161-540: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran ( PMOI ), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq ( MEK ) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization ( MKO ) ( Persian : سازمان مجاهدین خلق ایران , romanized : Sâzmân-ye Mojâhedin-ye Khalğ-ye Irân ), is an Iranian dissident organization that was previously armed but has now transitioned primarily into a political group. Its headquarters are currently in Albania. The group's ideology
322-612: A Baháʼí businessman. In February 1974, they attacked a police station in Isfahan and in April, they bombed a reception hall, Oman Bank, gates of the British embassy, and offices of Pan-American Oil company in protest of the Sultan of Oman's state visit. A communiqué by the organization declared that their actions had been to show solidarity with the people of Dhofar . On 19 April 1974, they attempted to bomb
483-638: A Dari dialect. In the 19th century, under the Qajar dynasty , the dialect that is spoken in Tehran rose to prominence. There was still substantial Arabic vocabulary, but many of these words have been integrated into Persian phonology and grammar. In addition, under the Qajar rule, numerous Russian , French , and English terms entered the Persian language, especially vocabulary related to technology. The first official attentions to
644-597: A NCRI representative on 6 March 1993. In 1991 the MEK was accused of helping the Iraqi Republican Guard suppress Shiite and Kurdish nationwide uprisings , a claim the MEK has consistently denied. Ervand Abrahamian suggests that one motivation for the MEK's opposition to the clerical regime was its infringement on the rights of national minorities, especially the Kurds. In April 1992, the MEK attacked 10 Iranian embassies including
805-745: A Republican from Kansas and chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee on South Asia, then accused the French of doing "the Iranian government's dirty work". Along with other members of Congress , he wrote a letter of protest to President Jacques Chirac , while longtime MEK supporters such as Sheila Jackson Lee , a Democrat from Texas, criticized Maryam Radjavi's arrest. A court later found that there were no grounds for terrorism or terrorism-related finance charges. In 2014, prosecuting judges also dropped all charges of money laundering and fraud. In May 2003, during
966-709: A deal with Tehran for the release of French hostages held prisoners by the Hezbollah in Lebanon, the MEK was forced to leave France and relocated to Iraq. By 1987, most MEK leaders were based in Iraq, where the group remained until the 2003 US invasion . According to the US State Department, the MEK was mainly supported by Iraq during that period and was fighting on the Iraqi side in the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War . In 1987 Masoud Rajavi declared
1127-418: A dictionary called Words of Scientific Association ( لغت انجمن علمی ), which was completed in the future and renamed Katouzian Dictionary ( فرهنگ کاتوزیان ). The first academy for the Persian language was founded on 20 May 1935, under the name Academy of Iran . It was established by the initiative of Reza Shah Pahlavi , and mainly by Hekmat e Shirazi and Mohammad Ali Foroughi , all prominent names in
1288-521: A former U.S. military base, Camp Liberty , in Iraq. Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney argued that the MEK should be used against Iran. They were then placed under the guard of the U.S. Military . Defectors from the MEK requested assistance from the Coalition forces , who created a "temporary internment and protection facility" for them. In the first year these numbered "several hundred", mainly Iranian soldiers captured in
1449-600: A group that went underground in Iran, another that left to Kurdistan and a final group that left to other countries abroad. By the end of 1981, the principal refuge for many exiled members of the MEK had become France. The Iranian government is believed to be concerned about MEK activities in Iran, and MEK supporters are a major target of Iran's internal security apparatus abroad and it is said to be responsible for killing MEK members, Kazem Rajavi on 24 April 1990 and Mohammad-Hossein Naghdi,
1610-500: A language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Farsi , which is the Persian word for the Persian language, has also been used widely in English in recent decades, more often to refer to Iran's standard Persian. However, the name Persian is still more widely used. The Academy of Persian Language and Literature has maintained that the endonym Farsi is to be avoided in foreign languages, and that Persian
1771-417: A literary language considerably different from the spoken Persian of the time. This became the basis of what is now known as "Contemporary Standard Persian". There are three standard varieties of modern Persian: All these three varieties are based on the classic Persian literature and its literary tradition. There are also several local dialects from Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan which slightly differ from
