ARMENIAN ARCHBISHOP OF TEHRAN CONDEMNS IRANIAN TV AND RADIO PROPAGANDA

ArmenPress
Feb 18 2005

TEHRAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS: The Tehran Diocese of the
Armenian Apostolic Church organized the first painting and recital
competition among students of local Armenian schools. The topic of
the painting competition was the Bible and that of the recital
competition were the Psalms.
While handing over prizes the head of the Diocese, Archbishop
Sepuh Sarkisian, emphasized the necessity of Christian education at
schools and in families, but also criticized the growing “distorted”
propaganda by the Iranian television and radio alleging that Iranian
Armenians “have deep faith in Islam and its relics.”
He said this is either an “unconscious” propaganda or the outcome
of interviews with “poor-informed’ Armenians about Islam and its
relics.
Condemning such propaganda, Archbishop Sarkisian stressed that
today is the time of dialogue and mutual understanding and there is
no need for such primitive propaganda, which he said was a violation
of national minorities’ rights.
He said Iranian Armenians have a respect towards Islam, its relics
and rituals, but also called on Armenians “to honor the memory of
their fallen victims and avoid irrelevant announcements in order to
please the interviewers.”
Iran’s officially recognized religious minorities are the Armenian
and Assyrian Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians. But despite the
constitutional protection and political representation they enjoy in
the Islamic republic, all three communities are dwindling because of
emigration and low birth rates.
The Armenians, brought to Persia en masse as merchants and
partisans by Shah Abbas in the early 17th century, are the largest
official minority. They have two seats in the Islamic parliament ,
one for Tehran and northern Iran, the other for Isfahan and the
south.
“Before the 1979 Islamic revolution there were 300,000 Armenians
in Iran. Today, according to some estimates, there are no more than
150,000. Many have moved to join relatives in the United States or
Western Europe.
Since Armenian Christians do not proselytize, they are not
regarded as a threat to Iran’s Islamic faith.