COMMUNITY RECOGNISED AS RELIGIOUSLY AND CULTURALLY DISTINCT
By Abbas Al Lawati, Staff Reporter

Gulf News
Dec 14 2007
United Arab Emirates

Dubai: For Serine Gharibian, home is Iran, but she loves Armenia
"and everything about it". Coming from a multicultural background,
she says, enables her to open up to other cultures. "I listen to all
kinds of music, Persian, Armenian, Arabic and Western".

Since Armenians have been in Iran for centuries, says Gharibian, they
have integrated well into the larger society and adopted local customs
and traditions, such as Persian food and the Persian language. "I’m
fluent in Armenian," she says, "but my Persian is stronger".

Armenian assimilation in Iran and the community’s long history there
means there are marked differences between Iranian Armenians and other
diaspora Armenians, says Gharibian. "For example, unlike Armenians
in Arab countries, we don’t have many descendants of World War One
refugees in Iran, so I find that Arab-Armenians identify more with
the war’s misfortunes. Nevertheless, we in Iran also mark the dates
that tragedy fell upon the Armenians during the war".

The dialect of Armenians in Arab countries differs from
Iranian-Armenian dialect too. "They speak Western Armenian, which
differs from our Eastern dialect. Some words are difficult to
understand because they are influenced by Arabic or other languages."

Armenians are recognised in Iran as a religiously and culturally
distinct community. "We are respected as honest people and are free
to practice our culture and traditions. We have all the freedoms we
need," she said.