Are you Persians or Iranians?

[Petros Houhoulis]

Do you consider yourselves as Persians or Iranians. What do you consider to be the difference?

[Behrouz]

Iranian is a nationality while Persian is considered an ethnicity. It's as simple as that.

All Persians are Iranian, not all Iranians are Persian. Overwhelming majority of Iranian citizens are of Iranic origin, speak Iranian dialects (all of them related to Persian) and have strong cultural ties to Persians. There are also Turkic and Semitic speaking minorities. We, as people of Iran, are all parts of one body.

As for the name Persia; Our lands were known as Persia (derived from the Persian empire and its founders = Persians) until 1935, when Iran came into international use (though in local use long before that) for the country whose boundaries we see today.
Only a few decades ago, in English language (which is now international) and in international circles, our country was known as Persia. Unfortunately, in 1935 teh government of Persia requested all countries in the world to call Persia by its native name "Iran" without heeding the delicate point that as an ancient land, possessing a civilization thousands of years old.

For us, Persians, the name "Iran" is a very respectable name. But in world culture, for foreigners, Persia connotes an ancient culture. The change in the international name of our country from Persia to Iran has created a detrimental gap between Persia and its historical and cultural past in the minds of the people of the world.