Western Iran - Iran - page 176

Shah Ismail, the first Safavid ruler, briefly made Tabriz Persia's national capital.
However, after the battle of Chaldoran against the advancing Ottomans, Tabriz suddenly
seemed far too vulnerable to Ottoman attack, so Ismail's successor, Tahmasp (1524-75),
moved his capital to safer Qazvin. Fought over by Persians, Ottomans and (later) Russi-
ans, Tabriz went into a lengthy decline exacerbated by disease and one of the world's
worst-ever earthquakes that killed 77,000 Tabrizis in November 1727.
The city recovered its prosperity during the 19th century. Shahgoli (now Elgoli) on Tab-
riz' southeast outskirts became the residence of the Qajar crown prince, but heavy-handed
Qajar attempts to Persianise the Azari region caused resentment. The 1906 constitutional
revolution briefly allowed Azari Turkish speakers to regain their linguistic rights (schools,
newspapers etc) and Tabriz held out valiantly in 1908 when the liberal constitution was
promptly revoked again. For its pains it was brutally besieged by Russian troops.
Russians popped up again during both world wars and built a railway line to Jolfa (then
the Soviet border) before withdrawing in 1945. This left Tabriz as capital of Pishaveri's
short-lived Provincial Government (autonomous south Azerbaijan) which tried to barter
threats of secession for better Azari rights within Iran. The Provincial Government was
crushed in December 1946 and far from encouraging the Azaris, the shah did the opposite,
restricting the use of their mother tongue. Reaction against this discrimination put Tabriz
in the forefront of the 1979 revolution well before the anti-shah struggle was railroaded by
more fundamentalist Muslim clerics.
AZARIS, AZERIS, AZERBAIJAN & AZӘRBAYCAN
Although there's an independent republic of Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan), the majority of Azerbaijanis actually live in
Iran, where they make up at least 25% of the population. Iranian Azerbaijanis (called Azaris) live mostly in the
northwest where two provinces use the name Azarbayjan. Commonly called 'Turks' because of their Turkic dialect,
Azaris are Shiite unlike the (predominantly Sunni) Turks of neighbouring Turkey.
Despite spoil-sport attempts of Western intelligence agencies to stir up Azari separatist feelings, Azaris are very
well integrated into Iranian society. Many Azari Iranians are prominent in Farsi literature, politics and the clerical
world. The Safavid shahs were Azaris from Ardabil and current supreme leader Ali Khamenei is an ethnic Azari.
Azaris are famously active in commerce, so bazaars nationwide ring with their voluble voices.
Iranian taxi drivers are often Azari so it's always worth having an Azari greeting ( kefez yakhtsede? or nijasan? )
up your sleeve to impress. Answer yakhtse (good) in Tabriz, yakhshi in Ardabil. Thank you (very much) is (chokh)
saghol .