CHAPTER THREE: PERSPECTIVES ON ETHNICITY IN

1. INTRODUCTION In his celebrated essay “Ethnic Groups and Boundaries”, Barth (1969) criticized a then common view on ethnicity for assuming that ethnic phenomena come about due to contact between groups which are already culturally distinctive, often in a colonial setting. Rather, Barth reasons, we should “ask ourselves what is needed to make ethnic distinctions emerge in an area” (ibid, 17). What he seems to call for here is an historical perspective on ethnicity.

During last three decades, a number of scholars in social sciences, political sciences, and history disciplines such as Aghajanian (1983), Kazemi (1988), Ayubi (1998), Ahmadi (1999), Hajiani (2001), Altaiee (2002), Abdollahi and Ghaderzadeh (2004), and Ghamari (2005) have attempted to analyze ethnic diversity in the Iranian society. They have discussed problems such as the existence of ethnic diversity in Iran, the social and political issues of ethnic diversity of Iran, the boundaries of ethnic groups in Iran, and the factors that have developed ethnic diversity in the Iranian society since ancient times.

In this chapter, the main perspectives on ethnicity in the Iranian society have been discussed. On the basis of those approaches, the multiethnic nature of Iranian society is explained. In this way, historically, the rise of the plural society in the Province of Golestan with reference to Turkmen group has been presented.

48 2. PLURAL NATURE OF IRAN SOCIETY On the basis of above studies, two perspectives are presented on the multiethnic nature of Iranian society. According to a research in politic discipline on ethnicity, namely ‘Ethnicity and Ethnocentrism in Iran; Legend and Reality’, Ahmadi (1999) argues that Iran is not multiethnic in nature. He states that “the usage of the concepts of ethnicity and ethnic group in the analysis of cultural diversity of Iran is false. The existence of ethnic groups with distinctive racial or cultural traits in Iran is as a result of researchers’ images rather than a historical fact” (Ibid, 51). His arguments are based on the following reasons: 1. Ahmadi says that the terms ethnicity and ethnic group are ambiguous and scientists do not agree with a single definition of ethnicity or ethnic group, especially, on the traits of ethnic groups in society. But scientists have emphasized the existence of some criteria such as race and objective cultural traits while defining ethnic group. However, Ahmadi argues that there are no racial and objective cultural criteria for distinguishing present linguistic and religious groups in Iran. The linguistic and religious groups of Iran have been organized on the basis of tribal context up to beginnings of 20th century. 2. Historically, the concept of ethnicity was used to describe the migrant population in North America that were culturally different and nations from Asia, Africa, Europe, and so forth. But the various lingual and religious groups of Iran are not migrants from different regions/nations of the world. 3. Various religious-lingual groups have been living together for hundreds of years and experienced similar historical experience and cultural heritage during such long time. These groups have been inseparable and incontrovertible parts of Iranian society (Ibid, 51-52).

49 The second perspective emphasizes on multiethnic nature of Iranian society. Abdollahi and Ghaderzadeh (2004:2) in their empirical study “Ethnic Distance and the Factors Affecting It in Iran” state that Iran is multi-ethnic society and various ethnic groups live in different regions. They have their own linguistic, local and cultural traits. They define ethnic group as: A group of people who (a) believes for themselves in common history, origin, ancestors, land, custom, language and cultural institutions with (b) more or less common feeling of belonging, obligation and loyalty toward them that (c) this common collective sense that is usually expressed by using plural subject pronoun ‘we’, Meanwhile creation of the solidarity among the members of each ethnic group, (d) determines symbolic boundaries and social distance of each group from another one.

Hajiani (2001) in his article ‘The issue of ethnic unity and the pattern of ethnic policy in Iran’ states that we encounter ethnic groups and different geographical-cultural regions in Iran which have particular cultural traditions and identical perceptions. He also states that members of each ethnic group perceive themselves distinctive from other members of society. Thus, he says that the existence of ethnic groups and different cultural regions in Iran is an undeniable fact which are formed and recognized according to lingual differences (Ibid, 138). Kazemi (1988:201) in his article ‘Ethnicity and Iranian Peasantry’ emphasizes that “ethnical or lingual-religious differences are one of essential permanent traits of Middle East societies and Iran is also no exception to this rule.” Aghajanian (1983:211) in his research ‘Ethnic Inequality in Iran’ states that historical analysis of Iranian society shows that Iran has been an ethnically plural society. In other words, historically ‘Iranian people’ have been a heterogeneous collection of various groups. Altaiee (2002:160) in his book ‘Ethnic Identity Crisis in Iran’ says, “according to the mode of social and historical evolution of ancient society of Iran and affective factors like political- economic competitions and looking for more and better natural resources

50 (lands for living), Iran consists of various human groups. Also, there were different ethnic groups in the east, west, north, and south of Iran before the migration of the Aryans to Iran.” he also argues that some factors have developed cultural diversity in Iran after ancient times such as huge immigrations (Aryans and Turkmen), expansion of Islam religion in Iran, tribal life style in Iran, and wars.

