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DEFENDERS
32
Spr ing&Summer
2 0 1 5
Introduction
In an unprecedented move and
through the wisdom of the Iranian
Supreme Leader in the edict that he
issued that said: " No Afghan child,
must be deprived of education, even
illegal immigrants who are in Iran
without any documentations and they
must all register in Iranian schools."
Thus Iranian schools opened their
doors to all Afghan refugee children
regardless of their residency status.
For this historic humanitarian reason,
Defenders Newsletter decided to write
a comprehensive article on the long
history of Iran playing host to refugees
from its neighbouring countries.
A glance at playing host to foreign
migrants and refugees prior to the
Islamic Revolution of ‘79
Iran’s first experience with refugees
began with the Russian revolution, a
revolutionthat resultedinapproximately
the next 20 years for Iran to be faced
with a steady flow of a large group of the
victims of the horrors of Bolshevism.
Prior to 1929, the migration and
asylum seeking of former Soviet
citizens to Iran was more limited and
gradual. In a period fo time such as the
‘20s, in other words at the same time
as the falling of independent Caucasus
republics or the non-Bolshevik
gorvernments in Central Asia, Iran
faced a notable increase in refugees, but
a substantial number of them, especially
those refugees who had the support of
some anti-Bolshevik groups in Turkey
or Europe did not stay in Iran long, and
moved to other countries. Therefore
in this period in history we were not
faced with the refugees phenomenon.
Some such as 350 families of Ra-a-
yay Taleb Ghashlaghi Nemin who
returned to Azerbaijan in 1923, where
those that during the unrest years had
gone to the other side of River Aras
and after restoration of calm returned
to their homeland. And groups such as
the dwellers on the north of Aras who
following the fall of the Azerbaijan
republic in 1921, sought refuge in
Azerbaijan province, and easily settled
in Iran and started a new life. Out of
foreign refugees in Iran only those who
had not taken up Iranian citizenship did
not enter the job market, and through
ups and downs, they received some sort
of government financial assistance. In
any event until 1926 the majority of
refugees and migrants had left Iran.
During this period the main problem
of refugees, particularly those that had
settled within Azerbaijan province was
a safety and pressure problem from
the Soviet Union. These pressures had
caused the numbers of those seeking
refuge in Iran to increase in1927. inview
of the fact that the Iranian government
at the time was faced with numerous
problems, they had difficulties in
housing and organizing these refugees.
Therefore the government was not
inclined to accept new refugees. For
this reason in June 1928 the government
ordered Khorasan province to refuse
refugee status to new individuals.
A Brief Look at the History of Iran Playing
Host to Foreign Migrants and Refugees