Iranian Azerbaijan Research Articles

Iran as Subaltern Empire: Lake Orumiyeh, Environmental Injustice, and Coloniality in Iranian Azerbaijan

AbstractIn recent years, protests have emerged to save Lake Orumiyeh, which has nearly vanished following decades of agricultural development, dam building, and drought. Lake Orumiyeh is located in Iranian Azerbaijan, which sits at the intersection of three former empires: Persian, Ottoman, and Russian. Iranian Azerbaijan is largely comprised of ethno‐linguistic minority communities that are unevenly impacted by environmental hazards stemming from the lake's desiccation, and protests to save the lake are generally characterised as environmental conflict resulting from climate change or as a reflection of ethno‐nationalist tensions in Iran. These readings, however, fail to account for how imperial pasts and colonial presents shape exposure to environmental violence. This article posits that environmental violence functions as a form of coloniality and, using Lake Orumiyeh as an entry point, aims to: (i) examine coloniality in a country that was never formally colonised yet impacted by different formations of empire; (ii) account for subjectivities shaped through non‐Western European forms of imperialism; and (iii) connect racialised difference in Iran to the reproduction of colonial and racial logics vis‐à‐vis European imperialism.

Monolingualism in Iran: The Politics of Writing in Azeri Turkish

Throughout the twentieth century, Azeri Turkish was intermittently banned, occasionally tolerated, but always marginalized in relation to Persian, which was perceived as the unifying, defining, essential language of the nation. Despite the substantial population of Azeri Turkish speakers in Iran—the largest linguistic minority—any attempt to teach the language publicly or to publish in Azeri Turkish has often been regarded, even to this day, as a highly political act of dissidence. Historical analysis of Azeri Turkish texts and a review of policies in language teaching, publication, and censorship within Iranian Azerbaijan reveal a symbiotic but simultaneously paradoxical interaction between this mother tongue and the official master language.

Detrital zircon and rutile geochronology, geochemistry and provenance of Cambrian sandstones of Iranian Azerbaijan: implications for the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian evolution of the northern Gondwana margin

Detrital zircon and rutile geochronology, geochemistry and provenance of Cambrian sandstones of Iranian Azerbaijan: implications for the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian evolution of the northern Gondwana margin

National Museum of History of Azerbaijan

The article presents an overview of the movement of "21 Azer" (December 12, 1945), social-political, economic, national and ethnic issues, and national enlightenment in Iranian Azerbaijan based on the 1947-1949 issues of the "Azerbaijan" newspaper, the organ of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party (ADP) headed by S.J. Pishevari. The periodical was issued in the Azerbaijani Turkic utilizing the Arabic script during 1945-1946 in Tabriz under the governance of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party (ADP) and in Baku from 1947 to 1949 due to the defeat of the ADP. Issues of the newspaper for 1947-1949 are stored in the Documentary Sources Fund at the National Museum for History of Azerbaijan. The newspaper “Azerbaijan” contains a critical stance towards the Qajar and Pahlavi authorities, an overview of socio-political, economic and cultural processes, some pieces of revolutionaries and intellectuals of the time, the activities of the ADP, and ethnic and ideological issues. For a comprehensive presentation of the topic, this paper considers various sources and documents illuminating the historical context of the period have been utilized, including speeches, articles and other works by S.J. Pishevari, alongside with issues of the newspaper “Azerbaijan”.

IRANIAN NATIONALISM AND THE ISSUE OF AZERBAIJAN AND THE TURKISH LANGUAGE (EMPHASIZING ON PERIODICALS OF TRANSITION ERA FROM QAJAR TO PAHLAVI)

