Third-Party Claims to Iran's Cultural and Spiritual Heritage
Cultural Theft by Turks from Iran – A Sign of the Turks' Cultural Weakness vis-à-vis Iran
Third-party claims to Iran's cultural and spiritual heritage include cases in which other countries claim Iranian cultural, historical, and spiritual heritage or seek to confiscate it and register it in their own name. In some cases, these countries have succeeded in registering this cultural and historical heritage in their own name.
In the last decades of the 20th and the first decades of the 21st century, especially after UNESCO began registering the cultural and spiritual heritage of humanity in 2006, numerous pieces of Iran's cultural and spiritual heritage were claimed by other countries, increasing sensitivity regarding country registration. Some of these heritages were registered as shared heritage, while others were requested by the Iranian government for follow-up and review.
According to Article 7 of the UNESCO Statute, member states were required to establish national commissions to ensure coordination between UNESCO and the relevant institutions. Currently, there are 190 national UNESCO commissions. Since 2006, numerous cultural properties from countries, including Iran (Nowruz, the knowledge of making Longj, Persian carpets, Kashan carpets, Zurkhaneh sports, Ta'ziyeh, etc.), have been registered as UNESCO cultural heritage and intangible heritage in Iran.
Official Reactions in Iran
Intangible and Cultural Heritage Claimed on the UNESCO List
Cultural Heritage Contested by Iran at UNESCO: Human
Official Reactions in Iran
On February 19, 2013, the World Cultural Heritage Organization announced that each country would be permitted to register only one work or piece of cultural heritage with UNESCO per year. Due to the large number of Iranian cultural heritage sites, registration will take many years. Iran will pursue cases deemed to be shared cultural heritage and reserve the right to register that cultural heritage. And if a country registers a product in its own name, the path to joint registration with other countries is not closed.
In November 2013, Farhad Nazari, Director General of the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization, announced that a list of cultural heritage sites would be compiled and submitted to UNESCO in the near future as a preventative measure against confiscation by neighboring countries.
Yonatan Batkelia, a representative of the Assyrian minority in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stated: "At UNESCO, early applications are given priority. If a country can claim a claim submitted to UNESCO afterward, it will be difficult to prove that claim."
Several members of the Ninth Parliament believe that the Cultural Heritage Organization has failed to address the delay in execution and the failure to register these works, which was also raised during the public session of the Parliament. Following these comments, the head of the Cultural Heritage Organization, Mohammad Ali Najafi, wrote a letter to the UNESCO Secretary-General, urging the Azerbaijani government to end its de-Persianization policies, including the removal of Nizami's Persian poems inscribed on his tomb. He called for immediate action.
Intangible and Cultural Heritage Claimed on the UNESCO List
The cultural and intangible heritage claimed by others is as follows:
Polo
The Republic of Azerbaijan has registered the sport of polo under its own name and, despite Iran's efforts, has resisted the legalization of this sport. The Iranian government continues to reserve the right to register and legalize this sport.
This is despite the fact that polo has been played in Iran by the kings and nobles of that country for over three thousand years. Darius the Great played polo in Persepolis, and the Naghsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan was designed as a venue for polo matches before the Safavid kings. The popularity of this game in Iran has been mentioned several times in the works of great poets such as Ferdowsi and Rudaki.
Coffeehouse
Turkey has applied for the registration of coffeehouses. According to the Iranian Cultural Heritage Sarman, the first coffeehouses in Iran were established in the city of Qazvin during the Safavid period, during the reign of Shah Tahmasp, and expanded in the city of Isfahan during the reign of Shah Abbas I.
Lavash Bread
Armenia has registered Lavash bread with UNESCO as a cultural and spiritual heritage of the country, and Iran has applied for its recognition as a common heritage. Lavash bread is known and baked in most parts of Iran as Lavash, Levash, and Labash. It is one of the oldest traditional Iranian breads. According to written sources, it has been popular and widely known in Iran for at least 800 years. The poet Nizari Qohestani (645–720 AD) says in one of his poems:
I have made my pose like a loincloth so that greed can be satisfied by the Lavash tablet!
