FOUR TURKIC NATIONS IN IRAN, THEIR HOMELANDS, SELF-DESIGNATIONS (ENDOETHNONYMS) AND NATIONAL FLAGS

 

FOUR TURKIC NATIONS IN IRAN, THEIR HOMELANDS, SELF-DESIGNATIONS/ENDOETHNONYMS AND NATIONAL FLAGS

İRAN’DA BULUNAN DÖRT TÜRKİK MİLLET, ANA VATANLARI, ÖZ TANIMLAMALARI/KENDİNİ ADLANDIRMALARI VE MİLLİ BAYRAKLARI

MÉHRAN BAHARLI

 

«سؤزوموز، مئهران باهارلی‌نین یازقالاری توپلوسو» پیتییی،‌ بیرینجی جیلدده‌ن

“Sözümüz, Méhran Baharlının yazqalar toplusu” pitiyinden, cild I

از کتاب « سؤزوموز، مجموعه مقالات مئهران باهارلی» - جلد اول 

mehranbahari1@yahoo.com

https://independent.academia.edu/MBaharli

https://sozumuz1.blogspot.com/

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Nations, National Minorities, and National Regions: Within the borders of present-day Iran, there are four Turkic National Groups: "TURK" (Western Oghuz), "TURKMEN" (Eastern Oghuz), "HALAJ", and "KAZAKH".  The classification of these Turkic national groups is based on principles such as their own self-designation (Endoethnonym, Autoethnonym, Self-Identification, Self-Nomination), the language they speak today, history, etc., and not on the basis of racial purity. Each of these national groups is composed, to varying degrees, of a mixture of various Turkic and Mongolic groups, as well as, like most nations, certain indigenous and immigrant groups.

Out of these four Turkic national groups, the "Turkish" national group has at least three homelands or National Regions: "Turkili" in northwestern Iran, "Afsharili" in the northeast, and "Qashqaiili" in the south. The "Khalaj" and "Turkmen" national groups each have only one National Region, respectively "Khalajorda" in northwestern Iran towards its center, and "Turkmenistan" in the northeast. Because these three Turkic national groups have national territories within Iran, they have the status of "NATION" similar to the Persian, Arab, Lor, Baloch, Kurdish, Lar, etc. nations. On the other hand, the "Kazakh" national group, lives in and around the city of Gümbet, located within the Turkmen National Region (Turkmenyurt). Since the Kazakh national group in Iran does not have its own national homeland within the country, it has the status of a NATIONAL MINORITY similar to the Armenian, Jewish, Assyrian, Roma, etc. national minorities, not a nation.

The Issue with "istan": The suffix "istan" (and the Arabic "iyya"), which means province, state, or country has its roots in Iranic languages, should not be included in the names of Turkic national regions. Instead, Turkish terms like "İl/İli", "Yurt/Yurtu", "Yer/Yeri", and "Ordu/Orda" (similar to "Oron", "Uls”, and “Qazar" in Mongolian; "Ország" in Hungarian; and the Sumerian prefixes "Ki" and "Kelem" that are linked to Proto-Altaic languages) can be used for this purpose: Kazakili (Kazakhstan), Türkmenili (Turkmenistan), Özbekili (Uzbekistan), Tatarili (Tatarstan), Kırgızili (Kyrgyzstan), Başkurtili (Bashkortostan), etc.

Türkiye and the Republic of Azerbaijan are among the countries with the most inaccurate information about the Turkic peoples living in Iran. The knowledge about Iranian Turkics in these countries is largely based on false assumptions, prejudices, misconceptions, wishful thinking, and the products of colonial nation-building projects of Western and Crusader imperial states, as well as Pan-Iranism. In an effort to address the aforementioned inaccuracies and deficiencies, this article presents the Self-designation (Endoethnonym, Autoethnonym, Self-identification, Self-nomination) of the four Turkic nations residing in Iran, along with the names of their homelands and their national flags. The flags included are those with historical background and significance, proposed flags, commonly used flags, and those that have gained wider international acceptance.

