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Marine Corps Intelligence Activity Cultural Intelligence for Military Operations: Iran Cultural Field Guide

(U) Ethnic Groups

Ahram Ariel

(U) Summary

This section describes the identity of all ethnic groups in Iran, including the Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Arabs, Baluchs, Lurs, Bakhtiaris, Qashqais, and smaller Turkic Groups.

(U) Persians make up the dominant ethnic group in Iran, representing about 35 million people or about half of Iran’s total population. Many Iranian Persians do not recognize themselves as having an ethnic identity aside from their Iranian identity, even though they are aware that there are minority groups in Iran that differ from them linguistically, religiously, or culturally. Persians consider themselves the political, economic, cultural, and geographical center of the country and take pride in their political superiority and cultural sophistication. For many, Iran is Persia and Persia is Iran. Persians speak Persian, also known as Farsi, an Indo-European language. Since many of Iran's ethnic minorities speak languages that are close to Persian, it has been easy to assimilate minority groups into the Persian identity. Persians live throughout Iran, but are concentrated in the central provinces of Tehran, Qom, Markazi, Isfahan, Kerman, Samnan, Yazd, Far, Hamadan, Chahar Mahali va Bakhtiari, and Khorasan.

(U) Azerbaijanis (also known as Azeris), ethnic Turks, are the second largest ethnic group in Iran. They number about 20 million, concentrated in northwestern Iran, Tehran, Tabriz, and Ardebil. Many are bilingual in Persian and Azeri and practice Shi’ism. Azerbaijanis consider themselves an integral part of Iran, contributing to Iran’s cultural, political, and military development. They are wary of attempts to impose the Persian language, but are proud to be part of Iran, although there is growing contact between Azerbaijan in Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

(U) The Bakhtiari and Lur are Persian-speaking Shi’ites who maintain ethnic identities separate from Persians because of their historically tribal lifestyles. They number 200,000 and 500,000, respectively, mainly in the rural Zagros mountain provinces. Indo-Aryan ethnicities have dark, almond-shaped eyes, black, wavy hair, oval faces and a pale olive complexion lighter than those of Arabs.

(U) The Qashqai of the Fars province and Turkomen of northeastern Iran are ethnically and linguistically related to the Azerbaijanis, but are nomadic and tribal. Neither have aspirations for political independence, but fear that the imposition of government control could destroy their language and culture. They number about 500,000 in each group. They are more Mongoloid in appearance, with darker skin and higher cheekbones than Persians, although generations of intermarriage have made many Qashqai indistinguishable from other ethnic groups.

(U) Three major groups in Iran are affiliated with nationalist movements that have, at various points, imagined succession from Iran: the Baluch, the Arabs, and the Kurds. The Baluch are doubly marginal to the Iranian state because they do not speak Persian and are Sunni Muslims. They number between 1.5 and 2 million and are concentrated in the southeastern provinces of Sistan va Baluchistan, Hormozgan, and Kerman. Their low level of socioeconomic modernization means that only a small minority of Baluch are educated. Many educated Baluchs live in exile outside Iran and aspire to unite with Baluchs in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Baluch are Middle Eastern in appearance, with dark eyes and prominent noses.

(U) There are about 4 to 7 million Kurds in Iran, mainly in the western provinces of Azerbayjan-i Gharb-i, Kurdistan, and Kermanshah. Iran's Kurdish population is 90 percent Shi'a, 8 percent Sunni, and the remainder are Christian and Yazidi. The Kurds have greater levels of education and development than the Baluch. The dominant attitude among Iranian Kurds has been to seek cultural and political autonomy within the structure of the Iranian state. Yet at different times, Iranian Kurds have sought unity with their brethren in Turkey and Iraq to form a greater Kurdish state.

(U) The Arabs in Iran are in a similar situation as the Kurds. Estimates on their numbers range from 1.5 to 5 million, with the Ahwazi Arabs (those living in Khuzistan) speaking an Iraqi dialect and the Bandari Arabs (those in Bushehr and Hormozagan) speaking a Gulf Arabic dialect. They are ethnically and linguistically distinct from the Persians. Though most Arabs in Iran are Shi’a, most Arabs in the greater Middle East are Sunni. They too have shown some desire to join the pan-Arab struggle and to break away from Iran, but for the most part they have sought greater accommodation and political representation within Iran.

Map of major Iranian ethnic groups

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