Ashiqlar Music
Ashiqlar music has been registered with UNESCO by the Republic of Azerbaijan on behalf of that country, although this music originated in Iran during the reign of Shah Ismail Safavi.
Windcatcher
The government of the United Arab Emirates introduced the windcatcher as a statue, a symbol of Arab countries, as part of an architectural competition and is attempting to register this symbol as a spiritual and cultural heritage. The Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization is attempting to register this symbol as an Iranian work. The head of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization stated that registering this architectural element as an Iranian architectural element is the organization's top priority.
Tar
The Azerbaijani performance art of the tar was registered with UNESCO by the Republic of Azerbaijan without mentioning Iranian artists or the country of Iran. Dariush Pirniakan, spokesperson for the Iranian House of Music, protested such an event and named the UNESCO representative in Iran as the main culprit. He complained that Iran did not object to the registration of this instrument on behalf of Azerbaijan at the Paris meeting.
Yalda
The Republic of Azerbaijan is seeking to register Yalda, one of Iran's oldest national rituals with an 8,000-year history, under its own name.!!!
Bakhshi Music in Northern Khorasan
Since the Bakhshi singers in Northern Khorasan spoke Turkish, the Republic of Azerbaijan intended to register the local music of Khorasan. Following a letter from UNESCO, Iran prepared and registered the necessary documents.
Hyrcanian Forest
On July 11, 2006, the Republic of Azerbaijan submitted an application to UNESCO for the global registration of the Caspian-Hyrcanian Forest. After review by the organization's experts, it was determined that the Republic of Azerbaijan's share of only 20,000 hectares, compared to Iran's share of 2 million hectares, dates back to the Jurassic period, and global registration of this work in the name of Azerbaijan alone is not possible. The Iranian cultural authorities subsequently submitted a proposal to Azerbaijan for the joint registration of this natural monument. This has so far been impossible due to disagreements between the two sides.
Among the points of contention is that, despite UNESCO's rules requiring countries with shared historical and natural monuments to be registered alphabetically in their written documents, Iran opposes listing Azerbaijan ahead of Iran in this work. It argues that Azerbaijan's small share of this forest is not comparable to Iran's, so the order of the text can be determined based on the alphabet alone.
Cultural Heritage Disputed by Iran in UNESCO: Humans
Maulana or Rumi / Avicenna / Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi
Omar Khayyam / Bayhaqi / Farabi / Babak Khorramdin / Scythians / Zoroaster
Nizami Ganjavi / Abu Raihan Biruni / Boryai Vali
Campaign to Present Nizami as Azerbaijan's National Poet!!!
The campaign to present Nizami as Azerbaijan's National Poet (also called Azerbaijanization) is a political-ideological revision with national-cultural themes of one of Iran's classic poets, Nizami Ganjavi. It began in the Soviet Union in the late 1930s and was organized to mark the 800th anniversary of the poet's birth. The campaign culminated in a celebratory ceremony in 1947, and its effects continue to be felt today. On the one hand, it benefited the multicultural society of the Soviet Union and, above all, the culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan. On the other hand, the question of Nizami's national and cultural identity has become highly politicized in the Soviet Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Efforts of the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Iran's Reaction
Efforts by the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan
The Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan replaced the Persian tile poems on the military tomb with Turkish poems!!! The Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan in London objected to the inclusion of Nizami Ganjavi's Khamseh manuscript in the National Library of England as an Iranian cultural asset!!!
The Republic of Azerbaijan should present him as an Azerbaijani and non-Iranian poet by placing his statue in various places around the world.
Professor Paula Orsati, Professor of Persian Language and Literature at Sapienza University in Rome, considers the erection of the Nizami statue in Rome a falsification of history: "But the unveiling of a statue of Nizami Ganjavi in Rome with the title 'Azerbaijani Poet' should prompt us to respond to such distortions."
" Professor Ivan Mikhailovich Steblin-Kamensky, Professor and Head of the Department of Oriental Studies at Saint Petersburg University, also commented on the Nizami statue in one of the city's squares and the falsification of history: "For example, a statue was allegedly erected in Kamnostorsk Square, and he was called a 'great Azerbaijani poet.'" Yet Nizami Ganjavi did not speak Turkish. It is said that he lived in the territory of today's Republic of Azerbaijan. However, Nizami wrote all his works in Persian.
