31 Years of Mother Language in Iran

Since 1999, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated Febraury 21 as the “International Mother Language Day” to raise awareness about the importance of teaching the mother language in schools.  In this connection, Rooz has discussed the current issues surrounding the mother language in Iran with several experts.

The issue of language and the mother tongue in Iran has been one of the most controversial challenges facing Iranian society, especially in the past 31 years, and one of the most prevalent instances of human rights violation.  

Article 15 of the Constitution; 30-Year Suspension
Speaking to Rooz, Saleh Nikbakht, expert in legal affairs and an activists of Kurdish legal and civil rights, notes that the right to your mother language is one of the first rights obtained by an individual at birth.  He says, “Although Article 15 of the Iranian Constitution permits the use of local and ethnic languages in the media, and the teaching of languages and literature in schools, the Article has not been implemented for 30 years and 4 months, ie since the approval of the Constitution.”

Article 15 of the constitution states, in part, “the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian.”  

The provision however, has not yet been implemented, while many human rights and ethnic rights activists believe that even if fully implemented, the article falls short in guaranteeing the full scope of human rights associated with the use of the mother language.

Speaking to Rooz about this issue, writer and Baluchi rights activist Naser Bolidi says, “Article 15 of the Constitution relating to the mother language contains principles that have not been implemented even though these principles carry very weak references to this human right.  They do not contain the linguistic identities of national and ethnic minorities in Iran and are not capable of meeting the demands of Iranian nations and ethnicities, including the Baluchis.  Even if the aforementioned principle is implemented, it would still not solve anything, because its reference [to Persian] limits the linguistic rights of non-Persian ethnicities.  The principle of the mother language has not been mentioned in the Constitution as a fundamental principle.”

Although the prohibition against receiving education in the mother language and the implementation of Article 15 of the Constitution relates to modern times, and especially the Islamic republic era, minority and human rights activists believe that the prohibition has deeper historic roots.  

Speaking to Rooz, human rights activist Rahman Javanmardi describes the historic experiences of France and Turkey with national assimilation, noting, “In Iran too, the forces that wanted to replace tradition with modernity largely were influence by the theory of national assimilation.”