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#17328550452271932-519: A network of fake charities based in European countries. Critics have described the group as "resembling a cult", while its backers describe the group as proponents of "a free and democratic Iran" that could become the next government there. The Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) was founded in 1965 by a group of Tehran University students whose radical ideas focused on an armed rebellion against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , whom they considered corrupt, oppressive, and
2093-529: A period of several centuries, Ottoman Turkish (which was highly Persianised itself) had developed toward a fully accepted language of literature, and which was even able to lexically satisfy the demands of a scientific presentation. However, the number of Persian and Arabic loanwords contained in those works increased at times up to 88%. In the Ottoman Empire, Persian was used at the royal court, for diplomacy, poetry, historiographical works, literary works, and
2254-584: A puppet of the United States. They considered the mainstream Liberation Movement too moderate and ineffective. They aimed to establish a socialist state in Iran based on a modern and revolutionary interpretation of Islam, that originated from Islamic texts like Nahj al-Balagha and some of Ali Shariati 's works. MEK founders included Mohammad Hanifnejad, Saeed Mohsen, and Ali Asghar Badizadegan, and it attracted primarily young, well-educated Iranians. While MEK publications were banned in Iran, in its first five years,
2415-580: A speaker of Persian. Persian is a member of the Western Iranian group of the Iranian languages , which make up a branch of the Indo-European languages in their Indo-Iranian subdivision . The Western Iranian languages themselves are divided into two subgroups: Southwestern Iranian languages, of which Persian is the most widely spoken, and Northwestern Iranian languages, of which Kurdish and Balochi are
2576-464: A state of the art center for the preservation of manuscripts. The University of Tehran Press (UTP), which focuses on publishing academic books, has published over 5,000 books up until today, and currently publishes on average more than one book per day. UTP has over 96 distribution agents throughout the country as well as one in Afghanistan. University of Tehran is a public university and its funding
2737-571: A strategy to eliminate political opponents within the government. According to the United States Department of State , in addition to other sources, the bombing was carried out by the MEK. Ervand Abrahamian argues that whatever the truth may be, the Islamic Republic used this incident to fight the MEK. The MEK declared that the bombing was a "natural and necessary reaction to the regime's atrocities", and it never claimed responsibility for
2898-644: Is a continuation of Middle Persian , an official language of the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE), itself a continuation of Old Persian , which was used in the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE). It originated in the region of Fars ( Persia ) in southwestern Iran. Its grammar is similar to that of many European languages. Throughout history, Persian was considered prestigious by various empires centered in West Asia , Central Asia , and South Asia . Old Persian
3059-610: Is a direct descendant of Middle and Old Persian. Gernot Windfuhr considers new Persian as an evolution of the Old Persian language and the Middle Persian language but also states that none of the known Middle Persian dialects is the direct predecessor of Modern Persian. Ludwig Paul states: "The language of the Shahnameh should be seen as one instance of continuous historical development from Middle to New Persian." The known history of
3220-848: Is acting in tandem with" the MEK. Persian language Russia Persian ( / ˈ p ɜːr ʒ ən , - ʃ ən / PUR -zhən, -shən ), also known by its endonym Farsi ( فارسی , Fārsī [fɒːɾˈsiː] ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages . Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran , Afghanistan , and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties , respectively Iranian Persian (officially known as Persian ), Dari Persian (officially known as Dari since 1964), and Tajiki Persian (officially known as Tajik since 1999). It
3381-765: Is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan , as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran . It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet , a derivative of the Arabic script , and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet , a derivative of the Cyrillic script . Modern Persian