Modern İran Tarihinde bu ülkede yaşayan azınlık durumundaki çeşitli unsurların ulus devlet inşası sürecindeki durumları yaygın bir tartışma ve araştırma konusu olagelmiştir. Başta Türkler ve Araplar olmak üzere Kürt, Beluç ve Lor gibi çeşitli toplulukların yaşadığı İran coğrafyasında 20. yüzyılın başlarına kadar ‘’Memaliki Mahruse’’ şeklinde ifade edilen ve bir tür eyalet sistemi biçimine sahip olan bir idare sistemi hakimdi. Bu sistem içerisinde her topluluk kendi kültürel varlığını korumakta ve idame ettirmekteydi. Rıza Şah dönemiyle birlikte fikri temeli özellikle meşrutiyet sonrası dönemle birlikte atılmaya başlamış olan ulus inşası, tasarım sürecinden uygulama sürecine konulmuştur. Fikri arka planı önceki dönemlerde atılmaya başlanmış olsa da keskin bir geçiş dönemi olarak nitelendirilebilecek bu dönemde tasarlanan örnek kimlik karşısında ‘’öteki’’nin tanımlanması birçok tartışma ve sorunu da beraberinde getirmiştir. Çevirisini yaptığımız bu makalede, söz konusu ulus inşa sürecinde öne çıkan İran milliyetçiliğinin önemli fikri önderlerinden bazılarının kaleme aldığı yazılar çerçevesinde İran milliyetçilik düşüncesinde ‘’öteki’’ konumuna itilen Türklerin durumu mercek altına alınmaktadır. Bu dönemde ‘’Aryan Milliyetçiliği’’ ve ‘’Fars Dili’’ ekseninde inşa edilmek istenen İran ulusal kimliği, içerik olarak özellikle İslam öncesi İran tarihini sahiplenirken İslami dönem ise çeşitli açılardan sorgulamaya tabi tutulmuştur. Bu bağlamda özellikle İran’ın son bin yıllık tarihi döneminde idari ve askeri açıdan baskın konumda bulunan Türkler, ülkenin geri kalmışlığının da müsebbipleri olarak öne çıkarıldılar. İran milliyetçileri tarafından ideolojik kaygılarla ve indirgemeci bir anlayışla ele alınan bu mesele özellikle I. Dünya Savaşı ve sonrasında bölgede yaşanan çeşitli gelişmeler neticesinde varoluşsal bir sorun olarak telakki edildi. Bu açıdan Osmanlı’nın son dönemlerinde İttihat ve Terakki’nin bölgedeki faaliyetleri ve yine Azerbaycan Cumhuriyeti’nin Rusya’dan bağımsızlığını kazanması gibi hadiseler İran milliyetçilerini endişelendirmekte ve onları bu iki siyasi yapı karşısında İran’ın bütünlüğünü koruma kaygısıyla yeni argümanlar üretmeye sevk etmekteydi. Bu çerçevede İran milliyetçilerinin konuya yaklaşımları görmezden gelme ve asimile etme yönünde bir anlayışa dayanmaktaydı. Onlara göre İran’daki Türklerin Türkiye ve Azerbaycan Cumhuriyeti Türkleriyle bağları bulunmuyordu. Türk dili ise İran’a sonradan yağmacılar tarafından dayatılmıştı. Artık her şey aslına rücu etmeli ve Fars dili ve Aryan medeniyeti yeniden bu topraklarda yaygınlaştırılmalıydı. Bu ve buna benzer fikirler İran milliyetçileri tarafından ‘’Ayendeh’’, ‘’İranşehr’’, ‘’Kaveh’’ ve ‘’Name-i Ferengistan’’ gibi dergilerde sürekli bir biçimde işlenen konular arasındaydı. Nasır Sıdkî’nin sorumlu yazarlığında Tebriz Üniversitesi öğretim üyeleri tarafından kaleme alınan bu çalışma İran milliyetçisi aydınların Türk, Türklük ve Azerbaycan’da Türk dili gibi meselelere olan yaklaşımlarını ele almakta ve yine sahip oldukları yaklaşımın gerekçelerine dair tespitler ortaya konulmaktadır. Buna göre Osmanlı’nın bölgedeki faaliyetleri ve Azerbaycan Cumhuriyeti’nin kurulması İran milliyetçilerinin İran Azerbaycan’ına karşı hassas bir yaklaşıma sahip olmalarına yol açmıştır.

Status of Imperial Eagle in Iran

Distribution and abundance of the Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca) in Iran: a scarce breeding bird in Caspian forests of central and eastern Alborz, and in the east of northern Khorasan. A widespread winter visitor in rather small numbers to Caspian lowlands and large wetlands in central Iran south to Khuzestan, the Persian Gulf coast, and southern Baluchestan. Also seen as a passage migrant in Iranian Azerbaijan. Conservation status: Globally has been listed as vulnerable (VU) in IUCN Red List and listed in CITES Appendix I. Also concerned as endangered species in Iran and is of conservation value.