THE TURKISH NATION:

In Iran, the Western Oghuz Turks have historically referred to themselves as "Turk" and continue to identify themselves solely as Turk.  Therefore, ​​the name for the Turkish people living in Iran in foreign languages, in accordance with their self-designation, should absolutely be "Turk". When the last Turkish state in Iran, the Qajar (Kajar) state, was overthrown in 1925, the vast majority of the country's population was Turkish. According to some sources, even today, the Turkish people constitute a relative majority of the Iranian population, at least 40-45%.

The Turkish people living in Iran refer to their language as "Türkü" or "Türküce" (sometimes, in certain dialects influenced by Persian as "Türké" or "Türki"). In Iran, "Turki" or "Turkish" is the general term used for all the eastern dialects of Western Oghuz spoken ​​in that country. Therefore, following the self-designation of the Turkish people, the name of this language in foreign languages ​​should also be "Turkish".

There are two main dialect groups of Turkish in Iran: the "Turkman Dialect Group" and the "Khorasan Dialect Group." (Turkman and Turkmen are different concepts; see further in the article). The Khorasan Group dialects are mainly spoken in the Afsharyurt national region in Khorasan. This dialect is also spoken in Ebiverd city in southern Iran. The correct name for this dialect group in English is the "Khorasan dialects of Turkish" or "Khorasan Turkish," not "Khorasan Turkic."

The Turkman dialects, which constitute the majority, are spoken in the Azerbaijan region and are also prevalent throughout the country. They are spoken by all Turks in the country except for the Khorasan Turks. The Turkman dialect group includes the dialects of the Qashqai tribal confederation in southern Iran, as well as all Turkish dialects in Central and Southern Iran. These dialects are not an independent southern branch of Oghuz Turkish, but rather a subgroup of the Turkman dialect group. The dialects spoken in eastern and southern Turkey, Iraq, other areas in the Middle East and Southern Caucasus, also belong to the Turkman dialect group. The Turkish "Songur dialect," spoken in and around the city of Songur and its surrounding areas in the Kermanshah province in the southeast region of Turkili, is a distinct and unique subgroup of the Turkman dialects.

The Turkman dialect of Turkish: In the past, the Turkish dialects spoken in Turkili and other parts of Iran were collectively referred to as "Turkman (Turcoman)", sometimes Türkmânî. This distinction helped to avoid confusion between this eastern dialect group of Western Oghuz and the Balkan dialects, as well as its easternmost dialect, the Istanbul dialect, which belong to the western dialect group of Western Oghuz. When compared to the official language of Turkey, Modern Turkish, it is most appropriate and scientifically sound to collectively refer to the Eastern group of dialects of Western Oghuz Turkish in Iran (excluding the Khorasan dialects) as "Turkman" dialects, or in English, “Turkman Turkish”.

Using "Turk" solely as an ethnic name for the Turks of Turkey, and "Turkish" exclusively for the Turkish language of Turkey, while referring to the "Turkish" people residing in Iran as "Azerbaijani," "Azerbaijani Turk," "Azeri," or "Azeri Turk," and identifying the Turkish language and its Turkman dialects spoken by these people as "Azerbaijani," "Azerbaijani language," "Azerbaijani Turkish," "Azeri Turkish," "Azeri," etc., is incorrect. These terms may be applicable to the Turkish people in the South Caucasus, who have undergone a different nation-building process. However, using these designations for the Turkish people in Iran does not align with linguistic classification, regional realities, or the people's self-identification. Moreover, given Iran’s state policy of denying and suppressing the existence of the Turkish people and their language, employing these labels is not only politically incorrect, but also a violation of human rights.