Immigration: Rahimpoor (2002:34) states that “some objects like dart discovered by archeologists in Iran date back to 10,000 B.C. The hunting tools and stone articles discovered in various caves reveal that human life existed in the Iranian plateau during the Paleolithic period. The most important civilization that existed in Iran before the settlement of Aryans was ‘the Illamit’ in the plain of Khuzestan, in particular, in the city of Susa. The Illamits called their territory and government ‘the Hatami’. The Illamit Dynasty was established in 3000 B.C.”

The emigration of the Aryans from west and south plains of Siberia and the from Central Asia was the largest immigrations in Iran. Matoofi (1995) in his book about the history of Golestan, under the name of ‘Esterabad and in History of Iran’ describes that “Aryans have been living in the west and south plains of Siberia. They were ranchers and had to immigrate to the south west of Asia and other areas because of severe cold and loss of grazing pastures. They moved away to search suitable climate for themselves and their livestock. Initially, few Arayans immigrated, but later the number of migrants increased. Their huge immigrations included three big categories:

a) Aryans who moved to central Europe about 5500 years ago,

b) Indian-European Aryans who moved to India from Afghanistan about 4500 years ago.

51 c) Aryans who moved to Iran from the coast of 3500 years ago” (Ibid, 17). They settled all over Iran in tribal groups and bred cattle for a living. Their major tribes were the Medes (in the west), the Perse (in the south) and the Parthes (in the southeast) (Rahimpoor, 2002:36-37).

The Turkmens emigrated from Central Asia to the south for social and natural reasons and some of them stayed in Iran. Askarikhaneghah and Sharifkamali (1995) in their book ‘Turkmen Iranians’ state that: “Turkmen ethnic group lived in the north of ‘Ishig Gel’ Lake (in the north of Mongolia) about 6000 years ago. Most historians believe that Turkmens have moved from the east. They inhabited near Syr Darya (Jaxartes) in the 6th century and then they moved to around Amu Darya (Oxus) and Marv in the 11th century” (Ibid: 33). Political developments caused to have official borders between Iran and Soviet Union in December 1881. According to this agreement, the land of the Turkmens bifurcated into two parts, Russian and Iranian. Therefore, Turkmen people settled down in in the then Soviet Union and ‘Turkmen Sahra’ (meaning land of Turkmen) in Iran (Ibid: 50).

The expansion of Islam religion in Iran: The Islamic period of Iran started with fall of the Sassanid Dynast in 625 A.D. Before this period, the religion of Iranians was Zoroastrian (Rahimpoor, 2002:36-37). Aghajanian (1983:211) states: “although there was never mass colonization of Iran by the Arabs, Arab penetration in the southwestern and southern regions continued where the climate was favorable.” Thus, “Muslim Caliphs (religious leaders) governed the country for about 200 years. They spread Islam throughout Iran. During this period, the Iranian and Arab cultures greatly influenced each other in political, religious and cultural dimensions and it greatly effected the ethnic diversity of Iranian society. This new ethnic structure was created both by acculturation and marriages among different ethnic groups. Also, it should be

52 emphasized that Arab rulers have been affected gradually by Islamic-Iranian aspects of this era. As result of it, they conquered other countries emphasizing Arabic and Persian languages” (Altaiee, 2002:163-4).

Tribal life style in Iran: Tribal life style was another factor for cultural heterogeneity in Iran. “The nature of the nomadic life style contributed in stabilizing the tribal identities. When Arsacides was the emperor, a new political –official system which was called ‘feudal system’, based on authority of different tribes was created. This system existed formally and virtually for a few centuries in Iran” (Ibid: 161).

Philip Carl Salzman, Brian V. Street, and Susan Wright (1995) in their study ‘Understanding Tribes in Iran and Beyond’ state that Iranian tribes differ radically from one another – as any comparison of the Yarahmadzai Baluch, the Qashqai and the Turkmen would demonstrate – as do tribes everywhere, and different tribes will use different organizational idioms and have different models of their own operation. And we must expect different idioms among different elements of a tribe and among the same people over time. Furthermore, these idioms will be complexly and often obscurely related to individual action and social process, which will exhibit their own patterns for us to discover (ibid, 402).