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#17328550452273542-654: Is attested in Old Persian cuneiform on inscriptions from between the 6th and 4th century BC. Middle Persian is attested in Aramaic -derived scripts ( Pahlavi and Manichaean ) on inscriptions and in Zoroastrian and Manichaean scriptures from between the third to the tenth centuries (see Middle Persian literature ). New Persian literature was first recorded in the ninth century, after the Muslim conquest of Persia , since then adopting
3703-469: Is based on national standing based on research achievements and invested funding in the mentioned topics. Fifteen percent of the country's Centers of Excellence, as recognized by the government, are located at the University of Tehran, which along with more than 40 research centers ensure UT's commitment to research. Together, over 3,500 laboratories are active in these centers and in the faculties. In addition,
3864-425: Is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian remains largely intelligible to speakers of Contemporary Persian, as the morphology and, to a lesser extent, the lexicon of the language have remained relatively stable. New Persian texts written in the Arabic script first appear in the 9th-century. The language is a direct descendant of Middle Persian, the official, religious, and literary language of
4025-499: Is hard to establish, it seems that most or all resignations were not accepted. Many of the most important figures in Iranian political, academic, and social life have been associated with the University of Tehran. Notable press alumnus include Hossein Towfigh , Editor-in-Chief of Towfigh Magazine . Politicians include the nationalist leader Mohammad Mosaddegh , Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti , former Prime Minister Jamshid Amouzegar , and
4186-400: Is in the form of "Afzoot" (Amrood), which means plentiful and increasing. University of Tehran's official color is University of Tehran Blue (RGB: 29,160,196). The University of Tehran main entrance was designed in 1965 by Korosh Farzami , one of the students of the faculty of Fine Arts of the University and built by Arme Construction Company . The gates are depicted on the reverse of
4347-455: Is not actually attested until 600 years later when it appears in the Sassanid era (224–651 AD) inscriptions, so any form of the language before this date cannot be described with any degree of certainty. Moreover, as a literary language, Middle Persian is not attested until much later, in the 6th or 7th century. From the 8th century onward, Middle Persian gradually began yielding to New Persian, with
4508-468: Is one of Afghanistan's two official languages, together with Pashto . The term Dari , meaning "of the court", originally referred to the variety of Persian used in the court of the Sasanian Empire in capital Ctesiphon , which was spread to the northeast of the empire and gradually replaced the former Iranian dialects of Parthia ( Parthian ). Tajik Persian ( форси́и тоҷикӣ́ , forsi-i tojikī ),
4669-570: Is one of the earliest attested Indo-European languages. According to certain historical assumptions about the early history and origin of ancient Persians in Southwestern Iran (where Achaemenids hailed from), Old Persian was originally spoken by a tribe called Parsuwash , who arrived in the Iranian Plateau early in the 1st millennium BCE and finally migrated down into the area of present-day Fārs province. Their language, Old Persian, became
4830-413: Is provided by the government of Iran. For the top ranks of the national university entrance exam, education is free in all public universities. The people with ranks below the normal capacity of the universities will be required to pay part or all of the tuition. In 2011 University of Tehran with an amount equivalent to 70 million dollars got the highest budget among all universities in Iran. The emblem of
4991-463: Is rooted in "Islam with revolutionary Marxism", and offered a revolutionary reinterpretation of Shia Islam influenced by the writings of Ali Shariati . After the Iranian Revolution , the MEK opposed the new theocratic Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran , seeking to replace it with its own government. At one point the MEK was Iran's "largest and most active armed dissident group", and it
People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran - Misplaced Pages Continue
5152-566: Is running two top-secret projects, one in the city of Natanz and another in a facility located in Arak , which was later confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency . Journalists Seymour Hersh and Connie Bruck have written that the information was given to the MEK by Israel. Among others, it was described by a senior IAEA official and a monarchist advisor to Reza Pahlavi , who said before MEK they were offered to reveal
5313-680: Is still sometimes presented by Western political backers as a major Iranian opposition group. The MEK was founded on 5 September 1965 by leftist Iranian students affiliated with the Freedom Movement of Iran to oppose the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . The organization contributed to overthrowing the Shah during the 1979 Iranian Revolution . It subsequently pursued the establishment of a democracy in Iran, particularly gaining support from Iran's middle class intelligentsia . The MEK boycotted
