Araz News: In a meet with members of Union Kurdish Front, which is a legal group in Iran, Iranian president’s aid for ethnicities and minorities’ affairs and the former minister of intelligence, Ali Younesi has said many “Azeri”s were Kurd in the past.
Mr. Younesi did not give any historical or scientific evidence for his claim. His expression drew severe reaction of many Azerbaijanis in media.
While Turks and Kurds are both victims of chauvinist system in Iran, the Persian nationalists try to create problems and conflicts between Turks and Kurds showing themselves sympathetic to Kurds and of course abusing some extremist Kurdish nationalists.
Also calling Azerbaijani Turks as “Azeri” is an official policy of Iranian state to assimilate Turkish identity of Azerbaijanis.