This article is about the region in Iran; for other uses, see Azerbaijan (disambiguation).

Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan, also Iranian Azarbaijan or Iranian Azerbaijan (Persian: آذربایجان ایران; Āzārbāijān-e Irān; Azerbaijani language: آذربایجان), is a region in northwestern Iran and south of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The terms Southern Azerbaijan or South Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani language: گوني آذربایجان, Güney Azərbaycan) are also sometimes used to describe the region^[1][2], but are criticized by Iranian sources as being incorrect and nationalistic-motivated.^[3][4]

Azerbaijan has an area of 176,512 square kilometers and a population of about 10 million (estimates vary) the Azerbaijanis make up the majority of the population. Azerbaijan is famous for its great natural beauty. There are 17 rivers and two lakes in the region. Cotton, nuts, textiles, tea, machinery and electrical equpiments are main industries. The region, which includes Lake Urmia, is mountainous, with deep valleys and fertile lowlands.

Grains, fruits, cotton, rice, nuts, and tobacco are grown. Wool, carpets, and metalware are produced. Industries include food processing, cement, textiles, electric equipment, and sugar milling. An oil pipeline runs through the region.

1. Sahand University of Technology
2. Tabriz University of Medical Sciences
3. Tabriz University of Tarbiat Moallem
4. University of Tabriz
5. Islamic Azad University of Tabriz
6. Islamic Azad University of Shabestar
7. Islamic Azad University of Maragheh
8. Islamic Azad University of Miyaneh
9. Tabriz Islamic Arts University
10. Azarbaijan University of Tarbiat Moallem, Azarshahr
11. University College of Nabi Akram
12. Urmia University of Medical Sciences
13. Urmia University
14. Islamic Azad University of Khoi
15. Islamic Azad University of Urmia
16. Ardabil University of Medical Sciences
17. Mohaghegh Ardabili University
18. Islamic Azad University of Ardabil
19. Islamic Azad University of Khalkhal
20. University of Zanjan
21. Zanjan University of Medical Sciences
22. Islamic Azad University of Zanjan
23. Islamic Azad University of Abhar
24. Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS)

The majority of the people of Azerbaijan are Azeris, who are Shi'a Muslims. There are also Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Jews, and Persians. Iranian Azerbaijan is divided into the provinces of East Azerbaijan (1996 pop. 3,325,540), West Azerbaijan (1996 pop. 2,496,320), Ardebil. (1996 pop. 1,168,011), and Zanjan. The chief cities include Tabriz (the capital of East Azerbaijan), Urmia (the capital of West Azerbaijan), Ardebil (the capital of Ardabil), Maragheh, Marand, Zanjan, and Khoy (Khvoy). The region is bounded in the north by Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan and in the West by Lake Urmia and Kurdish-inhabited Areas of Iran.

In ancient times, before the Aryan migration to Iranian Plateau, Azerbaijan was dominated by the Kingdom of Urartu (in Armenia). By the 8th century BC, it had been settled by Medes, and it later formed the province of Media Minor in the Persian Empire. After Alexander the Great conquered Persia, he appointed (328 BC) as governor the Persian general Atropates, who eventually established an independent dynasty. Later, the region, which came to be called Atropatene or Media Atropatene, was much disputed. In the 2nd century BC, it was liberated from Seleucid domination by Mithradates I of Arsacid dynasty, and c. AD 226 it became part of the Sassanid Empire of Ardashir I. Shapur II enlarged Azarbaijan by adding territory in the north known as Arran or Aran (today known as the Republic of Azerbaijan).

Heraclius, the Byzantine emperor, briefly held the region in the 7th century, just before the Islamic Conquest of Iran; Arab invaders converted most of its people to Islam and made it part of the caliphate. The Persianized Seljuk Turks dominated the region in the 11th and 12th centuries, and the Mongols under Hulagu Khan established (13th century) their capital at Maragheh. After being conquered by Timur in the 14th century, Tabriz became an important provincial capital of the Timurid empire. It was out of Ardebil (Ancient Artavilla) that the Safavid dynasty arose (c. 1500) to renew the state of Persia. There was fierce fighting between the Ottoman Empire and Persia for Azerbaijan. After brief Ottoman control, Shah Abbas the Great, regained control of the region in 1603.

The northern parts, which today constitute the State of Azerbaijan were ceded to Russia by treaties of 1813 and 1828.

Iranian Azerbaijan was occupied by Soviet forces in 1941, and briefly existed as an autonomous Soviet-supported state, between the Soviet withdrawal in May 1946 and the Iranian re-occupation in November of the same year.

