The Coordination Council of Non-Persian Language Cultural Organizations in Iran is on the path to destruction.
Today, February 21, 2023, is International Mother Language Day. This day is designated by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to safeguard linguistic and cultural diversity in countries around the world.
In statements on this occasion, the Coordination Council of Iranian Cultural Organizations has pointed out the right to education in mother tongue and the link between language suppression policies and the rise of dictatorship in non-democratic countries. They have written about the situation in Iran and the continuation of language policy engineering, stating that the dynamism of a society lies not in killing and suppressing differences, but in creating a fair and equal platform for their growth and flourishing. This council considers the continuation of one-language policies in education as an unfair action that disregards the collective rights of non-Persian nations within Iran’s political geography.
This statement refers to the beginning of the suppression of non-Persian languages and the policy of monolingual education during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi, based on completely misguided policies in the first Pahlavi era that have continued unchanged to this day. The colorful spectrum of various non-Persian languages was subjected to verbal and physical violence by the government. Today, only those languages that have a possibility for education outside the political borders of Iran, either by a state or a quasi-governmental structure, remain alive. To the extent that non-Persian languages are completely confined within the national borders of Iran, these languages have either completely disappeared or are practically on the path to permanent extinction.
