This question is being discussed on Twitter, and I was tagged to respond. I honestly don’t know how to do it in a meaningful way on Twitter, as embedded responses are often lost and not seen. I stay away from sub-tweets and believe this topic is too hot to be touched on Twitter anyway :) Below is my simple view:
First, I don’t know why this question has to be asked or why ‘Nadeem | Eran ud Turan‘ needs to be reminded of the supposed Iranian identity of the Sogdians. In academic or more nuanced research, the question might be an interesting one to raise, but I suspect on Instagram the purpose might be a different one.
I once tried to address the issue of languages and national identity (or ethnicity) indirectly & vaguely in a blog post. Many people conflate definitions of language groups with ideas of modern nation states, genetics etc. To me, any group speaking an Iranian language, let’s say by birth or as their native tongue, qualifies as Iranian peoples. By this definition, Sogdians belong to a group of people that speak an Iranian language, most likely an Eastern Iranian one, whose older and newer stages, such as Old or New Sogdian, are currently unknown. I find this suffices for historical & philological research.