WHO IS PERSISTANTLY LOOKING FOR A BLACK CAT?
Vardan Griogoryan
Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Oct 25 2007
The fact that the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cut short his
visit and quickly returned to Tehran gave rise to various hypotheses
and gossips in our reality.
In connection with removing several protocol events from the schedule
of the President’s official visit, a lot of things were discussed
and published during the past two days, beginning with some problems
allegedly emerging in the Armenian-Iranian relations, ending with
the Armenian women and girls’ wearing short skirts in the presence
of the high ranking Iranian guests.
The Iranian President’s not visiting Tsitsernakaberd as a result
of the October 23 schedule change became a target of speculations
too. Rumors were spread as if M. Ahmadinejad had received letters of
complaint from the Azeri residents of Iran, that’s why he cut short
his visit and returned to Tehran. This is already the peak of marasmus.
No matter how much the Foreign Ministry officials try to draw
the gossipers’ attention to obvious facts and bear witness to the
information received by the Iranian side which says that the reasons
of M. Ahmadienjad’s urgent departure have no relationship to Armenia,
the pointless discussions won’t cease.
It is partially accounted for by the fact that the information
reported by the Iranian side with regard to the Iranian President’s
urgent return to Tehran clearly refutes the "Armenian version";
however the other aspect of the issue remains uncertain, i.e. there
is no information as to the developments in and around Iran that made
M. Ahmadinejad cut short his visit.
What’s so strange there, though? Is this the first time that the people
engaged in speculations come to know about the confidential practices
characteristic to authorities? Don’t they know that the Iranians do
not like to disclose their own, i.e. domestic problems to anyone? And
if there are such problems, they are obvious to all those who are
more or less familiar with the processes currently under-way in Iran.
For instance, it is no secret for anyone that a new representative from
the Iranian side was to participate in the EU-Iran meeting that was
held in Rome yesterday. Sayid Jalaly, who has replaced Ali Larijani
in the current negotiations around Iran’s Nuclear Program, embodies
M. Ahmadinejad’s hard-line policy. As far back as quite recently, such
policy was supported by the Ayatollahs, the highest clergy producing
a crucial impact on the political developments of the Islamic country.
However, the situation has now taken a turn, so the highest clergy
opposes S. Jalili’s candidacy and especially – the current policy.
And this promises not only external but also internal political
consequences.
However, all this is the internal affair of our neighboring friend
country, and the Armenian-Iranian relations cannot suffer as a result
of the recent developments in and around Iran. Instead, they may be
negatively influenced by the overflow of various propaganda-based
hypothesis and assumptions that have recently flooded into the press
in the strictest sense of the word.
It is no secret that there are serious forces in the world which are
interested in the deterioration of the Armenian-Iranian relations. If
we add to them the anti-Armenian propaganda, from time to time
organized in Iran by the efforts of Turkey and Azerbaijan, it will
become obvious that the fantastic hypotheses and gossips around the
Iranian President’s most recent official visit to Armenia may give
rise to some uncertainty in both countries’ relations.
We are inclined to believe that the changes made in the schedule of
the Iranian President’s official visit were a proper occasion for
some forces and media operating inside our country to vainly look
for a black cat in the Armenian-Iranian relations.