Racism in Iran encompasses various manifestations of racism between the inhabitants of the country. A UN panel in 2019 said "Arabs, Kurds and other minorities in Iran face discrimination because of their ethnicity."[1] In 2010, The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) of the UN urged Iran to tackle racism on Arab, Azeri, Balochi, and Kurdish communities and some communities of non-citizens.[2]

Arabs

Epithets such as Mush-Khor (lit. 'rodent eaters' in Persian) and Marmulak-Khor (lit. 'lizard eaters') are used for both Sunni and Shiite Arabs.[3]

Azerbaijanis

In 1926, the Azerbaijani language became prohibited in Iran for the first time. The head of the state at the time, Reza Shah appointed Dr. Mohseni as the chair of the "Cultural Office of Azerbaijan", who was infamous for his order:[4]

Put donkey reins on whoever dares to speak Turkish in the classroom and throw them in the stable amongst the donkeys.

Tork-e Khar is a phrase traditionally used for Azerbaijanis[5] and Turks,[6] literally meaning the "Turkish donkey".[5]

References

  1. ↑ "UN anti-racism panel finds Iran discriminating against Arabs, Kurds, other minoritiesdate=August 27, 2010". Associated Press, Fox. 2015-03-27. Archived from the original on September 3, 2010. Retrieved September 20, 2010.
  2. ↑ "The U.N. urged Iran to tackle racism". Reuters. August 27, 2010. Archived from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved September 20, 2010.
  3. ↑ Hagigat et al. 2015, pp. 12–13.
  4. ↑ Asgharzadeh 2007, pp. 142.
  5. 1 2 Broers, Laurence (25 July 2019). Armenia and Azerbaijan: Anatomy of a Rivalry. Edinburgh University Press. p. 371. This is symptomatic of a tradition depicting Azerbaijanis negatively as tork-e khar ('Turkish donkeys'), i.e. rural and backward.
  6. ↑ Hagigat et al. 2015, pp. 13.

Bibliography

  • Asgharzadeh, Alireza (11 June 2007). Iran and the Challenge of Diversity: Islamic Fundamentalism, Aryanist Racism, and Democratic Struggles. Palgrave Macmillan US.
  • Hagigat, Moshe-hay S.; Rezaei, Farhad; Rhode, Harold; Seliktar, Ofira; Zarabadi, Ladan; Zimmt, Raz (18 March 2015). Identities in Crisis in Iran: Politics, Culture, and Religion. Lexington Books.
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