8 Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring 2016) THE MINORITY RIGHTS OF AZERBAIJANI TURKS IN IRAN By Asim Jannatoglu* This article discusses the minority rights of Iran's Azerbaijani Turks and human rights violations in its majority Azerbaijani-populated provinces of Iran by the Iranian central government. With the conclusion of the second Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) and the signing of the Turkmenchay Treaty, Azerbaijan was divided into north and south, with the massive region of Southern Azerbaijan becoming part of northwestern Iran. Since then, relations between Southern Azerbaijanis and the Iranian government have been unstable. This article focuses on Tehran’s discriminatory policies towards Iran's Azerbaijani Turks in the fields of education, media, culture, and environment from 1990-2010. INTRODUCTION Since its establishment, the Islamic Republic of Iran has faced criticism for its repeated human rights violations. Despite its poor human rights record, however, Iran’s position in the Middle East has made it a major player in international politics. Iran is a multiethnic country, with different ethnic groups and minorities throughout the country. The rivalry over the control of the Azerbaijani territories and over hegemony both in the South Caucasus and the Caspian Sea led to two major wars between Russia and Iran, which were concluded with the Treaties of Gulistan (October 12, 1813) and Turkmenchay (February 10, 1828). The massive region of “Southern Azerbaijan” in northwest Iran, which encompasses six provinces--East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardebil, Zanjan, Qazvin, and Hamadan-- became known as such after Azerbaijan was officially split into two parts (north and south) by the Russian Empire and Iran following the second Russo-Persian war. Southern Azerbaijan has since become a significant province of Iran. “Despite their separation under fundamentally different political and cultural systems… for over 150 years,” Southern and Northern Azerbaijanis continue to share a common ethnic identity. 1 Precise estimates of the Azerbaijani population in Iran are unknown. Some researchers estimate that more than half of Iran's population is Persian while the others claim Persians make up less than 50 percent. Nonetheless, Azerbaijani activists and political groups believe Azerbaijanis are the largest ethnic group in Iran and that their numbers in the country are underestimated. According to Azerbaijani student groups in Tehran, 27 million Azerbaijanis live in the Islamic Republic, 2 with the majority of Azerbaijani Turks concentrated in the northwestern part of Iran. They are also the predominant population in several provinces, including in East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, and Ardabil Province. Pressure from the Iranian authorities also forced large communities of Iranian (or Southern) Azerbaijanis to emigrate. Many left to the Republic of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, European Union countries, and the United States. Some eight million Iranian Azerbaijanis live outside Southern Azerbaijan, over a million of whom are considered political immigrants residing in Europe or America. Some have also left the Azerbaijani provinces for other Iranian provinces, such as Tehran. Some estimates claim the population of Tehran to be made up of between 25 percent to a third of Azerbaijani immigrants and their first or second generation offspring. 3