Shiraz Representative Harshly Criticizes Hassan Rouhani: ‘Cyrus Day’ Designation Made into a Security Issue
Bahram Parsaei, representative of Shiraz in the Islamic Consultative Assembly who last year requested the designation of November 28 (7th of Aban) as “Cyrus Day,” sharply criticized Hassan Rouhani for treating this request as a “security matter” and referring it to the Supreme National Security Council, accusing him of “exploiting Iran’s culture and history” in his foreign trips.
Mr. Parsaei, in his remarks on Sunday, October 20, in parliament, referring to how Hassan Rouhani mentions Iran’s “rich history and culture” in his trips to the United Nations and Europe and says Iran was “the savior of the Jews in history,” stated: “Where you have ‘foreign consumption,’ you speak about this to ‘justify yourself,’ but ‘in a two-faced approach, we witnessed your domestic denial’.”
Hassan Rouhani said in June of this year during a trip to Austria and in a joint press conference with the Austrian Prime Minister: “The Jewish people owe us a debt. We Iranians were the saviors of the Jews in Babylon.”
The Shiraz representative in parliament, referring to these statements by Iran’s president abroad in contrast to the treatment of gatherers on November 28 at Pasargadae, described Hassan Rouhani as engaging in “a kind of exploitation of culture and history… and disrespect for the historical and cultural consciousness of society.”
November 28 is informally called “Cyrus Day” in Iran, and in recent years, security forces have prevented a number of Iranians from gathering at the mausoleum of Cyrus in Pasargadae in various ways.
The mausoleum of Cyrus, founder of the Achaemenid dynasty, is located in the ancient complex of Pasargadae in Fars Province.
Last year, despite measures by security institutions, such as sending threatening text messages, reports of Pasargadae closure, blocking roads leading to the complex, and the widespread presence of security forces and Basij members, a ceremony was held at Cyrus’s mausoleum, which resulted in the arrest of some attendees.
Bahram Parsaei last October in a letter addressed to the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance requested the designation of November 28 as “Cyrus Day.” However, on Sunday, in his remarks in parliament, he said that Hassan Rouhani referred this request to the Supreme National Security Council.
The Shiraz representative emphasized in his remarks: “In the world, security issues are addressed culturally and socially to reduce their costs, and we are completely the opposite.”
Recalling some praise that has been given to Cyrus, he said: “This figure today is estranged in his own country and birthplace.”
Some officials of the Islamic Republic, including the prosecutor of Fars Province, have called gatherings at Cyrus’s mausoleum “norm-breaking,” and Hossein Nouri Hamedani, a Shiite source of emulation in Qom, has also said that Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, called those who “remembered Cyrus” as “counter-revolutionary.”
Source: Radio Farda