In October 2012, Siavash Lornjad and Ali Doostzadeh published their book "On the Politicization of the Iranian Poet Nizami Ganjavi in Modern Times." This English-language book examines these actions, distortions, misinterpretations, and misinterpretations of military poems by Soviet scholars and "nationalists" of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Pan-Turkic movement. The book is available free of charge online.
Dr. Paula Orsat, Professor of Persian Language and Literature at Sapienza University in Rome, writes about this book: "This book examines a comprehensive list of distortions created for nationalistic reasons and now widespread in scholarship on the great Iranian poet Nezami Ganjavi. These distortions began when the Soviet government decided to celebrate Nezami's 800th birthday. The authors of this book carefully and critically examine the arguments that Soviet scholars and, more recently, writers from the Republic of Azerbaijan have put forward about Nezami, calling him a so-called 'Azerbaijani poet' and considering his works as part of so-called 'Azerbaijani literature.'"
The authors of this book demonstrate that these claims are false. In addition to these critical sections, this book also contains constructive sections, namely the information and insights the authors have provided us with firsthand, including through careful reading of the works of Nizami and other contemporary poets, as well as contemporary historical sources. This book is an interesting and carefully documented study of classical Persian literature and also answers questions about the historical, ethnographic, and linguistic situation of the Arran and Transcaucasia regions.
In 2007, Norouz Alimukhamedov, a cultural scholar from Talesh, was imprisoned for his support of Talesh culture. One of the charges brought against him by the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan was that he had read Nizami Ganjavi in a non-Turkic publication and in Talesh. In 2009, Nowruz Ali Mammadov died in prison.
Nezami's Poems on Iran
Nezami says the following about Iran:
The whole world is one body, but Iran is its heart.
Fars Report on the Confiscation of Iranian Cultural Treasures
A Chinese Example of Culture: Cultural Horns Sounded.
Questioning a nation's cultural heritage is a way to destroy the national cohesion of a country's population. This is where the protection and preservation of the people's culture, as one of the most important infrastructures that constitute the country's sovereignty, takes on particular importance.
Fars News Agency – Mahnaz Saeed Hosseini:
Dictionaries describe culture as the weight of culture, which means science, knowledge, wisdom, courtesy, greatness, and consideration. Culture is also described as a branch of a tree that has fallen asleep in the ground and sprouts again somewhere else, or as a gargoyle whose water gushes from the ground.
The culture of a people and a country is compared to water flowing in the depths of the ocean, and politics to waves on the surface of this ocean, which flows sometimes stormy and restless, sometimes gentle and calm.
This simple example and the definition from which the word culture is borrowed clearly demonstrate that a society's culture is one of the most fundamental infrastructures and assets of a country and a nation. Its protection and preservation are as crucial as geographical boundaries and economic and political assets.
Many scholars have attempted to understand and popularize culture. Given the primary purpose of this report, we will briefly review two important definitions of culture and cultural assets to arrive at the main topic of discussion.
Although some experts, such as Tylor, criticize this definition of culture, it is considered the most comprehensive proposed to date. According to Tylor, culture is a complex, systematic collection of knowledge and identifications, arts, beliefs and rituals, laws and customs, the origin of good, and many other things that humans have inherited from their society.
Max Weber also viewed culture as a set of methods and contexts that bind individuals together in a society and are reflected in their behavior, actions, and social relationships.
Culture is therefore the accumulation of a nation's assets over the years that have made that nation a nation and united the members of that society. Consequently, the disintegration or destruction of culture, or the questioning of a nation's cultural assets, is one of the ways to destroy the national cohesion of a country's population in the long term. This is where the protection and preservation of the people's culture, as one of the most important infrastructures that constitutes the country's sovereignty, comes into play.
Cultural Disorder Means National Bankruptcy
In this context, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei remarked during his meeting with members of the Council of the Cultural Revolution on June 14, 2011:
If a nation appears outwardly acceptable and progressive but is in cultural and internal disarray, it is a bankrupt nation. A culturally rich nation, on the other hand, even if it has political and economic problems, is potentially a powerful nation.
