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A 20-volume book “General History of Iran” has been published in Iran. It presents Iran’s concise history since pre-Aryan era to the fall of Qajar dynasty, according to the Iranian information agency IRIB.

Since the Islamic revolution in Iran, the authorities have not paid proper attention to the pre-Islamic history of the country, to put it mildly. Instead, the appreciation of the history of the post-Islamic era was emphasized.

Engaged in creating national identity and its own history, the Azerbaijani Republic could not remain indifferent to this fact. Taking advantage of the occasion, it started to zealously “Azerbaijanize” the Iranian cultural and historic values.

After making the Persian-language poet and one of the greatest classics of the Iranian literature of the 12th century, Nizami Ganjavi, and Nader Shah “Azerbaijanis”, Azerbaijan was also able to register the musical instrument tar under its name in UNESCO. Now it is working diligently on appropriating the Iranian sport of polo, the Caspian horse and the festival Shab-e Yalda (Night of Yalda).

During his recent visit to the historical site Takht-e Jamshid (Persepolis), Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said the people of Iran must preserve their Islamic and Iranian civilization.

If a few years ago Azerbaijan’s policy of appropriating the Iranian cultural values was carried out by the media, over the recent years it has been done at the highest level by the chief of the Azerbaijani Presidential administration.

The fact of publishing the above-mentioned book, as well as the statement Rouhani made in Persepolis show that the authorities in Iran have begun to appreciate their pre-Islamic history and to stand up for their own history. The Iranian authorities presumably have begun to realize that Azerbaijan’s policy of “Azerbaijanizing” the Iranian cultural values should not be tolerated anymore.

As regards Iran’s steps against the Azerbaijani falsifications, Iranian Minister of Culture Ali Jannati’s rather vivid description is worth mentioning, “The small-minded elements who attempt to eliminate Iran’s cultural values, the Persian language and literature, will not achieve their goal.”

Armen Israyelyan, Iranian studies expert