ایران یا دا که اران

Most of the nations around the South Caspian region or the Greater Iran have more in common than the it is traditionally portrayed by conservative politicians. The so called Pan-Turkism and Pan-Iranism idelogies are two fallacy ideologies were inspired by the 19-th century super powers such as the Russian and British empires. Instigated by the imperial secret services, the goal was to lure the local nations (the Turkic and Iranic speaking) into the conflict, and hence, to protect the established imperial borders.

Known as the "Great Game", it is a set of political, diplomatic and military confrontations that occurred through most of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century – involving the rivalry of the British Empire and the Russian Empire over territories in Central and South Asia, and having direct consequences in Caucases, Turkestan, Iran, British India, Afghanistan, and Tibet.

The fictional conflict between Turan and Iran in "Shahnameh" by the Iranian poet Ferdowsi became a handbook of the imperial secret services to stir a conflict between various ethnic groups in the reigion.

Not many people are aware that the modern Iran has a dual origin: a) The actual Iranian, based on the tradition and cultutre of North, North West, Cental and Caspian regions including Rep. of Azerbaijan; b) The present Persian, rooted on the tradition and cultutre of South and South East, East, Gulf and Afghan regions.

The first reference to the ancient location of Iran Proper or Iranzamin (ایران‌ زمین) can be found in The Book of Kings, Shahnameh. It is a long epic poem written by the Iranian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Shahnameh consists of some 50,000 "distichs" or couplets (two-line verses).

The chapter named “The Birth of Feraydun” states: 

Faranak hurried to the meadows again and said to the man who had saved her son, “God has put a wise notion into my heart, and I must act on it, because my son is as sweet as life to me. I will leave this land of magicians and go with my boy toward India. I’ll disappear from men’s sight, and take this handsome child to the Alborz mountains.”

It continues,

There was a religious man living there, who had cut himself off from the cares of the world, and Faranak said to him, “Reverend sir, I have come here grieving from Iran. You should know that this noble child of mine will be the leader of his people”

As the text explains, the land of Iran is adjacent to the land of magicians, it lies above the Alborz mountains on the way toward India. The land of Magicians is Mughan, and it is adjacent to the Aran plains in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The second reference to the ancient location of Iran Proper or Iranzamin (ایران‌ زمین) can be found in the same book, see the chapter called "The Story of Iraj":

Then Feraydun brought into the open a plan he had kept secret. He divided the world into three parts: one part consisted of the West (Rum), another of China and the land of the Turks (Turan), and the third of Iranzamin, the land of warriors.

Ferdowsi provides the literal translation of the name "Aran", and it matches to the Azeri Əran "Land of Warriors": Ər – "warrior" or "man"; an – "land".

Detailed map of the Persian empire (the name asit is shown on the map) by the German cartographer  Johann Baptist Homann dated from circa 1700 until circa 1720, extending from the Black Sea, Khasikstan and Turkistan in the North to the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Euphrates and the Mediterranean in the South, showing a part of Cyprus. Decorative map, showing cities, mountains, rivers, lakes, roads, etc. Large decorative cartouche inthe lower left corner and smaller cartouche in the right upper corner. The map places "Iran Proper" between Karabagh and Albania (Shirvan) and above Media, corresponding to the Aran plains within the Republic of Azerbaijan.

According to the "Histories" of Herodotus (440 BC):

The Medes were formerly called by everyone Arians, but when the Colchian woman Medea came from Athens to the Arians, they changed their name, like the Persians [did after Perses, son of Perseus and Andromeda]. This is the Medes' own account of themselves.

It should be noted that the Greek name of a region Aria or Ariana within an Achaemenid empire corresponding to the present-day western Afghanistan have never been refered by the local sources as Iran or even Aran. It was called Haraiva. Neither Bactirans nor Sogdians, or even the Kushans ever referred to themselves as the Aranians, Iranians or even Arians.

Now, the main question is what is Azerbaijan?

The story to be continued …

the article is prepared by Dr. Elmar Janahmadov as the part of book "The Holy Book of Oghuz.Oghuznama".