İran’da Uygulanan Politikalar Bağlamında Türk Kadınının Kimlik ve Dil Aktarım Sürecindeki Rolü

Abstract

In Iran, a country that resembles a social mosaic with its cultural and linguistic diversity, the dominance of Persian identity and language was ensured with the policy of “one language, one nation” in the process of modern nation-state following the accession of Reza Pahlavi to the throne in 1925. Iran's identity arguments have aimed at eliminating differences between ethnic groups to complete and preserve national unity and for that purpose; Persian has played a special role in defining and legitimizing an Iranian identity that dates back centuries. From this perspective, this study aims to examine the identification and evaluation of Turkish women’s identity in İran and their role in defining, evaluating, and transmitting their mother tongue in the process of cultural transmission. In the construction of the modern Iranian state, the official education system played an important role and as a practice of homogenization, official education was provided only in Persian. In this qualitative study, the participants' experiences of Persian education and the effects of the policies implemented on the acquisition of Turkish identity were examined through semi-structured interviews conducted with 68 women of three generations in Tehran, Tabriz, and Khoy. According to the results analysed by Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis method, in a country that hosts different ethnic and cultural identities, placing only Persian cultural heritage at the center of national identity construction has led to a hierarchical order and relationship in society. In this new order, while Persian identity is seen as the superior and dominant identity, Turkish identity is positioned as the oppressed. Due to policies such as assimilation implemented during İran’s modern nation building process, the study found that, Turkish women's "identities have been fragmented", their mother tongue has been subjected to "linguistic genocide" especially through the education system, and their identities and languages have been marginalized through the policy of "dehumanization".