Dec. 10, 2021

Alleged ban on non-Persian store names sparks furor in Tehran

Iran/Society

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.”

  • Moradi also reportedly declared that the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is the deciding authority on the naming of commercial venues.

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.”

  • Local news outlets such as Tabnak, KhabarOnline, and Mehr News covered the initial announcement in their respective Dec. 5 articles, choosing only to highlight quotes from Moradi while avoiding commentary.
  • But on social media, the move proved to be controversial with many criticizing the policy. Some users labelled the measure as both “dangerous” and a “strategic mistake” as “Tehran belongs to all of its Turks, Kurds, Lurs, Gilaks, .[etc.]”

Less than a day after the initial announcement and following widespread criticism, Moradi vehemently denied that a ban on non-Persian names exists.

  • In a statement, Moradi claimed that “there is no truth to the news circulating in social media regarding a ban on local names for commercial venues in Tehran.”

Following the denial, Iranians quickly took to Twitter to poke fun at the police colonel and question what had actually happened.

  • Mostafa Vosoghkia, a senior staff member of the news agency which initially reported Moradi’s alleged remarks, shared photos of the colonel’s initial announcement and his subsequent denial side-by-side, with the text, “How to solve the challenging problems of a country.”
  • Some Iranians, however, expressed concern that the official online portal for commercial venue registration may restrict non-Persian names. In a Dec. 6 Instagram post, RoozArooz media claimed that the alleged ban on non-Persian store names in Tehran persists.

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 debate on multiculturalism and minority rights in Iran is not new. The previous monarchy implemented many laws and regulations that forbade the use and teaching of non-Persian languages in educational institutions. This was later reversed.
  • Article 15 of the current Iranian Constitution declares, “The official language and script of Iran…is Persian…However, 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.” Yet, implementation of this article has been inconsistent.
  • Under the previous administration of moderate Hassan Rouhani, the education ministry prepared a proposal for regional languages to be taught in schools alongside Persian. However, the plan never reached fruition. Some minority languages such as Armenian are currently taught whereas others are not.

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.

  • However, it remains to be seen how the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance will respond to the latest controversy—and whether there is currently a ban on non-Persian store names in place or not.
  • If there are official government guidelines that outlaw non-Persian store names in the capital, it would undermine the conservative administration of President Ebrahim Raisi’s discourse on the need for inclusivity.
Amwaj.media
Amwaj.media
Amwaj.media
فارسیPersian
فارسیPersian
عربيArabic
عربيArabic