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Subscriptions help us deliver original coverage of the region's most important issues.The story: Tehran’s police has walked back an earlier apparent announcement that non-Persian names for stores in Iran’s capital will be “forbidden.” Following an immense public backlash, a senior police commander has denied that such a ban on foreign or non-Persian names exists. The controversy has revived the diversity debate in Iran, which is home to a plethora of non-Persian communities.
The coverage: In an interview with the semi-official Mehr News published on Dec. 5, Colonel Nader Moradi, the Commander of the Greater Tehran Police for Supervision of Commercial Spaces, was cited as saying that the government had issued official guidelines stressing that commercial venues in the capital “must have Persian names.”
The senior police commander went on to clarify that non-Persian store names can only be used in their “relevant regions” and that Turkish, Kurdish, Luri, and other “non-Persian” names are forbidden from being used in Tehran, stressing that violators “would be dealt with appropriately.”
Less than a day after the initial announcement and following widespread criticism, Moradi vehemently denied that a ban on non-Persian names exists.
Following the denial, Iranians quickly took to Twitter to poke fun at the police colonel and question what had actually happened.
The context/analysis: Iran is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country. More than 40% of the population is believed to be made up of non-Persian communities. However, Iranian authorities often seek to implement monocultural programs aimed at fostering linguistic and cultural uniformity. This is partly driven by fears of sentiments in favor of secession among some minority communities.
The future: Widely unpopular and controversial proposals such as the reported ban on non-Persian store names in Tehran are sometimes walked back or scrapped following widespread discontent.