5474-486: Is the appropriate designation of the language in English, as it has the longer tradition in western languages and better expresses the role of the language as a mark of cultural and national continuity. Iranian historian and linguist Ehsan Yarshater , founder of the Encyclopædia Iranica and Columbia University 's Center for Iranian Studies, mentions the same concern in an academic journal on Iranology , rejecting
5635-436: The Encyclopædia Iranica notes that the Iranian, Afghan, and Tajiki varieties comprise distinct branches of the Persian language, and within each branch a wide variety of local dialects exist. The following are some languages closely related to Persian, or in some cases are considered dialects: More distantly related branches of the Iranian language family include Kurdish and Balochi . The Glottolog database proposes
5796-502: The Kalila wa Dimna . The language spread geographically from the 11th century on and was the medium through which, among others, Central Asian Turks became familiar with Islam and urban culture. New Persian was widely used as a trans-regional lingua franca , a task aided due to its relatively simple morphology, and this situation persisted until at least the 19th century. In the late Middle Ages, new Islamic literary languages were created on
5957-478: The 1979 constitutional referendum , which led to Khomeini barring MEK leader Massoud Rajavi from the 1980 presidential election . On 20 June 1981, the MEK organized a demonstration against Khomeini with the aim of overthrowing the regime. Some 50 demonstrators were killed in the protests. On 28 June, the MEK was implicated in the blowing up of the headquarters of the Islamic Republican Party (IRP) in
6118-555: The 1980 Iranian presidential election . Khomeini declared that "those who had failed to endorse the Constitution could not be trusted to abide by that Constitution". And the MEK was also unable to win a single seat in the 1980 Iranian legislative election . Instead, Rajavi allied with Iran's new president, Abolhassan Banisadr , elected in January 1980. On the final day of the elections, Rajavi met with president Bani-Sadr, complaining that
6279-416: The 1998 FIFA World Cup match between Iran and the U.S. football teams at Stade de Gerland . The MEK bought some 7,000 out of 42,000 tickets for the match between, in order to promote themselves with the political banners they smuggled. When the initial plan foiled with TV cameras of FIFA avoiding filming them, intelligence sources had been tipped off about a pitch invasion . To prevent an interruption in
6440-651: The British colonization , Persian was widely used as a second language in the Indian subcontinent . It took prominence as the language of culture and education in several Muslim courts on the subcontinent and became the sole "official language" under the Mughal emperors . The Bengal Sultanate witnessed an influx of Persian scholars, lawyers, teachers, and clerics. Thousands of Persian books and manuscripts were published in Bengal. The period of
6601-598: The Hafte Tir bombing , killing 74 officials and party members. Facing the subsequent repression of the MEK by the IRP, Rajavi fled to Paris. During the exile, the underground network that remained in Iran continued to plan and carry out attacks and it allegedly conducted the August 1981 bombing that killed Iran's president and prime minister, Rajai and Bahonar . In 1983, the MEK began meeting with Iraqi officials. In 1986, France expelled
People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran - Misplaced Pages Continue
6762-564: The Iraq War , the Coalition forces bombed MEK bases and forced them to surrender. This resulted in at least 50 deaths. The US forces disarmed Camp Ashraf residents. In the operation, the U.S. reportedly captured 6,000 MEK soldiers and over 2,000 pieces of military equipment, including 19 British-made Chieftain tanks. Following the occupation the U.S. did not hand over MEK fighters to Iran. The group's core members were for many years effectively confined to Camp Ashraf, before later being relocated to
6923-565: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps . Another 5000 MEK prisoners were detained in camps , and another 8000 were imprisoned for charges such as possessing copies of Mujahid newspaper. During the same period the MEK was responsible for about 65 percent of nearly 1,000 Khomeini officials killed. From 26 August 1981 to December 1982, the MEK orchestrated 336 attacks against Khomeini officials. In July 1982, 13 IRGC members and Mohammad Sadoughi were killed by MEK members. In 1982,
