President Khatami leaned over and told the Environment Minister of Qatar that " Historical documents prove that the Persian Gulf is the correct term, so do UN documents." This was in 1998 when we had a Ministerial Council Meeting of the Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) in Tehran. The Qatari Minister had made a remark about the reference made by the President to the term "Persian Gulf" and he had received an appropriate reply. I was the revolving head of the Council at that time. We always tried to work together in the Council and to put aside differences for the sake of our nations and the future of our common sea area. Dr. Al Awadi who is still the Kuwaiti, Executive Director,with Iranian origins like many people in that region, was also very conducive to this atmosphere of collaboration and mutual trust. Political issues however sometimes overshadowed this atmosphere.
The Persian Empire is over 2500 years old and most of the Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf are less than a century old. Therefore ,it is natural that this region would be named after its greatest and oldest civilization . There are several international documents and maps that prove this historical fact . I have a replica map in my room in the City Council which dates back to 1840 and the term Persian Gulf is written on that body of water. The systematic attempts made to change the name of this body of water are obviously in contrast with the atmosphere of brotherhood and peace that we need so dearly in this region. Tensions have escalated in the region due to different reasons including the instigation perpetuated continuously by Zionist elements.We need logical and rational diplomacy in this region to protect us in face of common challenges , discord, it seems only serves our enemies now.
i only wish i could be confident about the ability and competence of this current Iranian govrenment, to safeguard our teritorial integrity and sovereignty as much as i'm sure Mr. Khatami would have done if he was still the president at this very crucial and dangerous time for Iran! i hope to God that they will!
ReplyDeleteas it says in our beloved national anthem "Ey Iran":
"... taa gardesh-e jahaan o dor-e aasemaan bepaast, noor-e eezadi hamisheh rahnamaay-e maast ..."
translation:
... for as long as the Earth turns and the Universe is in motion, the devine light of God will always be our guide ...
i remember there was a song we used to sing at school during the Saddam invasion of Iran (1980-88), it went something like this:
"... khaleej-e Fars mikhaahi? chonin gostaakh migooyee? bedaan inraa, bedaan inraa, miyaan-e aabhaay-e nilgoonash ghargh khaahi shod! ..."
translation:
... you want our Persian Gulf? you dare to speak such drivel? you should know, you should know that you will drown in its clear blue waters! ...
Long Live Iran! Long Live our Persian Gulf! Long Live Peace and Unity among ALL the peoples of that region!
just one more thing ...
ReplyDeleteDear Dr. Ebtekar,
please convey this message to our beloved "Man in a Chocolate Robe", not only from me, but I'm sure from a large number of Iranian expatriates who dream of seeing a FREE and Independent Iran one day in a not so distant future:
Khatami, dooset daarim!
:-)
translation: Khatami, we love you!
in the hopes of witnessing the day when IRI's Supreme Leadership will be wisely handed by the Iranian Assembly of Experts to the loving care of this great man, at which time, I predict with a high degree of probability that Iran will see an enormous "Tsunami Influx of Brain" as opposed to the huge "Brain Drain" it saw in the first 2 decades of IRI.
I for one, will come back to serve my fatherland when I can be sure of the benevolent and competent leadership of its Islamic Democracy.
Allah-o Akbar, Khatami Rahbar!
btw, allow me to clarify:
what I just said here, was with absolutely no disrespect to the current Supreme Leader who has been quite admirably wise and strong in the face of arrogant bullies, but when the bully is gone (i.e., when Obama, the man who carries Dr. King's legacy, becomes president of USA and actually turns America into a force for GOOD in the world), then at that time, Iran will need a leader who can take the mantle of "Independence" (which will be handed to him by the current Supreme Leader), and then march on to achieve the ultimate goal of "Freedom" for 70 million Iranians and indeed 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, and that man is none other than the world pioneer in "Dialog Among Civilizations", our beloved Mr. Khatami!
in the words of Tiny Tim:
God bless us everyone!
look, you have friends among us!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=56176§ionid=3510212
Scots for Peace
With all due respect, Dr. Ebtekar, I fail to see how the Persian Empire still exists so that we can say that it has 2500 years of history. I don't think we can say that the Islamic republic is an extension of the Persian empire. It seems to me that you are drawing an unfair comparison. Yes the Arab nation states are only a century old, but the Iranian nation state is not considerably older if it is at all. And if we are speaking of the Islamic republic than that's only 30 years old.
ReplyDeleteForgive me if I am misreading you, but it seems that you are taking for granted that the Ancient Persian empire was the greatest civilization; but I don't think this can be taken for granted even amongst the ancient civilizations (India, if I'm not mistaken, did after all house the oldest civilization), and frankly its a mute point that can never be settled and that serves only to divide much more than to unite.
oh mon ami, oh dear Mohammed :-) you have clearly missed the point that Dr. Ebtekar was making here!
