I R A N
There are around 6.5 million Kurds in Iran. Like other minorities, Kurds may express their cultural identity but are denied the right of self-administration. Membership of any Kurdish nationalist party is a capital offence, and many Kurds have been executed since the establishment of the Islamic Republic. The Government has razed villages near the Iraqi border as a cordon sanitaire, and many Kurds have been forced to flee.
A B O U T I R A N
Iran shares land borders with Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the north; with a coastline 3,180 km (1,976 mi) long, it commands navigation on the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman in the south.
Iran borders Turkey and Iraq on the west and Afghanistan
and Pakistan on the east. The country was long known to the West as Persia,
from the ancient Greek name Persis, but in 1935 its government requested use
of the older and more correct name, Iran, meaning "Land of the Aryans."
Iran was an independent monarchy for more than 2,500 years until the shah
of Iran, was deposed in 1979 and an Islamic republic was declared.
P E O P L E
The population of Iran is ethnically complex, and minority groups staunchly defend their provincial separatism and seek autonomy in local affairs.
F U R T H E R I N F O R M A T I O N
LINK:
Library of Congress Federal Reserve Division: Iran