Wars: The ethnic combination of Iran with battles has got more dimensions. For example, Altaiee (2002) states that through Alexander’s attack on Iran (330 B.C) and after that 200 years old dominance of Salukis vicars; Greeks, Macedonians, Romans, Africans have added to the population of Iran. Moreover, consecutive wars of Sassanid against Transoxanian in the east and north east and against Romans in the west and against Arabs in the south increased ethnic diversity in Iran (Ibid: 160-1).

53 3. ETHNIC GROUPS: Criteria for Identification and Definition

Scholars (Ghamari 2005, Altaiee 2002, Hajiani 2001, Ahmadi 1999, Ayubi 1998, Hoggart 1992, Aghajanian 1983, Lois Beck 1980) on the basis of some criteria such as race, religion, and language distinguished ethnic diversity of Iran society.

Race: Hajiani (2001:203) states that “according to race criterion, ethnic groups of Iran divide into three categories. They are: 1. Aryans including Afghans, Hezarehs, Baluchs, , Bakhtiaris, Taleshes, and 2. Non Aryans including Turks, Ghashghaies, Turkmen, Mongolians, Armenians, Arabs, Jews and Zoroastrians 3. Mixed groups.”

Whereas it was for some times fashionable to divide humanity on basis of race, modern genetics tends not to speak of races. There are three principle reasons for this. First, there has always been so much interbreeding between human populations that it would be meaningless to talk of fixed boundaries between races. Secondly, the distribution of hereditary physical traits does not follow clear boundaries. In other words, there is often greater variation within a ‘racial’ group than there is systematic variation between two groups. Thirdly, no serious scholar today believes that hereditary characteristics explain cultural variations (Eriksen, 2002: 5). The ethnic identities of Iran are more than racial classification. For example, among the Aryans there are 8 ethnic groups that they recognize themselves/ and by others culturally different. On the other hand, as this research demonstrates, the ethnic relations of members of groups are not based on race criterion. Turkmen ethnic group has more ethnic interactions with Persian group from Aryan race

54 as compared to Turk group in same race (both non-Aryan). Therefore race is not a criterion to determine the boundaries of ethnic diversity of Iran.

Religion: In some researches (Ahmadi 1999, Ayubi 1998, Hajiani 2001, Altaiee 2002, and Ghamari 2005) religious criterion has been used to classify of Iran’s population. According to ‘Iran Statistical Yearbook’ (2006) over 98 percent of Iranian people are Muslim and 2 percent of them are Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian. About 89 percent of Iran’s population follow Shiite branch and 9 percent of them follow the Sunni branch of Islam. The Shiite branch includes Persian, Turk, Arab, Lor, Zaboli, Mazandarani, Gilak, Bakhtiari ethnic identities, and some people of Kord ethnic identity. The Sunni branch also includes Turkmen, Baluch ethnic identities and some people of Kord ethnic identity. If religion criterion is an appropriate ethnic boundary for Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian in Iran as a fixed boundary that it can shows their cultural distinctiveness from each other and from Muslims, but it is not a suitable ethnic boundary to describe cultural diversity in Iranian Muslims’ Population both Shiite and Sunni branches. These branches are in same religion, but they don’t behave according to religious trait in social, economic and political interactions (As this research has demonstrated).

Language: Aghajanian (1983:211) emphasizes that “Iran consists of linguistic community”. There is not much data about the exact population figures for each lingual community. The Iranian censuses in the last decades have not considered the question of linguistic trait. But Lois Beck (1980) in his research ‘Revolutionary Iran and Its Tribal People’ states that less than half of the total Iranian population speaks Persian as a first language. Except for religion in the case of the 2% of the population which is non-Muslim, language is used by Iranians as the main distinguishing feature of population groups (ibid, 14). According to Oxford Encyclopedia of People and Cultures (Hoggart, 1992), the major ethnic groups in Iran according lingual boundary, religious sect their

55 place of living (map: 3.1), the approximate percentages of them in population of the country are:  Persian: or a set of Persian speaking people that inhabit all over Iran expect some special areas of other groups. This group comprises about 45.6 to 66 percent of the population of Iran.

 Turk: approximately covers 16.8 to 25 percent of the population of country and lives mostly in the northwestern areas of Iran in the West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Ardebil and Zanjan provinces and some parts of Gilan (Astara), Kurdistan, Hamadan, Ghazvin, Markazi, Mazandaran (Ghaemshahr) provinces, North Khorasan and Fars (Ghashghaiee tribesmen) provinces and in some large cities specially and Karaj.

