As a Druze political leader living in Israel, I am proud to be fluent in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Many Druze citizens of Israel have been speaking three languages fluently since the British Mandate period, when education in Hebrew and English was widely encouraged alongside our mother tongue, Arabic.

Even though I grew up going to Jewish schools and have encouraged other Druze citizens of Israel to learn fluent Hebrew, I am proud of the fact that my mother tongue is Arabic and that Arabic is an official language in the State of Israel. Arabic remains an important part of my life, as it is my mother tongue and the language of the Druze nation. But not every nation is granted the right to speak, learn and work in their mother tongue, like the Druze nation in Israel is.

On Feb. 21, the international community commemorates International Mother Language Day, which emphasizes the importance of education in one’s mother tongue and the preservation of endangered languages. For the ethnic minorities in Iran, this day is important because the South Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Baloch, Ahwazi Arabs and Turkmen are deprived of the right to work and study in their mother tongue.

South Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Baloch, Ahwazi Arabs and Turkmen in Iran face systematic repression for using, teaching and promoting their mother tongue, which is treated by authorities as a security threat and an act of separatism. Despite constitutional provisions that theoretically allow for the teaching of regional languages, the Iranian regime actively limits the utilization of ethnic languages to maintain a centralized, Persian-dominated cultural and political identity.

In 2025 and early 2026, in the wake of recent protests in Iran, the Iranian regime systematically targeted ethnic minorities in Iran. Many South Azerbaijanis were massacred during this period of time. Hundreds of South Azerbaijanis were arrested, tortured and detained, with arrests ongoing. One of the main reasons why South Azerbaijanis have been targeted is because of their desire to promote education and work in their mother tongue, alongside economic and political reform.

South Azerbaijani activist Abbas Lisani remains in prison for seeking the right for his people to work and study in their mother tongue. Ali Reza Farshi, a South Azerbaijani citizen and cultural activist, is serving a long-term sentence in the South Azerbaijani city of Marand in the Islamic Republic of Iran. He was arrested for distributing children’s books in the Azerbaijani language. Mohammed Reza Faghihi, a well-known South Azerbaijani lawyer, was also arrested for trying to help the detained South Azerbaijani prisoners.

However, South Azerbaijanis are not the only ethnic group in Iran to face repression in recent times. In the wake of the bazaar protests, Iranian security forces increased pressure on Kurdish educators, arresting multiple teachers and activists for promoting the Kurdish language, often accusing them of threatening national security or engaging in “propaganda against the state.” Several, including Sajad Haeri and Srwa Pour-Mohammadi, received prison sentences.

Months before the recent bazaar protests, in February 2025, multiple educational associations in Baluchistan were closed, and teachers were detained for activities related to the promotion of Balochi language and culture. In the wake of the recent repression of the Iranian protests, Baloch cultural and linguistic-rights activists are also feeling the heat.

As a citizen of the State of Israel and a former communications minister, I am completely flabbergasted by the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran deprives South Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Baloch, Ahwazi Arabs and Turkmen of the right to study and work in their mother tongue. To study and work in one’s mother tongue is a basic human right that Israel’s Druze community and other ethnic minorities in the Jewish state enjoy.

And yet, the Islamic Republic of Iran has the audacity to call Israel “the little Satan.”

The real devil is the country that is committing a cultural genocide against the majority of its inhabitants, as a former Iranian education minister noted that up to 70% of Iranian children grew up in households where a language other than Persian was spoken.

Source: https://www.jns.org/opinion/ayoob-kara/honoring-repressed-languages-in-iran