| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines the roots and development of Azerbaijani identity in Iran. This study aims to demonstrate that the Azerbaijani minority in Iran lacked consciousness of a distinct national identity at the dawn of the twentieth century, and argues that the driving force behind the emergence of the consciousness of Azerbaijani national identity in Iran was the Pahlavi regime’s repressive and exclusivist nationalist policies between 1921 and 1941. Building upon the grievances of the Pahlavi era, the occupation of Iran by Allied forces during the Second World War and the short, Soviet-supported autonomy under the leadership of Sayyed Ja’far Pishevari in 1945–1946 institutionalized and consolidated the Azerbaijani Turkish identity in Iran.
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