 Kurd: live mostly in the western part of Iran particularly in Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Eilam, the south of West Azerbaijan (Mehabad), Kurdistan (in north) provinces. This group comprises of 5 to 9.1 % of the total population of Iran.

 Gilak: live in Gilan province and the west of Mazandaran province and they comprise of 5.3% of population of Iran.

 Lur: comprise of 4.3% of the total population of Iran. This group resides mostly in the west and southwest of Iran (in Lorestan, Hamadan, Eilam, Charmahal-e-Bakhtiari, Esfahan, Kohkiloieh and Boier-Ahmad, Fars, Bushehr, and Khuzestan provinces).

 Mazandarani: they reside in Mazandaran province and in west of . They comprise of 3.6% of population of Iran.

 Arab: that are in the center and south of and they are outspreading in South Khorasan, Bushehr, and

56 Hormozgan provinces. This group comprises of 4 % of Iran’s population.

 Baluch: that stays in Sistan and Baluchistan, South Khorasan, Kerman, and Hormnozgan provinces. They comprise of 2.3% of Iran’s population.

Map 3.1: Lingual and Religious distribution in Iran

Source: http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/Faculty/murphy/436/coganth.htm, accessed on 07May, 2007

57  Turkmen: they reside in Golestan province and a few of them are in South Khorasan province. They comprise of 2% of Iran’s population.

 Bakhtiari: live in Charmahal-e-Bkhtiari province and north of Khuzestan province. They comprise of 1.7% of Iran’s population.

 Taleshi; live in the western parts of Gilan and the eastern parts of Ardebil provinces. This group comprises of 1 % of Iran’s total population.

It is obvious that on the basis of lingual criterion, ethnic diversity of Iran can be more than above-mentioned ethnic groups. For example, Zaboligi as a dialect of is an ethnic marker for Zabolis. According to this dialect Zabilis and Persians perceive themselves as different groups. Also Mazanderani and Gilaki as other dialects of Persian language are basic ethnic markers in north of Iran, and on the basis of them, Mazandaranis and Gilakis perceive themselves ethnically distinct from Persians and from one another.

Therefore, linguistic trait is suitable, flexible, and variable criterion for discussion of cultural diversity of Iran as compared to other criteria. Because it shows clearly the cultural similarities and differences among ethnic groups and adopts with the most popular perceptional identification by members of various groups.

On the basis of lingual diversity of Iran population, the early stance of the Islamic government on the question of ethnicity and ethnic diversity was heard during the vociferous debates over the country’s new constitution in the Assembly of Experts (Majlis-e Khobregan). Article 15 of the Constitution acknowledges Iran’s ethnic diversity and the ethnic communities’ fundamental rights to preserving their distinctive identities and cultures. “The use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for

58 teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian” (The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran: 33)

Eric Hobsbawm (1990: 41) states that “at the turn of the millennium and in a world coming out of the Cold War, the international political setting had dramatically been altered. Across Iran’s northern frontiers, instead of a great Tsarist/Soviet power, with, which Iran had become accustomed to live over previous two centuries, a number of small independent states had emerged, some of them home to majority population with corresponding ethno-linguistic groups within Iranian territory. Calls for unity of the people who share a common language but live under different national flags are occasionally heard, utilizing the familiar Eurocentric ethno-linguistic discourse where “ethnicity and language become the central, increasingly the decisive or even the only criteria of potential nationhood.”

However, if the call for regional autonomy was absent in the revolutionary uproar during the revolution, except for the Kurds, social and political unrest in Iran with an ethnic flavor was often registered in its aftermath. Touraj Atabaki (2005) in a study on ‘Ethnic Diversity and Territorial Integrity of Iran’ states that “there were revolts in Kurdistan and Turkmen sahra in early 1979—which in the Kurdistan case lasted for another six years—and political unrest in Khuzistan and Baluchistan in mid 1979. The most intense political unrest came in regions with a majority Sunni Muslim population, one of their main objections aimed at the Constitution’s provision that Twelever Shi’sm was to be-Iran’s official religion.” (ibid, 38)

Milton J. Esman and Itamar Rabinovich, ed. (1988:20) state that one should not overlook the fact that the fate of Iran’s ethnic compositions and its territorial integrity may depend, more than any other factor, on the introduction of reforms in the country’s political structure to secure individual rights as well as collective rights in a “non-discriminatory inclusion and access to economic opportunities, political participation, or cultural status, including

59 language recognition, either on an individual basis or through some pattern of group proportionality”.