Bringing democracy into Iran: a Russian project for the separation of Azerbaijan

Although the history of Russian-Iranian relations remains seriously understudied, few would refute the oppressive imperialist role played by Imperial Russia in Iran during the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century. However, practically nothing has been written about the conceptual shifts which began to take place in Russia’s Persian policy immediately after the February Revolution of 1917. Little is known about the large-scale projects, through which Russia was to bring ‘its own democracy’ to Iranian Azerbaijan and its other northern provinces, with further proliferation all over Iran. This was meant to facilitate Russia’s political and trade expansion down to the Persian Gulf, which had been the eventual goal for many decades. Drawing on unpublished documents from Russian, British and French archives, this article studies the relevant correspondence between the Russian, British and French missions in Tehran and their central authorities during the decade 1909-1919, including the short-lived governments of Republican Russia. In doing so, it analyses the local agency of the Russian diplomats in Iran, such as Vladimir Minorsky (1877-1966), in the emergence of these projects, and investigates the manifestation of symbolic capital and the productive interaction of power/knowledge relations.

Perspectives on the Structural Typology of The Late Bronze-Iron age Graves in Iranian Azerbaijan

The Bronze and Iron periods mark a move towards further deepening of social and cultural complexities, which eventually would culminate in the rise of early states in northwest Iran. The advent in this period of the extramural cemeteries also gives rise to speculations over the types of communities, convictions, and religious orientations of the contemporary populations. In these cemeteries, the structure of the graves and their burial goods convey concepts and symbols that can help shed some light on part of the questions regarding the culture of the associated populations. Architectural data are available from dozens of burial grounds thus far investigated in Iranian Azerbaijan. Excavations at these places have identified a wide range of similarities and dissimilarities in their placement as well as the structure, construction materials, and burial goods of their graves. Drawing on the excavated data, the present paper is an attempt to appraise the mortuary customs with a special focus on the types of structures of graves in the late Bronze-Iron period. The results reveal a great variability in the form and structure of the burials, to the extent that occasionally two or three different grave types occur at a single cemetery. The exact determining factors for these discrepancies and their scope still elude us as no conclusive evidence exist at present to advance any tenable hypothesis, and one can simply offer some conjectures in this regard. Yet, geography, belief systems, social, economic and political statuses of the buried, and ethnicity were in all probability some of the key factors at work in the emergence of such varied grave architectures.

The Islamic Conquest or Flooding? Sasanian Settlements and Irrigation Systems Collapse in Mughan, Iranian Azerbaijan

ABSTRACT Contrary to the earlier notions that attributed the transformation of the Near East in the mid-7th century a.d. to war and the Islamic Arab conquest, recently the role of the climate is also being underscored. Archaeological investigation of the Sasanian landscape in the Mughan Steppe, Iranian Azerbaijan, contributes to a growing body of data documenting the urban collapse affected by environmental factors during Late Antiquity. Using results from surveys and excavations at Ultan Qalası, we focus on the possible correlation between flooding and settlement collapse during the Sasanian era in the Mughan Steppe. In addition, we draw on available CORONA imagery. The results from archaeological investigations indicate that almost all of the Sasanian settlements and irrigation systems were abandoned after a period of intense activity. We argue that the flooding and further riverbed incisions of the Aras River was one of the causes of the abandonment.