He has repeatedly emphasized the importance of culture and its preservation and described the issue of cultural aggression as a serious problem. He emphasized:
"The cultural aggression of the arrogance front extends to all countries in the world, but the most important target of this aggression is the Islamic Republic because it has opposed the ruling system and proven that it is honest in this resistance and has the ability to resist and advance."
Cultural experts have identified many tools that arrogant governments use to present their culture as the dominant culture to other countries, especially Islamic countries. While these tools take longer to produce results than other methods, they have more lasting and, of course, more destructive effects because they are linked to people's beliefs and, thus, their behavior.
These tools have been identified as satellites, websites, publications, text messages and Bluetooth, emails, rumors, music, films, animations, books and stories, toys, sports, and symbols. In each of these tools, the enemy uses its own methods to target people's minds and hearts and challenge their cultural heritage. One of the methods used in recent years to confront and oppose the Iranian people—and to which our government has shown no positive response in return—is the confiscation of the assets of a nation called the "Muslim people of Iran."
Where did the history of the confiscation of Iranian assets begin?
The confiscation of these assets began with false claims such as the Three Islands and led to the designation of the Arabian Gulf as the Persian Gulf. Recently, the confiscation of Iranian cultural figures and poets for the benefit of neighboring countries has become a topic of conversation in circles and gatherings.
This appropriation of cultural figures begins with the creation of symbols in neighboring countries. For example, a great poet and scholar like Rumi is presented to the population as one of Turkey's poets and scholars. Programs are held in his honor, stamps are printed, books are published, films are made, and he is repeatedly highlighted as a national symbol. Thus, Rumi is gradually becoming a cultural pride and a great intellectual asset in the minds of the population, especially the next generation of Turks. No one is surprised that this cultural pride doesn't even contain a single line in Turkish!
On the other hand, every year the country conducts extensive advertising to attract tourists from all over the world and present Rumi as a Turkish poet.!!
A similar thing is happening with Nizami. Persian inscriptions are being removed from the walls and doors of Nizami's tomb, and this famous Iranian poet is being presented in the public opinion of the people of Azerbaijan and even the world as an Azerbaijani poet and the cultural pride of Azerbaijan.!!!
It even goes so far that the statue of this poet is being introduced in Rome as a symbol of Azerbaijani culture!!! a country that belonged to Iran until a century ago!!
Later, important steps are being taken to deepen and institutionalize this belief, such as the report that the media of the Republic of Azerbaijan broadcast images of the design of the country's new banknotes, which are to be printed in that country!!! Based on this information, the design of the banknotes in circulation in the Republic of Azerbaijan will change starting in early 2014, and the 5-manat banknotes will feature the image of the famous Iranian poet Nizami Ganjavi, whose ownership the Republic of Azerbaijan naturally claims!!!
What have we done in return?
Apart from the reactions of the population or the cultural elite, it is interesting and, in its own way, worthy of consideration to refer to the words and reactions of our country's cultural leaders, who are responsible for preserving and protecting our cultural heritage. For example, Ali Jannati, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, said in his recent response to this action by neighboring countries: "Other countries cannot register our honorees in their names. They are Iranian, and on the other side of the border, there have been attempts to destroy the Iranian character of these honorees, for example, by removing Persian inscriptions from their cabinets. However, our honorees will not be destroyed by these actions. For example, Rumi, Sana'i, and some of our other honorees are not buried within Iran's borders; they are part of the Iranian honorees and Iranian heritage, and no one can confiscate them in their own name."
Regarding the Ministry of Islamic Guidance's actions in this regard, he said: "One of the tasks of the Association of Honorees is to hold conferences on these honorees, to which scholars from other countries will be invited." The result of these conferences will be a veritable treasure trove that will make everyone believe that this person is one of the great Iranians. The results of the conference will be published in book form and registered in Iran's name.
Responding to these measures, Seyyed Ali Taheri, spokesperson for the Parliament's Cultural Affairs Commission, emphasized the need to introduce the great Iranians and cultural figures to the world: "Holding conferences and commemorations not only helps introduce the country's outstanding figures to the world, but can also deter some countries from confiscating Iranian greats in their own name."
