Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on transliteration and bibliography
- Glossary
- Introduction: an overview of politics and society
- 1 Ethnic anatomy and politics of non-Muslim minorities
- 2 The Assembly of Experts: debut in the year of destiny
- 3 Policy sphere of recognized religious minorities
- 4 Distinctions and designations as policy output
- 5 Prevalent responses of recognized religious minorities
- Conclusion: the perils of marginality
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Titles in Series
1 - Ethnic anatomy and politics of non-Muslim minorities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on transliteration and bibliography
- Glossary
- Introduction: an overview of politics and society
- 1 Ethnic anatomy and politics of non-Muslim minorities
- 2 The Assembly of Experts: debut in the year of destiny
- 3 Policy sphere of recognized religious minorities
- 4 Distinctions and designations as policy output
- 5 Prevalent responses of recognized religious minorities
- Conclusion: the perils of marginality
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Titles in Series
Summary
The scholarly literature on non-Muslim minorities is highly uneven, complex, and thinly researched. This chapter is not meant to be an exhaustive historical analysis; rather the main purpose is to introduce each community and examine its overall relations with Iranian society and the state. Several patterns in state–minority relations are identified at the conclusion of the chapter.
The sources for this chapter are secondary and include publications in Armenian, Persian, and English; there are noticeable differences in the quality of the sources. Every attempt has been made to deal constructively with contradictory cases, and the strengths and weaknesses of writings about each group have been carefully assessed. New historical works on religious minorities may clarify certain events and situations. For the purpose of this study, enough information is available to shed some light on the sociopolitical condition of Armenians, Assyrians and Chaldeans, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Bahais during the twentieth century.
The Armenians
The background of the Armenians has been traced to prehistoric times, to communities living in eastern Anatolia and the outskirts of Mount Ararat. From about 500 BC, Greek and Persian sources refer to the land of “Armenia” and its people as the “Armenians.” By 70 BC, the Armenian Empire stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. The territory was frequently a focus of power struggle between the Roman and Parthian Empires. The Armenian Apostolic Church, an ancient and autocephalous branch of Eastern Christianity, became the church of the Armenian state circa AD 314.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Religious Minorities in Iran , pp. 34 - 57Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000