7084-755: The NCRI publicly called or the formation of a National Solidarity Front to help overthrow Islamic Republic of Iran. In June 2003, French police raided the MEK's properties, including its base in Auvers-sur-Oise , under the orders of anti-terrorist magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguière , after suspicions that it was trying to shift its base of operations there. 160 suspected MEK members were then arrested, including Maryam Rajavi and her brother Saleh Rajavi. After questioning, most of those detained were released, but 24 members, including Maryam Rajavi , were kept in detention. In response, 40 supporters began hunger strikes to protest
7245-694: The Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, pioneering architect Heydar Ghiai , prominent philosopher Hossein Nasr , reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi , environmental activist Mahlagha Mallah . Alumni from the University of Tehran's predecessor institutions the Dar ul-Funun and the Tehran School of Political Sciences include linguist Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda , Baháʼí scholar Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl and former Prime Ministers Mohammad-Ali Foroughi and Ali Amini . The School of Engineering at
7406-655: The Sultanate of Rum , Turkmen beyliks of Anatolia , Delhi Sultanate , the Shirvanshahs , Safavids , Afsharids , Zands , Qajars , Khanate of Bukhara , Khanate of Kokand , Emirate of Bukhara , Khanate of Khiva , Ottomans , and also many Mughal successors such as the Nizam of Hyderabad . Persian was the only non-European language known and used by Marco Polo at the Court of Kublai Khan and in his journeys through China. A branch of
7567-688: The Turkic , Armenian , Georgian , & Indo-Aryan languages . It also exerted some influence on Arabic, while borrowing a lot of vocabulary from it in the Middle Ages. Some of the world's most famous pieces of literature from the Middle Ages, such as the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi , the works of Rumi , the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám , the Panj Ganj of Nizami Ganjavi , The Divān of Hafez , The Conference of
7728-483: The ezāfe construction, expressed through ī (modern e/ye ), to indicate some of the relations between words that have been lost with the simplification of the earlier grammatical system. Although the "middle period" of the Iranian languages formally begins with the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the transition from Old to Middle Persian had probably already begun before the 4th century BC. However, Middle Persian
7889-577: The national entrance examination administered yearly by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology . The first official step for the establishment of the present form of University of Tehran in Iran occurred on 31 March 1931 when Minister of Court Abdolhossein Teymourtash wrote Isa Sedigh who was completing his doctoral dissertation at Columbia University in New York to inquire as to requirements for
8050-585: The " Persianized " Turko-Mongol dynasties during the 12th to 15th centuries, and under restored Persian rule during the 16th to 19th centuries. Persian during this time served as lingua franca of Greater Persia and of much of the Indian subcontinent . It was also the official and cultural language of many Islamic dynasties, including the Samanids, Buyids , Tahirids , Ziyarids , the Mughal Empire , Timurids , Ghaznavids , Karakhanids , Seljuqs , Khwarazmians ,
8211-416: The 1990s, accessible in western provinces of Iran. They also had a radio station, Radio Iran Zamin , that was closed down in June 1998. In 2006, an EU freeze on the group's funds was overturned by the European Court of First Instance . In 2010 and 2011 Ali Saremi , Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei and Jafar Kazemi were executed by the Iranian government for co-operating with the MEK. In 2009 American troops gave
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#17328550452278372-434: The American embassy in Tehran after the Iranian revolution although MEK has denied it. The MEK refused to participate in the December 1979 Iranian constitutional referendum organized by the Islamic Republican Party to ratify the Constitution drafted by the Assembly of Experts, arguing that the new constitution had failed in many aspects "most important of all, accept the concept of the 'classless tawhidi society'". Despite
8533-572: The Birds by Attar of Nishapur , and the miscellanea of Gulistan and Bustan by Saadi Shirazi , are written in Persian. Some of the prominent modern Persian poets were Nima Yooshij , Ahmad Shamlou , Simin Behbahani , Sohrab Sepehri , Rahi Mo'ayyeri , Mehdi Akhavan-Sales , and Forugh Farrokhzad . There are approximately 130 million Persian speakers worldwide, including Persians , Lurs , Tajiks , Hazaras , Iranian Azeris , Iranian Kurds , Balochs , Tats , Afghan Pashtuns , and Aimaqs . The term Persophone might also be used to refer to
8694-494: The Central Library and Documentation Center has become a member of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). The library holds a set of manuscripts, including historical documents, microfilms, pictorial manuscripts, rare books, lithography books, historical photos, and handwriting of scholars and politicians. This collection includes about 17,000 volumes of manuscripts in Persian as well as other languages. The Conservation and Restoration Department of