The "Turkish nation," which ruled Iran for 1200 years, spread throughout the entire country during this period. As a result, there are now numerous scattered Turkish communities, villages, and cities all over Iran. Additionally, there are several national regions in Iran where Turks reside densely and make up the absolute majority of the population in each area. The three most important Turkish national regions are as follows:

1- TURKILI (Persian: TORKÉSTANترکستان , TURKÜSTANتورکوستان , Arabic: TORKİYYEترکیّه ):

Turkili (Türkeli) is a large geographical region and national homeland in the northwestern part of Iran, extending towards the west and central areas. It includes all settlements where the majority of the population is Turkish. Turkili stretches from the borders of the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan into the interior of Iran, encompassing half of the city of Tehran. The name Turkili is the Turkish equivalent of the Persian word Turkestan. "Turkestan" has been used by many old and contemporary foreign and local sources, as well as by the Turkish people themselves to designate either the entirety of Turkili or some of its parts.

In Iran, administrative divisions are not based on linguistic or ethnic boundaries. Instead each ethnic and linguistic national region has been divided among several provinces to promote the assimilation of the population into Persian culture. Many provinces have been artificially created to bring together different ethnic and national groups. As a result of this policy, Turkili (Turk homeland) is divided among fourteen provinces or "Ostan" in the current administrative division of Iran: West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Gilan, Zanjan, Qazvin, Hamadan, Markazi, Alborz, Qom, Tehran, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, and Lorestan. Turkili only includes the Turkish inhabited parts of these provinces, excluding areas not populated by Turks. Approximately 80% of the Turkish population in Iran lives in Turkili.

Turkili and Azerbaijan are not synonymous in meaning or territory. Turkili is a Turkish national region and the homeland of the Turkish people. In constrast, Azerbaijan is a historical and geographical phenomenon, and the name of two contemporary administrative divisions (provinces), only encompassing the northern half of the Turkili territories. The southern half of the Turkish homeland, Turkili, consists of territories inhabited by Turks which in ancient times were or currently are known as Iraq-i Ajam, Hamse, Jibal, Deylem, Alishukur Bey, Bayatistan, Karagan, etc. In the Caucasus, Azerbaijan is the name of the homeland. However, this is not the case in Iran. Here, the Turkish homeland is Turkili, and only half of it is located in historical, geographical, and administrative Azerbaijan. The other half of the Turkish homeland, Turkili, is located outside of historical, geographical, and administrative Azerbaijan.  To consider Azerbaijan as the Turkish homeland in Iran instead of Turkili is an absurd view, akin to defining the Turkish homeland in Turkey solely as Rumelia, in the Republic of Azerbaijan solely as Nakhchivan. In short, there is a Turkish nation dispersed throughout Iran. This Turkish nation also resides in the northwest of Iran, spanning fourteen provinces or regions. Azerbaijan only includes three provinces, not encompassing all of the Turkish territories and homeland, nor the entire Turkish nation.

There is no place called South Azerbaijan in Iran. The concept of South Azerbaijan was created in the Stalinist Soviet Union and imposed on the Turkish people in Iran. The Soviet Union's purpose in creating the concept of South Azerbaijan was to divide the Turkish people living in Iran, to remove the part of them in the region bordering Soviet Azerbaijan from Turkey's sphere of influence and bring it into Russia's sphere of influence. The goal was also to reduce the size of the Turkish homeland or Turkili in northwestern Iran, limiting it to the geography of Azerbaijan. Ultimately, this was intended to weaken the Turkish people in the region against the Persian, Armenian, and Kurdish populations both demographically and politically.

Referring to the Turkish people living in the Azerbaijan region of Turkili by ethnic names other than their self-designation, which is Turk, such as Azeri, or Azerbaijani is a racist and imperialist project. The ethnic and national name for the Western Oghuz Turks living in the Azerbaijan region of Turkili, as well as for those living in other regions of Turkili and Iran, is simply Turk. It is not Azeri, Azerbaijani, Azeri Turk, or Azerbaijani Turk. The purpose of those who created the concepts of "Azeri" and "Azerbaijani" is to deny the Turkish national existence in Iran, prevent all Western Oghuz Turks in that country from forming a single national group, and ultimately facilitate the ethnic cleansing and annihilation of the Turkish people. Those in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkey who refer to the Turkish people living in Iran as "Azerbaijani" and "Azeri" only serve to hinder the formation of the Turkish nation living in Iran and contribute to their ethnic cleansing.