4. ETHNIC GROUPS IN GOLESTAN PROVINCE

Matoofi (1995) in his book ‘Estrabad and Gorgan in Iran History, states that “The historians and archaeologists believe that the discoveries made in Golestan province (especially in Toor-Rang and Shah Tapeh) belong to an ancient civilization. They believe that this civilization about 5000 years ago had overcrowded and advanced villages, watering system of agriculture, pottery industry, and metallurgy. According to present mythologies, when Arians arrived at this place, they faced some people who had resisted them (ibid: 1-6).

As mentioned before, considering the geographic distribution of ethnic groups in Iran on one hand side, and political divisions on the basis of provinces on the other hand, half of Iran’s provinces have ethnic diversity; and herein the ethnic variety in Golestan province has more diversity as compared to other provinces. Because, the ethnic diversity of this province include five main ethnic groups of Iran. They are Persian, Turkmen, Turk, Zaboli and Baluch.

During the last centuries, due to salubrious climate, fertile land for agriculture, economy base on traditional agriculture and wide pastures for ranching, Golestan province has witnessed a steady influx of migrants. Aryans were the first group of these immigrations that entered this region from the coasts of Caspian Sea almost 3500 years ago and formed the most important group (Persian) of this region (ibid, 16).

Turkmen was second group that had immigrated to Golestan province. Irons (1974:636) states that “historically, large number of Turkmens have migrated out of the Central Asian area into the Fertile Crescent and Anatolia,

60 and some region in those regions also continue to designate themselves as Turkmen”. The main Turkmen area in Iran consists of the northern portion of the Golestan province, a region extending east from the Caspian Sea along the Iranian-Turkmenistan border. The history of this group has explained in detail in next.

Rabino (1986) in his book ‘Mazandaran and Astarabad’ states that the east region of Astarabad state (new Golestan province) is mainly the area of Turks. The immigration of Turk group to Golestan province goes back to Ghajar period (1794-1925). He has mentioned preventing Turkmen attacks as the reason of immigration of Turk group to this area. The ancestry homeland of this group is Azarbyjan provinces (East and West) in east northern of Iran.

The ethnic groups of Zaboli and Baluch are the recent immigrants groups of Golestan province that have recently migrated to this region because of droughts in Sistan and Baluchistan province (southeast of Iran) and need of human resource (labour) in fields of Golestan province.

Now-a-days, as the map 3.2 shows, the geographical territories of ethnic groups in Golestan province are following in three regions:

I) North region- This region is designated to Turkmen and called ‘Turkmen Sahra’ means the land of Turkmen. II) South region- This region is mountainous and is mainly the inhabitation of Persians and some of Turks. The entire population of this area is rural. III) Central region- The largest population of the province inhabits in this region. The inhabited population in villages of this region are mainly from mono-ethnic group (each village involves one ethnic group), but this region is inhabitation of five major ethnic groups of the province, of which the cities like Gonbad-e-Kavoos, Kalaleh and Bandar-e-Turkmen have the most ethnic variety.

61 Consequently, main ethnic groups of Golestan province on the basis of length of residency in province divide into two groups: (a) Ethnic groups that have longer time of residency in province such as Persian, Turkmen and Turk. (b) New immigration such as Zaboli and Baluch groups that have stayed during the recent century and do not have special ethnic territory in host society.

Map 3.2: Geographical regions by ethnic diversity in Golestan province

North region Center region South region

5. ETHNIC GROUP OF TURKMEN

Turkmen is a group of the people of central Asia who have been called ‘Ghoz’ or ‘Oghuz’ in the past. The term is derived from the name of their common ancestor, ‘Oghuz ’. The origin of the word Turkmen has still remained unclear. According to popular etymologies as old as the eleventh century, the word derives from ‘Turk’ plus the Iranian language element

62 ‘manand’, and means “resembling a Turk” .At first, it was 'Turkmanand’ and it has been changed to ‘Turkmen’ gradually by using it during the passage of time. Modern scholars, on the other hand, have proposed that the element - man/-men acts as an intensifier and have translated the word as ‘pure Turk’ or "most Turk-like of the Turks." The ending of the name has no relation to the English words ‘man’ or ‘men’ (Askari Khangah and Sharifkamali, 1995:29).

Barthold (1962) states that the first historical usage of term of ‘Turkmen’ – which is used in some geographical books- is found in the second half of 10th century A.D. In these books, it has been written that Turkmen were living in a city in the borders of Islamic lands in the central Asia that was near a city which is called ‘Isfijab’. Probably, it was nearby the city today called ‘Seram’, which is 125km far from Tashkand in Uzbekistan. According to Logashova (1979) whose writing shows that Turkmen ethnic group has been created through the union of Turkmen ethnic groups who had moved to the north of Turkmenistan with their own particular traits in 14th and 15th century.

