MISS IRAQ BOWS OUT AMID DEATH THREATS: BID TO CHANGE COUNTRY’S IMAGE SUFFERS SETBACK
Daniel McGrory, Times of London
The Calgary Herald (Alberta)
April 13, 2006 Thursday
Final Edition
It is proving as hard to find a beauty queen as it is to find a prime
minister in Iraq.
Exhausted by the time their politicians are taking to agree on a
leader, the country thought it had at least succeeded in choosing a
Miss Iraq.
But Wednesday night, the people’s choice — Tamar Goregian, 23, a
blonde student with photogenic pout — was in hiding in neighbouring
Jordan, having hastily renounced her crown following death threats
from Islamic extremists.
Only six days ago she was revelling in her victory, blinking back
tears of joy as she told admirers crammed into a Baghdad nightclub
that “maybe beauty is the final step to end the violence here and
preach peace after all.”
Organizers had hoped her appearance at the Miss Universe contest in
Los Angeles in July would show the world a different image of Iraq.
By Wednesday they were searching for a replacement after
fundamentalists denounced the terrified Goregian, an Armenian
Christian, as “the Queen of Infidels.”
The two runners-up, both Muslim, swiftly declined the crown.
On Wednesday it was left to the fourth-placed contestant, Silva
Sahagian, 23, another Christian, to assume the mantle. “Our politicians
should have more to worry about than whether Miss Iraq should go to
America,” she said. “I cannot believe the extremists would do anything
to a beauty queen.”