Pan-Iranism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pan-Iranism is an ideology that advocates solidarity and reunification of Iranian peoples living in the Iranian continent and Iranian plateau (falaat-e-Iran), including Baluchis and Ossetians, Kurds, Qizilbash, Hazaras, Pashtuns, Persians, Zazas, and Tajiks. Virtually all Pan-Iranists also include the Azeris, who although speak a Turkic language with considerable Persian vocabulary, have intermarried for centuries with Persians, form the second largest ethnic group in Iran and share much of the same ethnic, cultural, and historical roots with the other Iranian people. These peoples lived in a single state much of the time until the mid 1800s, when the Iranian plateau was divided and conquered by the Russian and British Empires, the colonial powers of the time. Iranian philosopher Dr. Mahmoud Afshar Yazdi claimed to have coined the term "Pan-Iranism" in the early 1920s which many others in Pan-Iranist movement dispute.
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[edit] History
With the collapse of the Qajar dynasty, which had descended into corruption, and the rise of Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1925, who began introducing secular reforms limiting the power of the Shia clergy, Iranian nationalist and socialist thinkers had hoped that this new era would also witness the introduction of democratic reforms. However, such reforms did not take place. This culminated in the gradual rise of a loosely organized grass roots Pan-Iranist movement made up of nationalist writers, teachers, students, and activists allied with other pro-democracy movements.
In the 1940s, the Pan-Iranist movement gained momentum after the Allied invasion. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, two political parties were formed based on the Pan-Iranist ideology, namely Mellat Iran and the Pan-Iranist Party of Iran (Hezb-e Pan-Iranist). Though sharing this same political foundation and similar viewpoints on many issues, the two groups greatly differed in their organizational structure and practice. Both these parties are currently active inside the country and abroad. Since the Iranian Revolution, there have also been other lesser known groups, both within Iran and without, which have adhered to Pan-Iranism.
[edit] See also
- Iranian peoples
- Iranian languages
- Persian Empire
- History of Azerbaijan
- History of Iran
- History of Afghanistan
- History of Tajikistan
- Greater Iran
- Pan-Turkism
- Pan Arabism
- Pan-Turanism
[edit] Further reading
- Hezbe Pan Iranist by Ali Kabar Razmjoo (ISBN 964-6196-51-9)
