urks

Among the Turks that live in Iran, the most crowded and significant community following the Azerbaijani Turks is composed of the Turkmens that live in Khorasan. Khorasan that was considered as an extended part of Turkistan is a productive region that has been the homeland of Turkish communities for centuries. Some of the tribes of Oguz Turks that came to Anatolia and the Middle East under the leadership of the Seljuk family stayed in the Western Turkistan. The Turkmen tribes most of whom had lived in Khorasan and in the north regions of Khorasan constituted the community that was the most negatively affected and damaged in the course of the struggles between the Sunnite Turkistan Turks and the Shiite Iranians. These struggles resulted from the provocation of the Shiites for political interests. During the Sunnite-Shiite struggles that lasted for over four centuries, the Sunnite Turkmens were on the side of their brothers from Turkistan. In the second half of the century XIX, Russians invaded the Turkistan cities. Upon this invasion, some of Turkmens preferred to acknowledge the dominion of Iran. Some small tribes pertaining to Göklen, Yamud people and Salur, Sarık and Teke tribes were leading these Turkmen groups. Particularly Göklen people, who were the ancestors of Mahdum Kulu, the national poet of Turkmens and the other Turkmen tribes still preserves their Turkish identity and conscience with all their vigour. But due to the prohibition of Turkish education by the Iranian governors and the lack of proper services provided for these regions, this Turkmen community was underdeveloped in respect of the development of their national culture and deprived of benefiting from the other opportunities of the civilisation. Turkmen people who have been underdeveloped in respect of both the culture and economy have reached to a population of two millions nowadays.

Following the Azerbaijani Turks and the Turkmens, the third most significant Turkish group was composed of Kaşkay people in respect of both their population and political influence. Kaşgay Turks who had emigrated from the Eastern Turkistan and settled in Iran in the Mongolian period are famous with their faith in their traditions. The province of Fars in the Southern Iran is entirely under the influence of Kasgay people of today. Kasgay people who have led a nomadic life until recently were well known for their affection to each other, and their planned and organised activities. As a matter of fact, they manage a definite order of a tribal administration according to their traditions even today. They also have some institutions that depend on their national and local traditions. The administrative system of “Ilkhanate” (subordinate ruler) can be considered among these institutions. Furthermore, apart from the family of “Ilkhanate” that is considered as a distinguished family, there are some social castes such as Kalantar, Kethuda, Ra’ye, Tabeke-i Pest, etc. and they are administered according to their own traditions.

Due to the fact that Kaşgay people had a strong union among them, they dared and succeeded in the rejection of some unfair demands and fait accompli of Iran government. Some important events that took place in the course of the World War II and caused some conflicts between Kaşgay people and the Iran government were alleviated through the mediation of the Turkish government. But these activities of Kaşgay people were not tolerated by the Iran governments and they were exiled to the other regions. Meanwhile, Kaşgay people suffered a lot of casualties since the coasts of the Persian Gulf where they lived in the course of the last Iran-Iraq War were near to the battlefields. Similarly, the Iran government pushed on the military troops that were composed of particularly Azerbaijani Turks and the other Turkish groups as the vanguards in Iraq front in the course of the same Iran-Iraq war and this situation caused them to suffer a lot of casualties. All these examples show how much Iran regime applied unfair treatments to Turks. The present population of Kasgay people who have invigorated their Turkish identity and traditions has increased to nearly one million. Like in the other Turkish groups, the Kasgay people have remained underdeveloped in respect of economical and cultural fields.

The Northern Azerbaijani Turks that suffered from the Russian invasions initiated a struggle of liberation in the beginning of this century. This struggle spurted out to the Southern Azerbaijan before long. As a matter of fact, the movement for liberation that was initiated under the leadership of Settar Han centralised in particularly Tabriz continued with great success, but they suffered troubles pursuant to the Russian-English agreement that divided Iran into two regions of influence in 1907. Since Russians were anxious about the movement of the Southern Azerbaijani Turks in union with their brothers in the north, they collaborated with the English and Iran governments and they did their best in order to hinder the struggle of liberation pertaining to the Southern Azerbaijani Turks. The struggle of liberation of the Southern Azerbaijan continued until 1922 and these struggles were suppressed by the despotic oppression of the new Pehlevi government in Iran that was supported by the English government.

The Iranian pressure imposed on the Azerbaijani Turks continued in a terrible way until 1930s. When the Russian-English competition that lasted in the course of this period was oriented towards the share of the Iran petroleum, the struggle of Azerbaijani Turks re-emerged. English and Russians who wanted to take a share from the Iran petroleum started to support the struggle of the Azerbaijani Turks in an explicit manner. Taking the advantage of these developments, the Southern Azerbaijani Turks rebelled and demanded the fulfilment of the following issues from the Iran government: The permission for the foundation of the schools that provide Turkish education in Iran,

The entitlement of Azerbaijan with the Autonomous Status.

When the Iran government rejected these demands, Azerbaijani Turks attempted to take their rights through piling arms. The Azerbaijani people who discharged the military and civil authorities of Iran in a short period took the entire country under their control. The Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan was declared as connected to Iran. Therefore, the Republic of Azerbaijani has been established that has the proper autonomous rights in the fields of culture and economy.

to be continued