8855-492: The IRP and its Hezbollah supporters were systematically intimidating voters, disrupting rallies, assaulting campaign workers, and setting ballot boxes on fire. The MEK then arrived at two key conclusions: first, that they had enough popular backing to serve as an opposition to the IRP; and second, that the IRP would not allow them to operate as an opposition. The group began clashing with the ruling Islamic Republican Party while avoiding direct and open criticism of Khomeini. The MEK
9016-424: The Iran-Iraq war and other Iranians lured to the MEK. In all, during the period of US control, nearly 600 members of the MEK defected. In June 2004, Donald Rumsfeld designated the MeK as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention . and signed a formal ceasefire agreement. Since 2009, when the Iraqi government became openly hostile to MEK, the U.S. led efforts to get the group's members out of Iraq. After it
9177-411: The Iranian 50,000 rials banknote. Initially University of Tehran included eight colleges and faculties: Later more faculties were founded: In 1992, the faculties of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacology seceded to become the Tehran University of Medical Sciences but is still located at the main campus (The central Pardis). The Central Pardis Campus, on Enghelab Ave, is the oldest and best known of
9338-461: The Iranian Mission to the United Nations in New York using different weapons, taking hostages, and injuring Iranian ambassadors and embassy employees. There were dozens of arrests. According to MEK representatives, the attacks were a way to protest the bombing of a MEK military base where several people had been killed and wounded. In June 1998 FIFA president Sepp Blatter said that he received "anonymous threats of disruption from Iranian exiles" for
9499-669: The Iranian Revolution, the majority of the Marxist Mojahedin renamed themselves Peykar (Organization of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class) in 1978. From 1973 to 1979, the Muslim MEK including Massoud Rajavi were mainly in prisons. "Rajavi, upon release from prison during the revolution, had to rebuild the organization". Between 1973 and 1975, the Marxist–Leninist MEK increased their armed operations in Iran. In 1973, they engaged in two street battles with Tehran police and bombed ten buildings including Plan Organization, Pan-American Airlines , Shell Oil Company , Hotel International, Radio City Cinema, and an export company owned by
9660-402: The Iranian border from Iraq. It seized the Iranian town of Islamabad-e Gharb . As it advanced further into Iran, Iraq ceased its air support and Iranian forces cut off NLA supply lines and counterattacked under cover of fighter planes and helicopter gunships. The MEK claims it lost 1,400 dead or missing and the Islamic Republic sustained 55,000 casualties. It claims to have killed 4,500 NLA during
9821-449: The Iranian clerical regime. The MEK is accused of participating in the suppression of the 1991 uprisings in Iraq , while Ervand Abrahamian notes that one the reasons the MEK opposed the clerical regime was due to its violations of minority rights, particularly the Kurds. Following Operation Mersad, Iranian officials ordered the mass execution of prisoners said to support the MEK. The group gained significant publicity in 2002 by announcing
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#17328550452279982-421: The Iranian domestic arena has continued to be so pronounced that in November 2005 (to February 2008) a senior Islamic scholar became chancellor(president) of the university, replacing Faraji-dana (professor of electrical engineering faculty). Ayatollah Abbasali Amid Zanjani (عباسعلی عميد زنجانی) is a professor in law, is known for his strong ties to Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1979 revolution, and had spent time in
10143-427: The Iranian population to the ulama , shifting the power to senior clerics and away from the president and elected representatives. In the years that followed, the clerics strengthened their grip on the republic, eventually gaining control over all branches of government and fully establishing a theocratic state. As a result of the boycott, Khomeini subsequently refused to allow Massoud Rajavi and MEK members to run in
10304-438: The Iraqi government claimed 30 policemen injured. U.S. officials had long opposed a violent takeover of the camp northeast of Baghdad, and the raid is thought to symbolize the declining American influence in Iraq. After the raid, the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton , stated the issue was "completely within [the Iraqi government's] purview". In the course of attack, 36 Iranian dissidents were arrested and removed from
