert operations to recruit members of ethnic minorities to destabilise the regime. Pentagon officials have also met with Azerbaijani rights activist Mahmudali Chehregani. The Republic of Azerbaijan is also suspected of encouraging ethnic divisions in the Iranian region of Azerbaijan. Former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter has stated his theory that CIA paramilitary operatives and US Special Forces are training Azerbaijani forces into special force units capable of operating within Iran in order to mobilize the large Azeri ethnic minority within Iran ..

References

1. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53543
   http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HF08Ak02.html
   http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FI28Ak01.html
2. Encyclopaedia Iranica. R. N. Frye. Peoples of Iran.
3. "Memorandum by the Rev. George Percy Badger on the Pretensions of Persia in Beloochistan and Mekran, drawn up with special reference to Her Claim to Gwadur and Charbar," London, Dec. 23, 1863, FOP 60/287.
4. Amnesty International, "Iran: New government fails to address dire human rights situation", AI Index: MDE 13/010/2006, February 16, 2006
5. Iran’s Ethnic Tinderbox
6. Iran slams US comments on detainees , Tue, 05 Jun 2007 , Press TV detail.aspx? id=12131&sectionid=351020101
7. Decree of the Central Committee of CPSU Politbureau on "Measures to Organize a Separatist Movement in Southern Azerbaijan and Other Provinces of Northern Iran", GAPPOD Republic of Azerbaijan, f. 1, op. 89, d. 90, ll. 4-5, obtained by Jamil Hasanli, translated for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars by Gary Goldberg
8. (Seymour M. Hersh, the Iran Plam, the New York , April 2006) .
9. Iason Athanasiadis, "Stirring the ethnic pot", Asian Times, April 29, 2005
10. William Lowther in Washington DC and Colin Freeman, Sunday Telegraph, 25/02/2007, wiran25.xml
11. Sharon Behn and Khadija Ismayilova, "Pentagon officials meet with regime foe", THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 2003
12. Asia Times Online
13. Simon Whelan, Bush courts Azerbaijani President as Part of Build-Up against Iran , Global Research, May 9, 2006

See also

• Religious minorities in Iran
• Iranian Kurdistan
• Iranian Kuwaitis
• Anti-Persianism by Arabs
• Armenian-Iranians
• Georgians in Iran
• Demographics of Iran
• Azarbaijan (Iran)
• Iranian Azeris
• Human rights in Iran
• Koreans in Iran

External links

• Ethnic groups of Iran
• (Video) A series of lectures hosted by The American Enterprise Institute
• Khuzestan: The First Front in the War on Iran? by Zoltan Grossman

• Ethnic groups in Iran