Before the advent and spread of the internet, Iranians of all nationalities and Azerbaijanis did not interact much with each other. Although the latter may have relatives among their fellow tribesmen living in a neighboring country. But now they have taken to engaging in correspondence boxing and large-scale online battles, and the subject of dispute is often such a subtle thing as the name of the Azerbaijani people.
The inhabitants of the Republic of Azerbaijan call themselves Azerbaijanis, while in Iran, representatives of the same people are traditionally referred to as Azerbaijani Turks. At the same time, Iranians of Persian origin do not hesitate to correct their northern neighbors and say that their own self-designation is incorrect. But Azerbaijanis in Iran also often share the opinion of their compatriots.
Why?
Ethnic nationalism as a developed ideology emerged relatively recently. It originated in Western Europe in the early 19th century, then spread to Russia and further south and east. Before that, religious identity prevailed almost everywhere, according to which anyone belonging to a particular faith was considered one of their own.
This approach reached its peak in historical Islamic countries such as the Ottoman Empire, the Safavid Empire, and the Mughal Empire. Absolutely anyone could hold a responsible political, military, or administrative position as long as they adhered to the official faith. Their own origin and language were irrelevant.
At the grassroots level, this meant that people were unaware of the very concept of “nationality.” They identified themselves not by language and ethnic origin, but by the city and region where they lived. The first two factors were not important, as there were many mixed marriages and most people knew several languages.
In Azerbaijan, people could call themselves Bakuans, Ganjans, Shemakhans, Tabrizans, or Ardabilans. When referring to a larger community, they called themselves Muslims or Turks—at that time, concepts such as nation and religion were synonymous. However, if people needed to distinguish themselves from the Caucasian mountain dwellers or Iranians, they called themselves Turks. Nevertheless, regional and religious affiliation was more important.
But at the end of the 19th century, European trends came to the Transcaucasian Turks of the Russian Empire. The idea of an ethnic nation was borrowed, and in the absence of a common name, it had to be named somehow. Proposals were made to call the people Arranians or Shirvanis in honor of the Muslim name of Caucasian Albania or the region on the territory of the modern Republic of Azerbaijan.
However, the term “Azerbaijanis” had more supporters, as it emphasized kinship with their Iranian brethren. Even before the revolution, this word began to be used unofficially in literature and journalism, and in Soviet times it was adopted at the state level. The goal was for the inhabitants of Baku, Shemakha, Ganja, and other cities to identify themselves as a single people. The same thing happened in Soviet Central Asia for the same reasons.
On the other hand, this was not the case in Iran. To this day, Shiite religious identity is considered more important there. But the common people of Iranian Azerbaijan continued to call themselves Turks, and in the press and books, for clarity, the addition was used that they were Azerbaijani – Azeri Turks in Farsi. The fact is that there are many Turkic peoples in the country, including those who are called Khorasan Turks by analogy.
Therefore, Iranians, regardless of their origin, either do not know the concept of “Azerbaijanis” or consider it somewhat far-fetched, forcing them to forget about their Turkic identity. And the country’s political leadership is simply a little wary of potential Azerbaijani separatism and, just in case, prefers that one people living on both sides of the border have different names.