10465-436: The Iraqi government responsibility of the MEK. Iraqi authorities, which were sympathetic to Iran, allowed Iran-linked militias to attack the MEK. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced that the militant group would not be allowed to base its operations from Iraqi soil. On 23 January 2009, while on a visit to Tehran, Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie reiterated the Iraqi Prime Minister's earlier announcement that
10626-422: The Iraqi government, SAVAK, and the United States. Two days after the incident Ruhollah Khomeini accused the MEK. In the years that followed, others were also held accountable, including a man named Mehdi Tafari executed by a Tehran tribunal for his alleged involvement. Kenneth Katzman notes there is much speculation among academics and observers that the bombings could have been orchestrated by top IRP officials as
10787-466: The Islamic Republic cracked down MEK operations within Iran. On 8 February Mousa Khiabani , Rajavi's deputy and the MEK's field commander in Iran was killed following a three hour gunfight at a North Tehran safehouse. Alongside him died his wife Azar Rezaei, Ashraf Rabiei , Rajavi's first wife and six others. Rajavi's son Mostafa survived and was later sent to Paris. This event significantly consolidated Rajavi's leadership position since like him, Khiabani
10948-448: The Islamic Republic's armed forces. The NLA captured 600 square-kilometres of Islamic Republic territory and 508 soldiers from the Iranian 77th infantry division in Khuzestan Province . The operation was named "Shining Sun" (or "Operation Bright Sun") in which according to Massoud Rajavi, 2000 soldiers of the Islamic Republic were killed and $ 100 million worth of equipment was captured and exhibited for journalists. Operation Forty Stars
11109-402: The Library houses the Specialized Lab, the Renovation Workshop, and the Special Bindery office. University of Tehran's central place in Iranian elite circles has made it the setting for many political events and cultural works. It was in front of the gates of this school that The Shah's army opened fire on dissident students, killing many and further triggering the 1979 revolution of Iran. It
11270-449: The MEK at the request of Iran, forcing it to relocate to Camp Ashraf in Iraq. During the Iran-Iraq War , the MEK then sided with Iraq, taking part in Operation Forty Stars , and Operation Mersad . This became largely the reason why the MEK is known to be deeply unpopular in Iran today, while the group's representatives contend that their organization had few choices but to stay in Iraq if it wished to have any possibility of overthrowing
11431-535: The MEK before cameras, help the IRI hunt down MEK members and name secret sympathizers. Those who gave unsatisfactory answers were promptly taken away and hanged. Human rights groups say that the number of those executed remains uncertain, but "thousands of political dissidents were systematically subjected to enforced disappearance in Iranian detention facilities across the country", with those executed charged with "moharebeh" or "waging war on God", and of "disclosing state secrets" and threatening national security". Since
11592-415: The MEK organization would no longer be able to base itself on Iraqi soil and stated that the members of the organization would have to make a choice, either to go back to Iran or to go to a third country, adding that these measures would be implemented over the next two months. On 28 July 2009, Iraqi security forces raided MEK headquarters at Camp Ashraf . MEK claimed 11 dead and 400 injured in clashes while
11753-409: The MEK started an alliance with Iraq following a meeting between Massoud Rajavi and Tariq Aziz . In June 1986, France, then seeking to improve relations with Iran, expelled the MEK and the organization relocated to Iraq. MEK representatives contend that their organization had little alternative to moving to Iraq considering its aim of toppling the Iranian clerical government. From 1982 to 1988, despite
11914-527: The MEK was being "financed, trained, and armed by Israel's secret service " to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists. A senior U.S. State Department official said the Department never claimed that the MEK was involved in the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists. Former CIA case officer in the Middle East, Robert Baer said that the perpetrators "could only be Israel", and that "it is quite likely Israel
12075-583: The MEK was responsible, the Marxist opposing branch, which at the time had retained the organization's name, claimed responsibility for the killings in their "Military Communique No.24", concluding that the murders were in retaliation for recent death sentences. By early 1979, the MEK had organized themselves and recreated armed cells, especially in Tehran and helped overthrow the Pahlavi regime. In January 1979, Massoud Rajavi
12236-418: The MEK's Central Committee included Reza Rezai, Kazem Zolanvar, and Brahram Aram. During August–September 1971, SAVAK managed to strike arrested and executed many members of MEK including its co-founders. Some surviving members restructured the group by replacing the central cadre with a three-man central committee . Each of the three central committee members led a separate branch of the organization. Two of