TURKILI NATIONAL FLAG:

The Turkili National Flag was designed in the final years of World War I. This flag belonged to the short-lived “Unity Government" or "Türk Bilik Devleti" (June 8, 1918 – December 1, 1918) established in Turkili under the leadership of the national leader and esteemed commander Urmulu Cemşid Khan Subataylı Afşar Mecd üs-Seltene. The flag was used in various regions of Turkili such as Urmia, Salmas, Khoy, Tabriz, Savujbulak, Hamadan, and Ardabil, as the official flag of the "Turkish Unity State".

The background of the Turkili National Flag is red, similar to the Ottoman flag.  On the flag, a crescent moon and a five-pointed star are placed side by side, accompanied by a lion carrying a sun on its back and a sword in its hand. The crescent moon and five-pointed star have been used as symbols of Turkish identity by various Turkic states, from the Göktürk state in the east to the Kölemen (Mamluk) state in the west. The five-pointed star on the flag symbolizes humanity. The lion with the sun on its back and a sword in its hand is a commonly used symbol in Turkish and Mongol states in the region.

2- AFSHARILI (AFSHARYURT):

Afsharyurt, also known as Afsharili, is an ethnic region in northeastern Iran inhabited by Western Oghuz Turks. It is located in the northern part of the Khorasan region and shares borders with Turkmenistan, the "Turkmenyurt" national region in Iran, and northern Afghanistan (Southern Turkestan). In Afsharili, the majority of Turks speak in the Khorasan dialects of Turkish, while a smaller portion, similar  to Turkili, speak in the Turkman dialects of Turkish. Approximately 8% of the Turkish population in Iran lives in Afsharili.

AFSHARILI NATIONAL FLAG:

The background of the Afşarili national flag is turquoise, symbolizing Turkish identity.  In the center of the flag are the eight-pointed star and the double-headed eagle of the Seljuks, originating from Khorasan. To the right and left of the eight-pointed star are two crescent moons and five-pointed stars,  respectively representing the Western and Eastern Oghuz Turks, as well as the western and eastern parts of the Turkic world. The eight-pointed star placed between them emphasizes that Afşarili serves as a bridge between the East and West of the Oghuzs, as well as the east and west of the Turkic world.

3-KASHKAYILI (QASHQAYILI, QASHQAYURTU):

Qaşqayili or Qashqayurt is an ethnic region inhabited by the Turkish Qashqai tribal confederation. It is located in southern Iran, near the Basra Gulf and the Hormoz Strait.  The Turkish dialects spoken in Qashqayili form a distinct subgroup of the Turkman dialects. Approximately 12% of the Turkish population resides in southern Iran.

NATIONAL FLAG OF KASHKAYILI:

The design of the Qashqayili national flag, along with the colors and motifs used in it, symbolize the world-famous rugs and “gebes” of the Qashqai Turks. The dark golden yellow in the center of the flag represents worldly wealth in Turkic mythology, Shamanism, Tengrism, Animism, and ancient Turkic culture. The crescent and star symbolize the Western Oghuz and the Turkic identity, while the eight-pointed star represents victory and triumph. The symbols lined up in the margin of the central yellow section are the tamga (seal) of the Akkoyunlu - Bayındır Turkmans, with whom the Qashqay Turks are associated. The tamga resembles the letter B in the Old Turkic Orkhon alphabet, which is also the initial letter of the Bayındır name.

TURKMEN NATION:

In Iran, the Eastern Oghuz Turks refer to themselves as "Turkmen" (تورکمه‌ن) and their language as "Turkmençe" (تورکمه‌ن‌چه). "Turkmen" (تورکمه‌ن) and "Turkman" (تورکمان) are two separate historical concepts representing two distinct ethnic entities. Turkmen is the national self-designation of the Eastern Oghuz who reside in Central Asia, east of the Khazar (Caspian) Sea. This group is commonly referred to as Turkmen in scientific publications. On the other hand, Turkman is an ethnic subgroup of the Turkish nation or Western Oghuz Turks, who live in the Middle East, Anatolia, and the Caucasus, west of the Khazar (Caspian) Sea.