Separatist movements in Azerbaijan can visibly trace their origins back to the colonialist policies of the Soviet Union and Imperial Russia. In a cable sent on July 6th 1945 by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the local Soviet commander in Russian (northern) held Azerbaijan was instructed as such:

"Begin preparatory work to form a national autonomous Azerbaijan district with broad powers within the Iranian state and simultaneously develop separatist movements in the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, Gorgan, and Khorasan".^[5]

Azerbaijan hails from a rich culture from Azeri traditions. Many local dances and folk music continue to survive among the various peoples of the provinces. As a longstanding province of Persia, Azarbaijan is mentioned favorably on many occasions in Persian literature by Iran's greatest authors and poets. Examples:

گزیده هر چه در ایران بزرگان
زآذربایگان و ری و گرگان
All the nobles and greats of Iran,
Choose from Azerbaijan, Ray, and Gorgan.
--Vis o Ramin

از آنجا بتدبیر آزادگان
بیامد سوی آذرآبادگان
From there the wise and the free,
set off to Azerbaijan
--Nizami

بیک ماه در آذرآبادگان
ببودند شاهان و آزادگان
For a month's time, The Kings and The Free,
Would choose in Azerbaijan to be
--Ferdowsi

The current Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, is an Azeri. This could support this idea that there is no discrimination about Azeris in Iran and they have equal opportunities compare with other ethnicity like Persians. However according to the local residents and Amnesty International and other international organisations; there are growing calls for a greater freedom of expression of their ethnic and cultural identity. In recent years Azeris have been dealt with harshly by the Iranian authorities. Iranian Azeris have complained about the lack of Azeri language schools, and there have been reports that newspapers written in Azeri (a form of Turkish) have been banned. At the end of June 2005, scores of people were reportedly arrested following an Azeri cultural gathering at Babak Castle in the city of Kalaybar. Similar events in previous years have also met with repression [1] [2]. It is also claimed that Azeris in Iran are not allowed to freely speak their language, propagate their culture, or have their own ethnic media.

This is not fully accurate however: Iran's claimed government policy in the past 30 years has been one of pan-Islamism, which excludes ethnicity (including Persians) altogether from the equation as a variable. Persian language is thus merely used as the lingua franca of the country to keep the republic functioning, and the centralized authority model of government is one with a long precedent in Iran's past.

Furthermore, Article 15 of Iran's constitution reads:

"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."^[6]

According to Amnesty International, "Iranian Azeri Turks, who are mainly Shi’a Muslims, are the largest minority in Iran, believed to constitute between 25-30 per cent of the population. They are located mainly in the north and north-west of Iran. As Shi’a, they are not subject to the same kinds of discrimination as minorities of other religions, and are well-integrated into the economy, but there is a growing demand for greater cultural and linguistic rights, including implementation of their constitutional right to education through the medium of Turkish. A small minority advocate secession of Iranian Azerbaijan from the Islamic Republic of Iran and union with the Republic of Azerbaijan. Those who seek to promote Azeri Turkish cultural identity are viewed with suspicion by the Iranian authorities, who often accuse them of charges such as "promoting pan-Turkism"". ^[7]

Azeris (Azaris) - Turkic speaking and non-Turkic speaking - have participated in Iran's history and politics, and continue to do so. Some of the most famous Azeris of Iran involved on national levels are:

• Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran ^[8]
• Mohammad Khatami, former president, is half Azeri ^[8]
• Parviz Fattah, current Minister of Energy
• Hakim Nezami Ganjavi, prominent Azerbaijanian poet
• Qatran Tabrizi, poet
• Ahmad Kasravi, Iranian nationalist politician and author
• Samad Behrangi, writer
• Sattar khan, constitutional revolutionary leader
• Bagher khan, constitutional revolutionary leader
• Kazem Sadegh-Zadeh
• Parvin E'tesami, poetess
• Karim Bagheri, soccer star
• Rasoul Khatibi, soccer star
• Mohammad Nosrati, soccer star
• Ali Daei, soccer star
• Iraj Mirza, poet and politician
• Maqsud Ali Tabrizi
• Hassan Roshdiyyeh
• Shams Tabrizi, mystic
• Ali Salimi
• Reza Baraheni
• Ali Soheili, Prime Minister of Iran
• Ebrahim Hakimi, Prime Minister of Iran
• Mahmud Jam, Prime Minister of Iran
• Mohammad Hossein Shahriar, famous poet
• Sheikh Mohammad Khiyabani, famous cleric
• Arteshbod Ghareh baghi, Iran's last Army Chief of Staff under the Pahlavi regime. (autobiography)
• Ali Javan, famous physicist
• Ayatollah Musavi Ardebili
• Mir-Hossein Mousavi, former Prime Minister of Iran
• Mina Ahadi, Communist Activist from WPI

• Atropatene

• "Azerbaijan" (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th edition; 2001-05)
• Azerbaijan entries in the Encyclopedia Iranica
• South Azerbaijan by Travel-Images