Ashtari (1983) states that Turkmen people had Shamanism religion like other resident groups in central Asia. They converted to Islam in 16th century (Askari Khangah and Sharifkamali, 1994:154). At present, they are Hanafi Sunni Muslims.

Durdiof and Qadirof (2000:83-4) states that “the population of Turkmen people was over 5.5 million all over the world in 1995. About 3 million of them have lived in Turkmenistan and around 1.5 million of them have inhabited in Iran. The rest of them have lived in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, China, Iraq, Turkey, Syria and other countries.”

At present, the ethnic structure of Turkmen is divided into three main clans: Yomut, Goklan, and Takeh and each of them are further divided in several sub-branches. There is no exact statistics of Turkmen population in Iran and Golestan province but some researchers, Askari Khaghani and

63 Sharifkamali (1994), have estimated the population of Turkmen in Iran around 1.5 million people in 1994. It equals to about 2 percent of the population of Iran. The largest number of Turkmen population in Iran is allocated to Yomut clan. Actually, it is around 70 percent of the population in Iran of Turkmen; Goklan clan is about 27 percent of Turkmen population. Takeh clan has around 3 percent of the population. The main part of Turkmen population is in Golestan Province, Turkmen Sahra, and a few of them live in Northern Khorasan province. The map 3.3 shows the location of sub-ethnic groups of Turkmen in north of Iran.

Map 3.3: Location of sub-ethnic groups of Turkmen in Iran

Yomut clan : Jafarbay Atabay Agh-Atabay Goklen clan Takeh clan

Irons (1974) states that the Turkmen of research region claim that there are three criteria which one must meet in order to be ethnically Turkmen. “One must first be a member of one of the recognized Turkmen descent groups, or, failing this, one must be a descendent of a slave of a member of one these descent groups. All of these descent groups – groups

64 such as the Yomut, Goklan, and Takeh – are in turn believed to stem from a single common ancestor. The other two criteria are linguistic and religious. To be a Turkmen one must speak Turkmen as one’s mother tongue, and one must be a Sunnite Moslem (ibid, 636).

5.1. History of Turkmen Askari Khangah and Sharifkamali (1994: 45-57) divide the history of Iranian Turkmen into three periods:

I) The period of nomadism: There is no crucial information about this period. This period started from the Turkmen’s immigration to their arrived in Turkmenistan and Turkmen-Sahara of Iran. Turkmen like other groups in Mongolia’s deserts and Central Asia had to emigrate to the South because of various natural and social reasons. Their lives depended on the network of animal husbandry. In this variety of life, there were two important factors in Mongolia’s desert and Central Asia: first one was water and another one was pastures. Getting both of them was very difficult.

II) The period of immigration to Turkmenistan and Turkmen Sahara in Iran: Turkmen inhabited near by Jaxartes River (Syr Darya) in 6th century A.D. and then, they moved around Oxus River (Amu Darya) and Marv region in the 10th century and finally they settled down in Marv region in the 11th century. Turkmen were looking for a land which has plenty of pastures and water. For achieving such a piece of land, they fought with other groups and often changed their place of residence. This position was continued till political developments caused official bordering between Iran and Soviet Union.

65 III) The period after the official bordering between Iran and Soviet Union: The official treaty of bordering has signed in December, 1881. Thus, the Turkmen’s movements between Iran and Soviet Union (modern Turkmenistan) were prevented.

Irons (1974, 1975) considers the Turkmen’s nomadism and their geographical mobility as a sort of political adoption. He believes that Turkmen people were utilizing nomadism while they were in the peril in the two neighboring countries namely Iran and Soviet Union. Hence, they immigrated from Union Soviet to Iran and vice versa. He states: “it is easy to divide the recent history of the Turkmen into distinct periods in terms of the changing political and economic circumstances (Irons, 1975:649).” He divides the recent history of Iranian Turkmen in the following four period:

1. Turkmen period; In the period prior to 1925 the Turkmen of the Golestan province were for the most part free of effective government control. They took advantage of this freedom by raiding, terrorizing, and extorting tribute from their sedentary neighbours. Freedom from effective Persian rule also allowed them to avoid the burdens of taxation and conscription that fell on their sedentary neighbours. The Turkmen people referred to this time as the Turkmen period (Turkmen zaman). Their situation during this period was not greatly different from that of many other groups in Iran.

