Sattari people
Sattari people (Pardarian: مردم ستاری, tr. Mārdom-e Sattāri; Rahelian أهل الستاري, tr. Nās al'Sattari) or Citizens of the Union (Pardarian: شهروندان اتحادیه, tr. Šahrvand-ân-ye Ettehad; Rahelian: مُوَاطِنُون الاتحاد, tr. Muwāṭinūn al-Ittiḥād) is the official umbrella demonym (politonym) for the population of the Union of Zorasani Irfanic Republics. It exists in parallel to the more popular and common Zorasani. The term was officially adopted on the 1 January 1980 with Zorasani unification and is use primarily in official state documents and nomenclature.
Origin
The origins of term are widely disputed among historians as prior to its formal adoption in 1980, the Pan-Zorasanist term varied between "Zorasani" and the individual demonyms for the constituent parts of the pre-defined state. According to government records, the term Sattari as a politonym was devised as a temporary "unifying term for the peoples of the Union.” These documents further stated, that “until such time the universal identification of the citizenry is that of Zorasani, we must beat back the continued ignorant terms Pardarian, Rahelian and such, proclaiming the peoples of the Union, the people of Sattari is therefore key.”
Further to the government rationale, was the significant return of the Sattari personality cult. In celebration of unification, the new government contracted the construction of hundreds of monuments dedicated to him, songs, poems and a printed media campaign, leading some to conclude that the major driving force behind the adoption of Sattari as a politonym was part of the wider resurrection of the cult.
Between 1980 and 1990, the term Sattari was used in all official documentation, including the census. As the Union does not recognise ethnicity, during this period, the population was forced in part to fully identify as Sattari, from 1990 onward, the census began to include the option of Zorasani, which over the preceding decades grew in popularity. By the 2012 census, 98% of citizens identified as Zorasani over Sattari, though the term continues to be used in government documents and affairs.
According to Said Abdullah-Ali, a prominent historian on post-unification Zorasani history, “the decision to introduce the identifier ‘Sattari’ over ‘Zorasani’ after 1980 was in many ways ingenious. The state knew that opposition to unification existed among the “Rahelian” and other minorities, so by introducing something complete different, yet all-encompassing while the Zorasani identity was fostered and nurtured, ensured that the Pardarian and Rahelian and so on, were bound together in equal measure.”
Today, the term is used interchangeably with Zorasani in everyday life.