ReplyDeleteshe is talking about the Persian Gulf as being the name of this waterway since the Persian Empire, more than 2500 years ago, she is not referring to Iran as "an extension of the Persian Empire"!
please do not mistake the passion of the Iranian people for their territorial integrity, as being a sign of clinging to ancient history as a means to distinguish itself from the greater Muslim World!
We all inherit the cultural influence of Islam from the era dubbed as "The Islamic Golden Age" when there were effectively no borders between the nations, from India to Georgia, and from Palestine all the way to Spain. BUT, cultural identity and heritage of different Muslim nations are defined not only by their religion but also by shared history, language and customs, and that is the bond shared by the Iranians, Afghans, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmen, Georgians, Azeris, Iraqis, Turks, Kurds, and yes the Persian Gulf Arabs, the Parsis of India and Pakistani friends like you dear Mohammed!
We are not singling out Iranians when we speak of our shared history, but we are passionate about preserving the accuracy of history!
one more thing:
yes the Islamic Republic is a regime that is only 30 years old, because we had a revolution through which we overthrew the imperial regime of the Pahlvi dynasty, but Iran has been Iran ever since the fall of the Omavid Caliphate (1200 years ago)!
Persian Empire fell 1400 years ago after the Arab invasion of Persia, but it only took us Iranians 200 years to revive our language and regain our own Iranian rule from the Arabs of the Abbassid Caliphate, and in spite of many destructive invasions by the Mongols (Changiz Khan), the Turks (Saljooghian), and the Russian and British Empires, we never became colonized by anybody!!!
We were never under the Ottoman rule, or the British rule, and even though our kings were stupid enough to give our natural resources away to these foreign powers (Britain and Russia) who were their main political backers in the face of opposition by the Iranian people, but Iran never lost its sovereignty, it only lost a lot of its territory (Azerbaijan, Georgia, ...), but never its sovereignty!
So when she says these Arab states are only half a century old, she is talking about the fact that they were under the British Empire or the Ottoman Empire, and only gained their independence as a country at the end of the WW-I or WW-II.
Iran on the other hand, although ruled by kings who were effectively lackeys of these great powers, but it was always a sovereign country.
Readers of Persian Paradox, please read this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/18/2248314.htm
Dr. Ebtekar:
We see these BOLD moves taken by Iranian women like the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, but why don't we see any criticism or outspoken protests of this sort from you, a prominent Reformist opposition to Ahmadinejad's government? She seems to share your views about American intervention, Clinton's "obliterate" remark, and other issues, but you don't seem to have quite the same approach to OPPOSITION as she does!
Ebadi's other comments:
http://worldpress.org/Mideast/3031.cfm
http://media.www.dailyutahchronicle.com/media/storage/paper244/news/2008/04/21/News/Ebadi.Says.Intervention.Cannot.Solve.Irans.Problems-3337531.shtml
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omid-memarian/2003-nobel-peace-prize-la_b_101542.html
It would certainly be a powerful alliance if your party were to join forces with her group, Defenders of Human Rights Center, and work together for peace (as one of your readers suggested in her earlier comments here).
Dear Dr. Ebtekar,
ReplyDeletei know this is last week's news, but i've been looking everywhere to find out who these 77 parliamentarians were, and can't find a list of all their names!
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2008/may2008/mohammad-khatami-attacked-by-hard-line-lawmakers.shtml
was Haddad-Adel one of them???? i hope not!
could you please find the list of their names and post it here, perhaps with a little explanation of who these people were? i assume they are not from the "Coalition Principlists" camp, are they? i mean is there even one of them who is from the Larijani camp, or are they all Ahmadinejad's friends? in the case of the latter, who cares what they think or say???? their president's days are numbered!!!!
... cont' ...
ReplyDeletei mean, i very much doubt that such logical figures as Manouchehr Mottaki, even though he is a member of this man's cabinet, are actually making political decisions based on the premise of "hastening the return of Imam Mahdi"!!!!!!
Mottaki should resign if Ahmadinejad disagrees with him on how to answer the 5+1 package, and then, this resignation should anger ALL Iranian parlimentarians (principlist or otherwise) to call for Ahmadinejad's impeachment!
Long Live Logic! Long Live Rationality! Down With Radicalism!
Bravo Manouchehr Mottaki!
ReplyDeletedear Persian Paradox readers, please read this, it's Iran's "package" to the 5+1:
http://www.payvand.com/news/08/may/iran_package_for_constructive_negotiations.pdf
Kudos to the more logical and rational people working behind the scenes in a radically-lead government! Hats off to Priciplists who don't make policies based on Ahmadinejad's "Martyrdom Culture"! and Thank God for the prevailing voice of moderation and pragmatism in Iran!