The scholarly literature on non-Muslim minorities is highly uneven, complex, and thinly researched. This chapter is not meant to be an exhaustive historical analysis; rather the main purpose is to introduce each community and examine its overall relations with Iranian society and the state. Several patterns in state–minority relations are identified at the conclusion of the chapter.

The sources for this chapter are secondary and include publications in Armenian, Persian, and English; there are noticeable differences in the quality of the sources. Every attempt has been made to deal constructively with contradictory cases, and the strengths and weaknesses of writings about each group have been carefully assessed. New historical works on religious minorities may clarify certain events and situations. For the purpose of this study, enough information is available to shed some light on the sociopolitical condition of Armenians, Assyrians and Chaldeans, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Bahais during the twentieth century.

The Armenians

The background of the Armenians has been traced to prehistoric times, to communities living in eastern Anatolia and the outskirts of Mount Ararat. From about 500 BC, Greek and Persian sources refer to the land of “Armenia” and its people as the “Armenians.” By 70 BC, the Armenian Empire stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. The territory was frequently a focus of power struggle between the Roman and Parthian Empires. The Armenian Apostolic Church, an ancient and autocephalous branch of Eastern Christianity, became the church of the Armenian state circa AD 314.