A look at these words and the poor record of the Association of Cultural Monuments and Greats shows that the passive responses to these measures have been limited to protests and the holding of congresses and commemorations for our cultural greats. In fact, our officials have contented themselves with the most minimal measures against these obvious threats, which are supported by arrogant powers.
Holding conferences and congresses and printing stamps in the name of one of these award winners is not a bad move. However, since they are incapable of influencing public opinion and, consequently, fostering intellectual exchange among people, they cannot be desirable and accepted solutions.
If we believe in the principles of passive defense and view the cultural sphere as a serious field and a fully-fledged battlefield, we cannot defend and protect our most basic infrastructure—culture, the expression of which our cultural symbols are—by simply holding a congress and honoring and inviting intellectuals from other countries.
What do other countries do for culture and public opinion?
While our actions are limited to a few official responses, the publication of a few books for a specific audience, and the holding of a few congresses, other countries use all their media power and cultural instruments to create great value even from what they lack. We are not concerned here with the cultural heritage of these countries; we are simply considering what they have done with our cultural heritage, exclusively in the field of cinema.
It's interesting that other countries take advantage of our inactivity, no matter how much we try in our daily lives to address important and influential topics in our cinema. We can cite interesting examples of the West's appropriation of our country's scientific and cultural achievements, one of which is Maulana Jalaluddin Balkhi. For example, a two-part documentary film titled "Hazrat Maulana" was filmed in Turkey and broadcast on Turkish television. Even "Esin Chalabi," the 22nd grandson of Maulana Jalaluddin from Sultan Walad, was present at the filming location of this documentary.
Afghan people also produced the film "Pir Cheragh Be Dast" in Afghanistan, based on Maulana's life, at the expense of the Afghan government. It was directed by "Latif Ahmadi," the head of Afghan Film.
The English director Abdul Latif Salaza, who had the film "Imam Muhammad Ghazali" in his portfolio, also came to Iran with the support of French television to expand his film career with a film about the life of Maulana Jalaluddin.
The Indians were not far behind in this caravan, and the Indian director Muzaffar Ali is currently producing a film entitled "Rumi: The Fire of Love." This film, a biography of Rumi, is being realized by Qatar with an investment of $25 million.
But what contribution does Iranian cinema make to the exploration of this Iranian poet, whom the world calls the greatest poet? The only documentary film, "Moulana" by Ard Atapour.
Of course, the passivity of Iranian cinema in dealing with its own achievements is not limited to Rumi. For example, the film "Omar Khayyam" (also known as "The Life, Love, and Adventures of Omar Khayyam" and "The Love of Omar Khayyam") is a 1956 American film by German director William Dieterle, released in 1957.
Russian filmmaker Baris Tokarev also tells a story about the Iranian scientist who directed the film "Omar Khayyam." There are many such examples, and unfortunately, we don't have our hands full.
The Chinese Cultural Example
Another very interesting example is the Chinese one. In a 20-year plan that has been in development for almost two years, the Chinese have announced their intention to become the world's leading cultural power within the next 20 years. In addition to entering film and music, producing and symbolizing puppets, and taking the lead in sports, they are setting a trend in the cultural field. To get their ideas across to the people, they use an interesting method. When the Chinese president speaks on television, a booklet containing his speeches is published within a few days, along with books on the application of his speeches in sports, culture, and the military.
Following this, a book of test speeches by the president is published. Companies should hold training courses, distribute these books to their employees, and then test them. Interestingly, the next day, when the issue of presenting China as a soft power arose in the Chinese Congress, a member of the Chinese Leadership Council gathered all the heads of Chinese publishing houses and tasked them with developing and presenting a detailed and practical plan for presenting China as a soft power. On the other hand, an institution equivalent to our own judiciary gathered staff and tasked them with regularly monitoring the publishers to verify the implementation of these plans.
Examples like these can be found in many other countries, and there are examples of how they create great and respected myths out of nothing and pass them on as symbols to future generations. They write books about them, make films, and even produce puppets for children and create animations of their heroes so that the minds and hearts of viewers recognize and appreciate this childhood symbol.
Arya Bàhram