Jamil Hasanli, Stalin and the Turkish Crisis of the Cold War, 1945–1953

Reviewed by: Stalin and the Turkish Crisis of the Cold War, 1945–1953 by Jamil Hasanli Alexander E. Balistreri Jamil Hasanli. Stalin and the Turkish Crisis of the Cold War, 1945–1953. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2011. 419 pp. + xvii. Cloth, $116.00; paper, $52.99. ISBN: 978-0739168073. The 1940s, like today, were a period of vertiginous diplomatic flux in Turkish-Russian relations. Those who wish to make sense of the tangled history of these relations will be pleased by the recent English translation of a monograph by historian Jamil Hasanli. Hasanli's Stalin and the Turkish Crisis of the Cold War is a detailed dissection of how Turkish-Soviet relations turned from [End Page 269] one of friendly engagement in the 1930s to one of opposition by the 1950s. Hasanli has made exhaustive use of several former Soviet archives in a way that allows the reader to follow every change of tactical language employed during the early years of the Cold War. This insider view of how Soviet, and to some extent Turkish, diplomats operated constitutes the major contribution of Hasanli's book. The "Turkish Crisis" in the title refers to the Soviet Union's attempt to secure significant territorial and diplomatic concessions from Turkey after World War II. Specifically, the Soviet Union demanded more control over the administration of the Straits, including the operation of a Soviet military base there. As one of its conditions for a renewal of the two countries' treaty of friendship, it also sought the annexation of the districts of Kars and Ardahan, which had previously been administered by the Russian Empire for forty years. In Hasanli's account, the "Turkish Crisis" was closely tied to a similar Soviet attempt to acquire territory from Iranian Azerbaijan during the same period. Hasanli's book proceeds chronologically through the relevant archival materials. It begins by discussing how World War II planted the seeds for postwar Allied competition over the Near East. Next, Hasanli provides a blow-by-blow account of the political wrangling between 1945 and 1947, when the question of Turkish territorial and diplomatic concessions was at its most heated. The discussion of these three years, stretched out between chapters 2 and 7, occupies the overwhelming bulk of the book. A final chapter focuses on Turkish entry into NATO, while a conclusion highlights key events in Turkish-Soviet relations through the end of the Cold War. Aside from the Turkish Crisis, Hasanli makes a number of detours to discuss Soviet claims on Iranian Azerbaijan or intra-Caucasian politics during the early Cold War. Because they cover topics not fully covered in other sources, these excursuses are worth noting even if they are not always directly related to the titular topic of the book. Hasanli clearly articulates two main arguments. First, he argues, it is "Eurocentric" to date the start of the Cold War several years after World War II, either the launch of the Truman Doctrine in 1947 or the Berlin Blockade in 1948. Rather, it was the Soviet demands in the Near East that paved the way for the Cold War (pp. viii, xi). One could easily quibble with the unequivocalness with which Hasanli makes this claim—after all, dating the start of the Cold War depends on how one defines the Cold War, and the Allies faced a great variety of disputes by the end of the war—but his call not to overlook the Near Eastern dimensions of the postwar intra-Allied standoff is well taken. A more strongly worded version of this argument appears later on, where Hasanli writes, "It was the Soviets and their blackmail and threats that compelled Turkey to become a strategic ally of the United States" (pp. 382). Here, such [End Page 270] claims might be tempered by the recent research of Onur İşçi, for example, who demonstrates that leading members of the Turkish administration were enthusiastic about pursuing a strategic alliance with the United States as early as 1943–44.1 A second argument locates Stalin as "the main architect of the 'Turkish Crisis.'" Implicitly rejecting geopolitical reasons for postwar Soviet expansionism, Hasanli writes that Soviet foreign policy "served the interests of Stalin's personal...

Իսլամական աշխարհի աջակցությունն Ադրբեջանին 2020թ․ Արցախյան պատերազմի ընթացքում․ իսլամական համերաշխությունից մինչև ջիհադականություն

The purpose of the article is to study the degree of support of Azerbaijan by the Islamic world during the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh, to identify the supporting parties, as well as religious and geopolitical motives, mechanisms of this support. The objectives of the article are to study issues related to the Islamic direction of Azerbaijan's foreign policy and the religious component of the Artsakh problem in the context of the Turkish-Azerbaijani policy, to identify the role of Turkey on the basis of the ideas of Islamic-Turkish solidarity, in order to create anti-Armenian sentiments in the international arena. The article was written on the basis of monitoring of the international press and materials on this topic, an extensive study of professional literature on various sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In the course of the study, the authors concluded that during the Artsakh war of 2020, the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem used religious instruments to enlist the full support of the Islamic world. The ideas of Islamic, common Turkic solidarity, jihadism, as well as the potential of hired jihadists, Sunni-Shiite layers of the Islamic world were used. From the time between September-November 2020, in parallel with the large-scale hostilities in Artsakh, anti-Armenian agendas and moods based on the religious factor and obvious ideas of Islamic solidarity were advanced and strengthened in the Middle East, beyond its borders, and primarily in the Islamic environment, which were manifested in both political and public discourse of Turkey and Ankara, also in international media and social networks, as well as Muslim clergy and government officials. They were directed by Ankara, Baku and their allies using a wide range of information tools. Besides that, on Erdogan’s initiative and direct control, large number of mercenaries were thrust into the line of contact. The President of Turkey invested military, political, diplomatic, human, economic and propaganda resources in support/in favor of Azerbaijan. The Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem was not repulsive to inciting religious hatred by generating anti-Armenian sentiments, which became a security threat to Armenians living around the world. During the war, the Turkish-speaking Shiite Azeri elites of the Iranian Azerbaijan (Atropatene) province of Iran, broad public spectrum, high-ranking Muslim theologians around the world and some Muslim countries, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc. became allies in the formation of anti-Armenian sentiments. The victory in the war strengthened Azerbaijan's position in the Islamic environment, where Baku had spent considerable resources to gain legitimacy and involvement. It can be stated that Azerbaijan, which has a predominantly Shiite identity, was mostly supported by the Sunni world, which has a direct connection with Ankara’s unconditional support to Baku.

