I still recall that beautiful church in Tehran and the accounts of my relatives and childhood friends about the ‘Armenian Weddings’ and Christmas and parties. It was just couple of years ago that I started somehow educating myself a bit more about those good christian friends in Tehran and the ones I met abroad. On a trip to Iran, years ago I bought a series of books called (keshvramoon ro behtar beshnasim) a well written and easy to read compilation of different regions, cultures and customes of Iran. I started realizing the important and long lasting effect of their presence and contibutions to Iran. Being very uneducated on the subject as I was, I was astonished by finding out that many Armenian Iranians participated in the war we had with Iraq and many were killed or ‘martyred’ in it. This still amazes me because, the whole ‘official’ martyrdom in Iran was and is based on Islamic shiism, whereas the Iranian christians killed in the war were simply christians that didn’t come from islamic religious background. Nobody that I know of, has ever publicly expressed any kind gratitude towards our dear Armenian and Assyrian Iranian citizens. Some may wonder why anyone needs to thank them, however a more careful look at their contributions since the very first years of their presence in Iran, answers that question.
Their cultural influence in Iran covers almost any aspect of art, music, film making art and industry, technical tardes, knowledge of languages, etc…
Up to a point it makes me wonder how Iran would be like, without their presence. I even dislike referring to them as Armenian Iranian, because they’re simply Iranian, good, hard working Iranian citizens that have had to pay a heavy price by staying in Iran after the so called revolution. By staying, they have to abide by the harsh islamic codes of life, something very uncommon within other christian communities in other islamic nations. They all feel very close to Iran and the rest of Iranians, even compared to Armenia itself. The one thing that I consider valuable is the fact that the last 3 decades have not changed the love and loyalty and strong feelings of our dear christian community towards their country Iran. I dream that one day we all cheristian, jewish, zorostrian, bahai and atheist…azari, kurdish, arab and all others live side by side in our beloved Iran, just like the old days, this time with more experience, with more appreciation of each other. I hope we all make it through this very harsh and long winter, that we don’t fall into the nasty trap the enmies of our frienship have prepared for us. The love and loyalty of our christian friends towards Iran, simply gives me hope.
My God bless Iran
