Different languages. Distinct traditions.
A country we make together.
A CONVERSATION, STILL UNFOLDING.BELONGING, IN EVERY VOICE
Iran is one country, home to many peoples, languages and cultures. From the Caspian shore to the Persian Gulf, from the Zagros to Khorasan, distinct identities enrich a shared Iranian home.
These thirteen portraits are an invitation to explore, not a complete list of Iran’s communities. Identities overlap, families move, and belonging can take more than one name.
Lur communities have deep roots in the central and southern Zagros. Luri speech, regional textiles and oral traditions connect a varied cultural landscape, with lives shaped by cities as well as mountain settlements.
Kurdish communities are concentrated in western Iran, with longstanding communities in the northeast too. Their different speech varieties and local traditions are part of a wider, living Kurdish cultural world.
Iranian Azerbaijanis, also called Azeri Turks, have longstanding communities in the northwest and across Iran’s cities. Azerbaijani Turkic and Persian meet in everyday multilingual life.
Baloch communities live across the southeastern interior and Makran coast. Balochi is an Iranian language; needlework offers one expressive cultural reference, among many forms of contemporary life.
Mazani is a familiar name for Mazandarani identity and speech. Its home region stretches along the southern Caspian and into the Alborz, alongside Persian and other local varieties.
Gilaki is one of the languages of the southern Caspian region. Gilan is itself multilingual: Gilaki identity shares the province with Talyshi and other communities rather than representing everyone who lives there.
Persian-speaking communities are widespread, particularly across the central plateau. Persian also connects people across Iran as a shared language; speaking it does not by itself define a person’s ethnic identity.
Bakhtiari identity has close linguistic and cultural ties to the wider Lur world. Communities span highland and lowland settings; historical seasonal migration is one part of their heritage, alongside settled and urban lives.
Khuzestan is a major home of Iranian Arab communities. Other Arabic-speaking communities live along the southern coast and elsewhere. Their local histories and dialects contribute to Iran’s multilingual life.
Lak communities inhabit adjoining parts of the western Zagros. Relationships between Laki, Kurdish and Luri identities are described differently by speakers and scholars; self-identification matters.
Iranian Turkmen communities have longstanding roots in the northeastern plains and borderlands. Turkmen is a Turkic language, with local traditions and connections extending beyond Iran’s borders.
Hormozgani (including Hormozi and Bandari identities) is a regional umbrella, not a single homogeneous ethnicity. Coastal and island communities have different languages, traditions and histories of exchange across the Persian Gulf.
Khorasani describes a regional identity shared by several communities, including Persian, Turkic, Kurdish, Turkmen, Baloch and others. It overlaps with ethnic identities rather than replacing them.
A COUNTRY IS A CONVERSATION
Lur. Kurdish. Azeri. Baloch. Mazani. Gilaki. Persian. Bakhtiari. Arab. Lak. Turkmen. Hormozgani. Khorasani. And many more voices, all part of Iran.
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