IRANOLOGIST GARNIK ASATRIAN: WAVE OF PROTEST IN IRAN WILL NOT RESULT IN RADICAL CHANGES IN COUNTRY

Noyan Tapan
June 18, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Irrespective of the outcome of fight
between the candidates after the presidential elections in Iran that
country’s policy to Armenia will be kept unchanged. Iranologist Garnik
Asatrian expressed such an opinion at the June 18 press conference.

In his words, the events in Iran cannot be considered a revolution,
as the competition between reformators and radicals proceeds inside
the Islamic administration and cannot result in system changes in
the country.

According to G. Asatrian, the peculiarity of the elections was that
in the election campaign the candidates made ethnic units a subject of
manipulation. At that, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad was the first to do
it, and other candidates followed him. According to the Iranologist,
such a step is not in Iran’s state and national interests and its
consequences can be very dangerous.

According to the speaker, Iran is not a multi-national state, and
no nation living there can pretend on a right to a territory. The
Iranologist also considers wrong, in particular, the term "ethnic
Azeri" used in Armenian press to reformators’ candidate Mir-Hoseyn
Mosavi. In his conviction, there is no Azeri minority in Azerbaijan,
and it will be right to speak about Turkish-speaking Iranians.

A. Asatrian denied the supposition that the Iranian events were
organized by the West. At the same time he said that the West can
make use of the formed situation and try to activate centers of
ethnic disagreements. He expressed the hope that Iranian political
leaders will come to an agreement and will not permit foreign forces
to aggravate the situation. In his words, Iranian administration’s
stability is very important for Armenia.