Abstract
This paper examines the issue of ethno-nationalism and separatism of Iran's largest ethnic minority, Azerbaijanis, in an attempt to identify whether they may pose a threat to the territorial integrity of Iran. Azerbaijanis have long been deeply integrated into Iranian society, but recent decades have seen a gradual rise of nationalistic sentiments among them, that in some occassions have bordered on claims for secession.
The authors claim that this process was instigated by a range of factors including the obtaining of independence by the Republic of Azerbaijan, introduction of Turkish and Azeri satellite TV broadcast to Iran's Azerbaijani provinces and economic migration from Iranian Azerbaijan to Turkey. The authors conclude that the community of Iranian Azerbaijanis is deepy divided between religiously-minded assimilationists advocating for the established status quo and ever radicalized ethno-nationalists whose aim is to at least achieve more ethno-cultural rights for themselves.