This group is referred to as Turcoman in scientific publications. The main reason for labeling them as Turcoman was to differentiate them from the East Oghuz Turkmen. Turkmen are a more homogeneous Eastern Oghuz group, while the Turcomans are a mixture of Oghuz Turks along with Eastern Turkic peoples (Karluk and later Chagatai and Uyghurs), Tatars, and Mongols. This mixture is also evident in the numerous Mongol, Chagatai, Eastern Turkic, Tatar, and Kipchak elements present in the Turcoman dialects).

5-TURKMENYURT (in Persian: ترکمن صحرا):

Turkmenyurt is the name of the ethnic region in Iran where the Turkmen nation live, and its Persian name is "Torkmen Sehra" (ترکمن صحرا). Turkmenyurt is located on the southeastern coast of the Caspian Sea and to the south of the Republic of Turkmenistan.

TÜRKMENYURT NATIONAL FLAG:

The design of the Turkmenyurt national flag closely resembles that of the Republic of Turkmenistan, with some notable differences. Instead of the green color, it features a turquoise sky color, symbolizing Turkic identity. The flag has two vertical red stripes in place of a vertical carpet strip seen on the Turkmenistan flag. Moreover, rather than the five stars and crescent moon on the hoist side, the Turkmenyurt flag showcases a single five-pointed star and crescent moon at the center, representing the Turkic symbol. These two stripes are a vertical adaptation of the horizontal stripes found on the flags of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Iraqi Turkmaneli, symbolyzing the Turkmens in the Republic of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.

KHALAJ - XELEC NATION:

The Khalaj nation in Iran is considered to be a remnant of the ancient Turkic Argus. They refer to their language as "Xelec Tili" (Khalaj Language). The Khalaj people, remnants of the ancient Argus, are distinct from the Khalaj tribe, which was once a branch of the Oghuz but has now merged and assimilated into the Turkish people.

4-XELECORDA (KHALAJORDA): Khalajorda, known as "Khalajestan" (خلجستان) in Persian, is the ethnic region where the Khalaj people reside. It is situated in the southeast of Turkili, bordering Central Iran and Farsistan.

XELECORDA NATIONAL FLAG:

The national flag of Khalajorda consists of three vertical stripes: sky blue on the left, red in the center, and green on the right. These colors are also found in the flags of South Turkestan in northern Afghanistan and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The symbols on the flag represent elements related to the formation and history of the Khalaj people. These symbols include: the vertically arranged three-starred flag of the Akhuns (Hephthalites) on the right, the tree-shaped flag of the Karakhanids and Karluks with nine arrows and tufted banners on the left, and the crescent moon and star used by the ancient Turks and Western Oghuz in the center.

KAZAKH – QAZAQ NATIONAL MINORITY:

The Kazakhs are a small Turkic community of Kipchak origin in Iran, residing in Turkmenyurt (Turkmen Sahra). They do not have their own compact national region or homeland in Iran, so they are considered a national minority in Iran, rather than a nation. The Kazakh language is self-designated as "Qazaqsha" (قازاق‌شا).

FLAG OF THE KAZAKH MINORITY:

The national flag of the Kazakh minority living in Iran has a turquoise sky-blue background.  In the center of the flag are an eagle and a Kazakh yurt. The three stars on the left side symbolize the three Kazakh Jüz (or Hordes), the Ulı (Great), Orta (Middle), and Kışı (Little) that formed the Kazakh Khanate and their homeland, Kazakili (Kazakhstan). These symbols have also been used in other Kazakh flags.  At the top of the yurt is a Şañıraq (Şankırak, Shanyrak), a traditional roof structure. The door of the yurt and the vertical stripe on the left of the flag feature commonly used Kazakh motifs.