2. The second period (1925-1941): During the decade of the 1920s, the government of Iran underwent a great transformation in the direction of a government committed to reform, economic development, and the exclusion of foreign influence from Iranian affairs. An important part of this transformation was the subjugation and often de facto independence. This was an extensive task which kept the army occupied with military operations against one tribe and another tribe for most of the decade. It was as a part of this general effort to bring all the tribes of Iran under effective control, that the Turkmen were subdued by force of arms in the autumn of 1925.A large

66 proportion of the Turkmen remained on the Russian side of the border for some years after these events.

Earlier at the time of the time of the Russian Revolution, the Turkmen who remained there found that the newly established Soviet government interfered very little in their affairs for some years after their flight from Iran in 1925. At this point in time, many of Turkmen people who had fled in 1925 and remained on the Russian side of the border returned to Iran. After crossing back into Iran, they were forced to accept the authority of the now much more effective Iranian government.

In the latter half of 1930s, the Iranian government began a policy of closely regulating the affairs of the Turkmen on the Iranian soil. Both the Written sources and local administration were especially tyrannical and took advantage of their powers by enriching themselves at the expense of the local people.

3. The third period (1941-1946): This period of the Russian occupation in Second World War witnessed a partial reversal to the conditions of the Turkmen period. Much of Turkmen territory, especially the remoter and more arid regions, was left without any actual government other than that represented by indigenous Turkmen institutions. The Turkmen took advantage of the new state of anarchy by murdering those Iranian gendarmes and local administrators who were not able to flee with sufficient speed. They also destroyed the permanent dwelling that they had been forced to build and reverted to the year-round residence in tents.

4. The fourth Post- Second World War period: The period after the Second World War was characterized by the reestablishment of the Iranian authority, by renewed efforts to eliminate banditry and all forms of self-help through violence, and, since the 1950s, by extensive economic development in the more fertile and populous parts of the Golestan province. In contrast to the 1930s, the post war period has been characterized by an administration

67 committed to persuasion rather than forced measures in the areas of sedentarization and economic development. Attempts to encourage the expansion of agriculture have been much more successful than during the thirties, largely because of the introduction of agriculture machinery (Ibid, 1975:649-651).

The important point was that Turkmen people were affected by their neighbour’s cultural, social and economic phenomenon after “sedentism” gradually and indirectly. In that condition, Turkmen people received many cultural customs and habits from their own neighbors and they got close to them gradually (Askari Khangah and Sharifkamali, 1994:192).

5.2. Ethnic Relations of Turkmen in the Past Times In fact, the history of Turkmen had been of long mutual relationships between Turkmen and their sedentism neighbours (other ethnic groups) on one hand; and on the other hand; their relationships between them and government of Iran. In the past, the relations between Turkmen people and non-Turkmen ethnic groups that called “Velayet” had been hostile (Askari Khanegha and Sharifkamali, 1994:189). There are some notes which have been written about Turkmen attacks and the captive people by Vambrey (1856), Marvin (1881), Irons (1975). Rabino (1986) states that, the relationships between Turkmen people and non-Turkmen people are not friendly at all. Non-Turkmen ethnic groups should watch out their own old enemies’ attacks. There is no day that is spent without any bloodshed, or attacks for retaliation and plundering (Ibid, 156). Furthermore, Zabihi (1984) states that this state was often unsafe in Qajar dynasty period (1779-1924). There was conflict mostly between Turkmen people and non-Turkmen ones. There was insecurity, anarchy, and carnage continuously till the extinction of the Qajar dynasty in 1925 (Ibid, 66).

68 Askari Khanegha and Sharifkamali (1994) in their study ‘Iranian Turkmen’ argues that the conflicts of these two groups, Turkmen and non- Turkman, could be influenced in the past by various factors. One of the reasons was the ethnic differences (religion: Shiite and Sunni), but natural- economic factors were also involved in its analysis which played an important role. Natural resources and ecology were the most important factors in their contradictions as Turkmen people’s life depended on livestock. As a result, the needs of green pastures and numerous water made the Turkmen people to occupy the region where these above mentioned factors were seen and to expel its owners. Occasionally, this factor led to a quarrel even among Turkman people. Sedentism life, agriculture, increasing power of central government of Iran made the relationships improve between Turkmen people and other ethnic groups and the government gradually (ibid, 189).