“‘Abbas Mirza's Invitation to Europeans to Settle in Nineteenth-Century Iranian Azerbaijan: Reasons, Causes and Motives”

ABSTRACT On July 11, 1823, The Times of London published an open letter by ‘Abbas Mirza Qajar, the crown prince of Iran and prince regent of Iranian Azerbaijan, inviting Europeans to come and settle in his province, promising them a range of attractive privileges. The aim of this article is to shed an additional light, through this letter, on the efforts of ‘Abbas Mirza in dealing with two key issues, which concerned Iran, in general, and him, in particular. One key issue was domestic, concerning his position as regent, and his desire to strengthen that position, especially vis-a-vis his rivals. The other key issue was external, concerning his efforts to check further Russian advances into southern Caucasus and towards Iran. The article aims to analyze the reasons, motives and timing for the letter, claiming that beyond the declared reason of modernizing his country, ‘Abbas Mirza had some undeclared personal and strategic motives behind the writing and the publication of this letter. As the letter was specifically addressed to the British, the analysis will also discuss the reasons behind ‘Abbas Mirza's special relations with the British.

FROM FRIENDSHIP TO ENMITY SOVIET-IRANIAN RELATIONS (1945-1965)

FROM FRIENDSHIP TO ENMITY SOVIET-IRANIAN RELATIONS (1945-1965)

Active-couple indentation in geodynamics of NNW Iran: Evidence from synchronous left- and right-lateral co-linear seismogenic faults in western Alborz and Iranian Azerbaijan domains

Situated within the central portion of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone, NNW Iran exhibits an interesting active tectonic context characterized by synchronous left- and right-lateral co-linear seismogenic faults along the adjacent WNW-striking West-Central Alborz (e.g. the Rudbar earthquake fault) and Iranian Azerbaijan (e.g. the North Tabriz seismogenic fault). These structural domains are deforming as a single deformable geomechanical territory between the nearly rigid Central Iran and South Caspian domains to the SSW and NNE, respectively. In this paper, we analyze tectonic interactions of these active structural domains and their influence on the geodynamics of NNW Iran based on morphotectonic and seismological investigations. Indentation tectonics is suggested to play an important role in the geodynamics of this territory. At a plate tectonic scale, the rigid Arabian plate acts as the main indenter which bulldozes the less rigid crustal domains ahead into folded belts (within Zagros and Caucasus to the north) and pushes other blocks aside. In this deformation system, the South Caspian domain acts as a backstop against southern and western deformation zones. The structural domains of Alborz (to the east) and Iranian Azerbaijan Caucasus (to the west) are separated by the NNW-striking Astara-Talesh dextral transpressional zone. Analysis of morphotectonic features and focal mechanisms conducted in this central portion of NNW Iran confirms dextral faulting localized along the NNW-striking deformation zone, which is in agreement with the observed reverse earthquake faulting on west-dipping planes. We also discuss the contraction trajectories derived from kinematics and geometry of active folding and faulting features observed within NNW Iran. Our study highlights two prominent sets of fan-shaped trajectories dominating in the west and east sides of the N–S zone in the Astara-Zanjan direction. We propose a couple-indentation geodynamic model to explain the fan-shaped pattern of these two laterally convergent sets of trajectories within the Talesh-Azerbaijan and Alborz domains.

