Germination of hazelnut seed faces with problems due to hard pericarp and dormancy period. The present study aimed to overcome these problems and improve the germination traits. For this purpose, hazelnut riped seeds were collected from three areas in Makesh in Aqh-Evlar, Fandoglou, and Makidi in Arasbaran, northwestern Iran. The seeds with pericarp and without pericarp were cold stratified in moist sand and kept in the refrigerator (5 ±1 °C) for 3 and 4 months and then grown in room conditions (20-22 °C) in order to record the seed germination daily. The experiment was done based on factorial in a completely randomized design with three replicates of 20 seeds. The highest germination (51.66 %), germination speed (2.86 per day), germination evenness (4.28 per day), germination energy (45.33%), root length (11.55 cm), shoot length (10.35 cm) and seed vigor index (112.84) belonged to without pericarp seeds of Makesh exposed to four months cold stratification. The seeds with pericarp of the three ecotypes, stratified particularly at four months, indicated the satisfactory germination percentage (≈ 40%) and seed vigor index (≈ 70). Although, germination of seeds without pericarp had better ability, however, in case of using the seeds with pericarp for the propagation of hazelnut in the nursery or for seed direct sowing in the deforested areas, the seeds of cold stratified (if possible four months) are recommended.