Mojtaba Maghsoodi (2001) in his book ‘Ethnic Evolutions in Iran’ states that one of the regions which involved in conflicts and ethnic struggles among people and also between them and central government instantly after Islamic revolution of Iran (1979) was Turkmen Sahara region in Golestan province. Apparently, the main factor which caused to create some quarrels was about some disagreement in changing the name of “Bandar Shah” (King Seaport) to “Bandar Turkmen” (Turkmen Seaport) or “Bandar Islam”. This matter was a good excuse for them to declare a treaty which included Turkmen people’s wants through closing schools, organizations, markets, and having 30,000 people staying demonstratives in some cities such as Gonbadekavoos, Agh-Ghaleh (late Pahlavi Dezh) and Bandareturkmen (late Shah Seaport). These struggles lasted for about a month. They consisted of unarming eighteen police stations in the borders of Iran and Soviet Union (modern Turkmenistan), and in the conflicts 50 people were killed and hundreds were wounded (ibid: 215-229).

69 6. NATURE OF PLURALISM

In this chapter we have shown that Iranian society is a multiethnic society in nature. because: (A) If in the past, it was common to define racial and cultural traits as essential feature of ethnic distinctiveness and, any category of people who had ‘a shared culture’ was consider an ethnic group. This position has become difficult to justify. Recently, this has been deemphasized on the grounds that cultural differences may vary from one setting to another and from one historical period to another. Therefore, recent definitions have focused on the existence of a recognized and perceived cultural diversity by ethnic groups (for more explain see chapter one, ‘Definition of Ethnicity’). In cultural anthropology, furthermore, race is not a criterion for description of cultural diversity in a society. (B) As Ahmadi states, different lingual and religious groups exist in Iranian society. Thus, these traits in population of Iran, as ethnic boundaries, explain the multiethnic nature of it. (C) As mentioned in historical perspective, immigration to Iran had been a factor of more cultural diversity of Iran’s population. As Altaiee (2002:160) states that “the ethnic diversity of Iran goes back to ancient times.” (D) Now- a-days, as mentioned by Ahmadi (1999:51), we can’t explain the plural society of Iran according to term of tribe. Therefore, ethnicity is the best concept to distinguish cultural diversity of Iran community. (E) Ethnic groups can live together in a society with both ethnic identity and national identity. “Iranians have manifested a sense of Iranian-ness and unity despite having other sub-identities based on local languages, religions, and/or tribal formations” (Ahmadi A. 2005:129)

In this study, therefore, the term ethnic and, following from it, ethnicity, have been used in a manner as to make it virtually a perceptional and situational concept. An individual can behave as member of an ethnic group in some situations and as other ethnic identities in others. Therefore, the compass of the ‘We’ category may expand and contract according to the

70 situation. The notion of plural identities entails therein provides it (ethnicity) fluidity and therefore flexibility. Its boundaries expand or contract. Its multiple attributes assume a different order of pre-eminence in diverse situations.

Ethnicity is the most important concept to define cultural diversity of Iran. Even if the people of Iran include different races, but ‘race’ is not a scientifically useful category because people cannot be clearly divided into different ‘racial’ categories based on sets of physical traits, Then racial classifications such as ‘Aryans’ and ‘non-Aryans’ in the Iran might better be described as ethnic classification. Therefore, considering various ethnic criteria which scholars have stated to identify and define ethnic diversity of Iranian society, linguistic criterion is the most useful criterion in ethnic categorization of Iran’s population. According to lingual trait, members of ethnic groups identify and define themselves and others in various groups with more clarity and rigidity in group definition and ethnic boundary. Therefore, Iran consists of different ethno-lingual communities that each of them has its own language and a specific ancestry homeland within Iran.

Considering to ethnic concentration and distribution of ethnic groups in Iran, half of Iran’s provinces are multiethnic region. But the degree of diversity in its provinces differs. Golestan province with five main ethnic groups is the most diverse region in Iran as compared to other provinces. The major ethnic groups of Golestan province include: Persian, Turkmen, Turk, Zaboli and Baluch. Ethnic groups in Golestan province have different length of residency. Persian, Turkmen and Turk groups see themselves and by others as earlier ethnic groups and Zaboli and Baluch as new immigration to province.

Turkmen as a dominant ethnic group in Golestan province has its own specific ethnic territory in north of Golestan province in the name Turkmen Sahara. Historically, Turkmen group had lived in Mongolia’s deserts and Central Asia, and were looking for a land which has plenty of pastures and water. For achieving such a piece of land, they fought with other groups and

71 often changed their place of residence. This position was continued till political developments caused official bordering between Iran and Soviet Union in December, 1881. After Islamic revolution of Iran (1979) one of the regions which involved in conflicts and ethnic struggles among people and also between them and central government was Turkmen Sahara region in Golestan province. The study of ethnic relations of Turkmen with other ethnic groups in Golestan province is one of the main aims of this research.

72