"Iran: Azeri Turks protest against discrimination
Submitted on 29 May, 2006 - 14:01 :: Iran
By Joan Trevor
Between one quarter and one third of Iranians are Azeris, descended from Turkic people who settled in north western Iran, in the region now called Azerbaijan. (The historic and ethnic links between Iranian Azerbaijan and the former Soviet Republic of the same name, now an independent state, on its northern border are not as significant as you might think, or as some politicians make out.)
Azeris – in Iran they are generally called “Turks”– live throughout the country, but mostly in West and East Azerbaijan provinces and the capital Tehran.
Their first language is Azeri, although the vast majority also speak Farsi (Persian), the national language. Azeris have played a crucial role in building the national identity of modern Iran. Azeris formed the backbone of the constitutional revolution between 1906 and 1911 that ended the Qajar dynasty and provided Iran’s first taste of democratic reform."
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