Garadagh
Arasbārān (Persian: ارسباران)or Qaradağ ( قرهداغ or Garadagh in English texts), is a UNESCO registered biosphere reserve (since 1976) and an Iranian Dept. of Environment designated "Protected Area" in East Azarbaijan Province, Iran, with a varying altitude from 256m in the vicinity of Aras River to 2896m and covers an area of 78560 hectares. The biosphere is also home for 23,500 nomads who are living in transition buffer in 2000 altitude. Arasbaran is confined to Aras River in the north, Meshgin Shahr County and Moghan in the east, Sarab County in the south, and Tabriz and Marandcounties in the west. The historical name of the region is recorded as Qaradagh (قرهداغ)or Qaraja dagh (قراجهداغ)but in official records since Pahlavi era the name Arasbaran has been in usage. Still, the name Qaradağ is used by the inhabitants
Arasbaran Ecotourism Potential
The area is home to 215 species of birds, notably Caucasian Black Grouse, Grey Partridge, Black Francolin, and Common Pheasant, 29 species of reptiles, 48 species of mammals, notably wild Goat,wild Boar, Brown Bear, Wolf, Lynx, and Leopard, and 17 species of fish. There is an effort going on to revitalize the extinct sub-species of Caspian red deer local to the area. The local flora include Hornbeam, Sumac, and Berberis. A recent study has indicated that three sites have the highest potential for ecotourism. These sites, which are located alongside the road connecting Kaleybarto Asheqli (Abbasabad-Aynali-Vayqan direction), include Makidi valley, Aynali forests and Babak Castle. There are, however, more unexplored touristic potentials. One example is a holy mountain located at the coordinate (38°55'16.64"N,46°47'24.62"E). Most inhabitants of the now abandoned village, Garmanav, were Izadis, the followers Yârsân religion. They used to slaughter sacrificial animals in the site, which is located at the slopes of a hill. Nobody bothered to ask the reasons behind the holiness of the site. However, the pleasures of an occasional feast was so tempting that the followers of the Shia' sect attended the holy site, too. Nowadays there is few worshipers and the centuries long tradition are almost forgotten. The revival of these rituals may attract cultural visitors.
Demography
In the wake of Russian-Iranian wars of early nineteenth century a significant fraction of the inhabitants lived as nomadic tribes. Moreover, a significant fraction of the inhabitants lived as nomadic tribes; Cilibyanlu 1500 tents and houses, Karacurlu 2500, Haji Alilu 800, Begdillu 200, and various minor groups 500. At the time Ahar, with 3500 inhabitants, was the only city of QaradağBy the beginning of twentieth century the settlement of tribesman were growing and in 1920 there were more than four hundred villages, less than thirty of which were Armenian.
Most of Qaradağ's inhabitants have migrated to the shanty towns around Tehran in the pursuit of construction jobs.
The defeat of Azerbaijan People's Government and the following tragic events, resulted in mass migration of inhabitants to Tabrizand Tehran. Most of these migrants settled in the shanty towns and worked as painters. The land reforms of 1962–1964 accelerated the migration. The case of a typical village, Abbasabad, is a good example to demonstrate the population depletion; the number of families dropped from 60 families at 1970 to 12 at 2006.
After the election of Ahmadinezhad as president of Iran, a rumour was circulated that the UNESCO will compensate the residents to have the village evacuated for the wild-life protection efforts. Some early emigrants returned and built decent houses. At the present the region is undergoing a population boom as more wealthy city residents want to spend their retirement in cleaner environment. For instance, the number of families in the foretold Abbasabad has gone up to 20.
Language
The spoken language is Azerbaijani, which belongs to the western group of southwestern, or Oghuz, branch of Turkic language family. It has a high degree of intelligibility with Anatolian Turkish. Most inhabitants are familiar with Persian language, which is the official language of Iran and the sole language of education. Until 1980, the elders of four villages (Chay Kandi, Kalasor, Khoynarood, and Arazin) were communicating in Tati.
Religion
The majority of people are followers of Shia Islam.
Cultural Heritage
Turkish language has a rare and unusual point of grammar called the hearsay tense. Consequently, in Turkish speaking society the boundary between the private and shared memories becomes fuzzy, and the magnitude of time lapse between the events shrinks. This is an ideal feature for the generation of oral cultural artifacts, particularly mythology, epics and folkloric music.
Mythology
The inhabitants of every village attribute spiritual importance to at multiple sites, scattered throughout the village territory. They are generally located in areas with rapid variation on the land topography, and are in some way linked to Djins via established narratives. Most of these sites possess any significantly conspicuous landmark. At some sites, which are considered sacred by many villages, people will occasionally gather to slaughter sacrificial animals or offer a simple meal of freshly baked bread and cheese with tea. At some sites, they have collected medium sized rocks around some trees and hang color treads or ribbons from the trees.
In most villages, there are more sites with narrative associations, which are not considered sacred. These sites are in secluded locations formed by natural topography of the landscape. Often the narratives involve bears as the principal subject. The main theme of the narratives is the following. A male bear kidnaps a blackberry picking pretty girl and takes her to his din. A hybrid child is born, but the girl runs away at the first opportunity leaving the lamenting bear entreatingly crying for his lost wife.
Economy
Up until Islamic revolution the region had a subsistence economy – all food was produced within the villages and the surplus was bartered with items supplied by travelling salesman. Rainfed agriculture on the steep slopes had severely eroded the farms and productivity had dropped to unsustainable low level, and the inhabitants had to supplement their income by taking seasonal construction jobs in Tehran. After revolution, thanks to the construction of roads and accessibility of larger town markets, livestock production became the dominant mode of the region's economy. However, the quarrels over grazing rights didn't allow large scale animal agriculture.
A beekeeper.
In recent years beekeeping is the only occupation that can provide a family with sufficient income. The honey produced in villages close to pastures is renowned for the its quality and has an established niche market.
Notable people
Sattar Khan was originally from Qaradağ. He is considered as a national hero of Iran and is referred to as (meaning National Commander). He headed Constitutionalist rebels from the Amirkhiz district of Tabriz in early twentieth century.
Babak Khorramdin, who until recently was fairly unknown to locals, is becoming a national hero particularly among new generation of Iranians as a symbol of resistance against Arab invasion twelve centuries ago. During the relative liberalism of Khatami era (1997–2005) every year on the last week of June Azerbijani nationalists celebrated his birthday symbolically at the Babak Castle.
Karim Pasha Bahadori, a prominent landlord, was the secretary of former queen, Farah Pahlavi.
Andre Agassi, the retired professional tennis player and former World No. 1, is the son of man originally from Arasbaran.
