South Azerbaijan (A silenced, yet unbroken identity)🇦🇿💙❤💚

                       SOUTH AZERBAİJAN

I. THE ATROPATENE PERIOD

(4th century BCE – 1st century BCE)

State and Territory

Founder: Atropates (Aturpat)

Territory: Lake Urmia region, Tabriz, Ardabil

This area forms the core of today’s South Azerbaijan

Language

The population spoke Iranian languages

This language is later called Old Azeri

It was close to Persian, Talysh, and Tat

Turkic languages were not present yet

📌 Important:

This population constitutes the local ethnic base of today’s Azerbaijanis

II. SASSANIAN PERIOD

(3rd – 7th centuries CE)

Political Situation

Atropatene became part of the Sassanian Empire

Language Situation : Zoroastrianism was the state religion, Azerbaijan was a strategic and religious center

People’s language: Old Azeri 

Official language: Middle Persian (Pahlavi)

Local languages survived in rural areas

📌 “Azar / Atur” referred to region and identity, not a language

III. ISLAMIC CONQUEST

(7th – 10th centuries)

What changed?

Arab rule was established Islam spread

However:

The population did not change

The language did not immediately change

Language Situation

Among the people: Old Azeri

Religion and science: Arabic

Administration: Persian

📌 Arabic did not assimilate the population linguistically; it remained a religious–scholarly language

IV. OGHUZ TURKS & THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION

(11th – 13th centuries)

The most critical stage

Seljuk Oghuz Turks migrated massively into the region Military and political dominance belonged to the Turks

State language →Ajemi Turkic language (now Azerbaijani language)

Army, markets, daily life → Turkic

Result

The local population did not disappear

They changed language

Old Azeri gradually vanished

Azerbaijani Turkic was formed

📌 This was a process of:

ethnic continuity + linguistic assimilation

V. QARA QOYUNLU – AQ QOYUNLU – SAFAVID PERIOD

(14th – 18th centuries)

Why is this period important?

Azerbaijani Turkic became fully dominant

Tabriz turned into a political and cultural center

Shah Ismail Khatai (Famous Azerbaijani Shah) wrote poetry in  Ajemi Turkic (now Azerbaijani language)

Language Situation

People: Azerbaijani Turkic

Court: Turkic + Persian

Religion: Shii Islam

📌 During this era, South and North Azerbaijan were linguistically identical

VI. THE DIVISION OF AZERBAIJAN

(1813–1828)

Treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay

Azerbaijan was divided into two parts

The Aras River became a political border

📌 The people and language were not divided — the border was

VII. QAJAR & PAHLAVI PERIODS

(19th – early 20th century)

Qajar Dynasty

A Turkic dynasty

Turkic was used at court

Persian was the official state language

Pahlavi Era (1925–1979)

⚠️ The harshest period

Reza Shah promoted Persian nationalism

Turkic language:

banned in schools

banned in publications

Even the name “Azerbaijan” was treated with suspicion

📌 This was systematic linguistic repression

VIII. ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

(1979 – 2000s)

The constitution recognizes “local languages”

In practice:

No mother-tongue education

Media is heavily restricted

📌 Turkic survived mainly as a home and street language

IX. MODERN ERA – ONGOING PROCESSES

(2000–2025)

What is happening today?

Strengthening Turkic/Azerbaijani identity

Social media spreading:

language awareness

historical awareness

Protests focusing on:

language rights

cultural recognition

environmental issues (Lake Urmia)

Current Language Situation

The majority speak Azerbaijani Turkic as their mother tongue

Official status: none

Education: Persian only

X. OVERALL CONCLUSION (Concise & Academic)

Atropatene population → local ethnic foundation

Old Azeri → linguistically extinct, ethnically continuous

Oghuz Turks → language-shifting factor

Today’s South Azerbaijanis are:

local populations + Turkic language = Azerbaijani people

And today, the struggle is:

not primarily about separation,

but about language rights, identity, and dignity.

South Azerbaijan will be free.

Not in one day, not with a single slogan —

but through the will of

mothers who do not forget their language,

youth who learn their history,

a people who are not ashamed of their identity.

No power can erase a nation’s

mother tongue from its heart,

its memory from history,

or its name from its identity.

Azerbaijanis were on this land,

are on this land,

and will remain on this land.

Assimilation may silence,

but it can never erase.

Freedom is not always a flag —

sometimes it is a child being able to study in their mother tongue.

It is not always a state —

sometimes it is the right to live with dignity.

And that right is always recognized, sooner or later.

South Azerbaijan will be free —

because no oppression is eternal,

but a people’s identity is.

#Freedom  #FreeSouthAzerbaijan