Scientists from the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences have appealed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The appeal said, Operative Information Center-OMM reports:
“We, representatives of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, first of all express our deep respect to you.
Your conversations in Azerbaijani during meetings with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, and during your visits to Baku, Shusha and Khankendi, help build more sincere interstate relations, once again earn respect for the Iranian state and create broad opportunities to strengthen mutual trust.
Taking all this into account, we consider it necessary and important to appeal to you regarding the realization of the rights of the Azerbaijani people, who make up a large part of the population of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Dear President!
Indigenous Azerbaijanis living in Iran have made efforts and put forward initiatives to receive education in their mother tongue at secondary schools and universities, and to have a press and literature in their native language. However, their legal rights in this regard have not yet been fulfilled. This naturally causes serious concern among Iranian Azerbaijanis. Very few peoples in the world today are deprived of the ability to read and write in their mother tongue. We believe that, like other peoples around the world, indigenous Azerbaijanis living in Iran should also have their right to education in their mother tongue guaranteed.
In this regard, your speaking Azerbaijani at events in the Islamic Republic of Iran and during your visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as reciting from memory passages of the famous poem “Salute to Heydar Baba” by the great Azerbaijani and Iranian poet Mohammad-Hossein Shahriyar and offering instructive examples, have been warmly welcomed by the public in both Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
At the same time, your communication in the mother tongues of representatives of different peoples, including Azerbaijanis, in various regions of the Islamic Republic of Iran strengthens the respect and esteem you receive as head of state.
Dear President!
The fair assessment you have made of the friendship and good-neighborly relations demonstrated by the Azerbaijani state, under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, during difficult times for the Islamic Republic of Iran in recent years is a clear sign of your objectivity as head of state.
Taking all these matters into account, we believe that you will ensure the fulfillment of the centuries-old aspirations of Iranian Azerbaijanis by taking state-level measures to provide them with education in their mother tongue, their native Azerbaijani language.
There is a pressing need to open Azerbaijani-language schools for indigenous Azerbaijanis living in Iran. It is also essential to allow the publication in Iran of newspapers and magazines in Azerbaijani, as well as scientific and literary works in the language. These measures would also be an important step toward ensuring the rights of the Azerbaijani people living in Iran, as set out in your country’s Constitution.
Respecting peoples’ mother tongues, national literature and culture, and taking practical steps in this regard are important historic responsibilities for a head of state. We believe that during your presidency, the right of Azerbaijanis living in Iran to read and write in their mother tongue will be guaranteed.
Dear President!
We, the scholars signing this letter, are authors of numerous textbooks and studies on the Azerbaijani language and literature, and compilers of dictionaries and encyclopedias. We are ready to donate any number of textbooks and supplementary materials, literary and scientific works, encyclopedias and dictionaries to schools in Iran where instruction will be provided in Azerbaijani. We also consider it our duty to inform you that, under an interstate agreement, we are ready to teach free of charge at schools in Iran where instruction is organized in Azerbaijani.
The following representatives of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) have signed the letter:
1. Nadir Mammadli – director of the ANAS Nasimi Institute of Linguistics, Doctor of Philology, professor;
2. Mehman Hasanli – deputy director for scientific affairs and digital development at the ANAS Nizami Ganjavi Institute of Literature, Doctor of Philology;
3. Gazanfar Pashayev – Honored Scientist, chief researcher at the ANAS Nizami Ganjavi Institute of Literature, Doctor of Philology, professor;
4. Imamverdi Hamidov – head of the Department of Azerbaijani Literature of the Early Beginnings and Renaissance Period at the ANAS Nizami Ganjavi Institute of Literature, Doctor of Philology, professor;
5. Ismayil Mammadli – head of the Department of Applied Linguistics at the ANAS Nasimi Institute of Linguistics, Doctor of Philology, professor;
6. Sarkhan Khaveri – head of the Science and Education Department at the ANAS Presidium Administration, Doctor of Philology;
7. Ismayil Kazimov – head of the Department of Turkology at the ANAS Nasimi Institute of Linguistics, Doctor of Philology, professor;
8. Ilham Tahirov – head of the Department of Cultural Linguistics at the ANAS Nasimi Institute of Linguistics, Doctor of Philology, professor;
9. . Aygul Hajiyeva – head of the Department of Turkish Manuscripts at the ANAS Muhammad Fuzuli Institute of Manuscripts, Doctor of Philology;
10 Farida Azizova – head of the Department of Medieval Azerbaijani Literature at the ANAS Nizami Ganjavi Institute of Literature, Doctor of Philology, professor;
11. Nargiz Hajiyeva – head of the Department of Modern Azerbaijani Language and Speech Culture at the ANAS Nasimi Institute of Linguistics, Doctor of Philology, professor;
12. Akif Imanli – Doctor of Philology, professor;
13. Afzaladdin Asgarov – head of the Department of Folklore of Turkic Peoples at the ANAS Institute of Folklore, Doctor of Philology;
14. Leyla Mammadova – head of the Department of Folklore and Written Literature at the ANAS Institute of Folklore, Doctor of Philology, associate professor;
15. Khadija Heydarova – head of the Department of the History of the Azerbaijani Language at the ANAS Nasimi Institute of Linguistics, PhD in Philology, associate professor;
16. Arzu Mammadkhanli – scientific secretary of the ANAS Division of Humanities, PhD in Philology;
17. Zumrud Mansimova – scientific secretary of the ANAS Division of Social Sciences, PhD in Philology, associate professor;
18. Aynur Mahmud – chair of the Trade Union Organization of the ANAS Presidium Administration, PhD in Philology;
19. Asmar Aliyeva – department head at the ANAS Presidium Administration, PhD in Philology;
20. Sariyya Gundogdu – head of the Department of Turkic Philology at the ANAS Ziya Bunyadov Institute of Oriental Studies, PhD in Philology, associate professor.”