An Urartian rock inscription on Mt Taragheh, in Iranian Azerbaijan

A new Urartian rock inscription has been found on Mt Taragheh, near the village of Elmabad, west of Bukân in Iranian Azerbaidjan. The available documentation is very poor, but the authors tried to decipher an old film in order to reconstruct fragments of a cuneiform text going back to the beginning of Urartian history. The names of King Išpuini and his son Minua suggest a dating towards the last quarter of the 9th century BC. It is the most ancient Urartian text found in the Western Azerbaijan province of Iran.

Tractor Sazi FC and the Civil Rights Movement of Turks in Iranian Azerbaijan

Tractor Sazi FC and the Civil Rights Movement of Turks in Iranian Azerbaijan

A Review of Armenian Proverbs from the Territory of Iranian Azerbaijan (the Salmast Dialect)

Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis » 2019 » Volume 14, Special Issue » A Review of Armenian Proverbs from the Territory of Iranian Azerbaijan (the Salmast Dialect) A A A

From Jurassic rifting to Cretaceous subduction in NW Iranian Azerbaijan: geochronological and geochemical signals from granitoids

Previous interpretations of a Jurassic subduction in Iran were based on trace element classification diagrams for granitoids, but their reliability is questionable, underscored by modern examples of continental break-up zones such as the Baja California. We present new field observations, bulk rock geochemistry, Sr and Nd isotope analyses and U–Pb zircon geochronology to assess the age and tectonic setting of previously undated intermediate to felsic magmatic rocks cropping out in the Precambrian basement of NW Iranian Azerbaijan. The geochronology revealed an uneven distribution in space and time: Late Jurassic (159–154 Ma) intrusions and dikes are alkaline to calc-alkaline. Their melt source is mantle dominated with a distinct continental contribution disclosed by radiogenic isotopes and abundant inherited zircon cores. Mid-Cretaceous (112–96 Ma) plutonic bodies and associated volcanic rocks occur only to the east of the major Siah Cheshmeh–Khoy Fault. They have geochemical signatures typical of a metasomatized mantle. In consistence with the sedimentation history of the area, our new interpretation attributes the Late Jurassic magmatism to thinning of a continental lithosphere in a rift-related setting. Mid-Cretaceous magmatism was produced by oceanic subduction beneath the Central Iran continent. We interpret the 40-Ma age gap between the two magmatic episodes as the time of opening of the oceanic basin witnessed by the Khoy ophiolite in the study area.

The End of the Kura-Araxes Culture as Seen from Nadir Tepesi in Iranian Azerbaijan

By the late fourth to early third millennium B.C.E., Kura-Araxes (Early Transcaucasian) material culture spread from the southern Caucasus throughout much of southwest Asia. The Kura-Araxes settlements declined and ultimately disappeared in almost all the regions in southwest Asia around the middle of the third millennium B.C.E. The transition to the “post–Kura-Araxes” time in the southern Caucasus is one of the most tantalizing subjects in the archaeology of the region. Despite current knowledge on the origins and spread of the Kura-Araxes culture, little is known about the end of this cultural horizon. In this field report, we argue that the Kura-Araxes culture in the western Caspian littoral plain ended abruptly and possibly violently. To demonstrate this, we review the current hypotheses about the end of the Kura-Araxes culture and use results from excavations at Nadir Tepesi in Iranian Azerbaijan. This article is also available as open access on AJA Online.

Craft production at Köhne Shahar, a Kura-Araxes settlement in Iranian Azerbaijan

Considerable investigations and studies, especially during the past two decades, have substantially increased our information about the Kura-Araxes cultural tradition of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. Yet, fundamental questions remain about the social and economic makeup of Kura-Araxes communities that require further investigation. In particular, our knowledge about societal organization within Kura-Araxes communities is still very limited. Kura-Araxes communities are known as either pastoral/nomads or sedentary/agriculturalist that possibly were socially undifferentiated. In this paper, we present evidence of workshop units and craft activities from the Kura-Araxes site of Köhne Shahar in the Chaldran area of Iranian Azerbaijan. We argue that Köhne Shahar represents a craft production site and Kura-Araxes community with signs of societal complexity.