12397-603: The MEK, along with members of other leftist opposition groups, were executed . The Iranian government used the MEK's failed invasion as a pretext for the mass execution of those "who remained steadfast in their support for the MEK" and other jailed opposition group members. On 19 July 1988, the authorities isolated major prisons, having its courts of law go on an unscheduled holiday to prevent relatives from inquiring about those imprisoned, and as Ervand Abrahamian notes, "thus began an act of violence unprecedented in Iranian history". Prisoners were asked if they were willing to denounce
12558-558: The Middle Ages, and is because of the lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The standard Persian of Iran has been called, apart from Persian and Farsi , by names such as Iranian Persian and Western Persian , exclusively. Officially, the official language of Iran is designated simply as Persian ( فارسی , fārsi ). The standard Persian of Afghanistan has been officially named Dari ( دری , dari ) since 1958. Also referred to as Afghan Persian in English, it
12719-452: The NCRI claimed to have uncovered a secret nuclear facility in Iran. These claims were dismissed by U.S. officials, who did not believe the facilities to be nuclear. In 2013, the NCRI again claimed to have discovered a secret underground nuclear site. In 2012, NBC News' Richard Engel and Robert Windrem published a report quoting U.S. officials, who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity, that
12880-531: The Northern Amirabad Campuses at the central western part of the city and the Abureyhan Campus in the suburb of the capital. The main gate of the university with its specific design and modern architecture (at Enghelab Street at the main campus) is the logo of the university. Admission to the university's undergraduate and graduate programs is limited to the top one percent of students who pass
13041-532: The Ottoman Empire all spoke Persian, such as Sultan Selim I , despite being Safavid Iran's archrival and a staunch opposer of Shia Islam . It was a major literary language in the empire. Some of the noted earlier Persian works during the Ottoman rule are Idris Bidlisi 's Hasht Bihisht , which began in 1502 and covered the reign of the first eight Ottoman rulers, and the Salim-Namah , a glorification of Selim I. After
13202-521: The Persian language can be divided into the following three distinct periods: As a written language , Old Persian is attested in royal Achaemenid inscriptions. The oldest known text written in Old Persian is from the Behistun Inscription , dating to the time of King Darius I (reigned 522–486 BC). Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran , Romania ( Gherla ), Armenia , Bahrain , Iraq , Turkey, and Egypt . Old Persian
13363-425: The Persian language, a language historically called Dari, emerged in present-day Afghanistan. The first significant Persian poet was Rudaki . He flourished in the 10th century, when the Samanids were at the height of their power. His reputation as a court poet and as an accomplished musician and singer has survived, although little of his poetry has been preserved. Among his lost works are versified fables collected in
13524-401: The Persian model: Ottoman Turkish , Chagatai Turkic , Dobhashi Bengali , and Urdu, which are regarded as "structural daughter languages" of Persian. "Classical Persian" loosely refers to the standardized language of medieval Persia used in literature and poetry . This is the language of the 10th to 12th centuries, which continued to be used as literary language and lingua franca under
13685-794: The Perso-Arabic script. Persian was the first language to break through the monopoly of Arabic on writing in the Muslim world , with Persian poetry becoming a tradition in many eastern courts. It was used officially as a language of bureaucracy even by non-native speakers, such as the Ottomans in Anatolia , the Mughals in South Asia, and the Pashtuns in Afghanistan. It influenced languages spoken in neighboring regions and beyond, including other Iranian languages,
13846-516: The SAVAK centre at Tehran University. On 25 May, they set off bombs at three multinational corporations. Also Lt. Col. Louis Lee Hawkins , a U.S. Army comptroller , was shot dead in Tehran by MEK assailants in 1973. Leading up to the Islamic Revolution, members of the MEK conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets. In May 1972, an attack on Brig. Gen. Harold Price
14007-479: The Sasanian Empire (224–651). However, it is not descended from the literary form of Middle Persian (known as pārsīk , commonly called Pahlavi), which was spoken by the people of Fars and used in Zoroastrian religious writings. Instead, it is descended from the dialect spoken by the court of the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon and the northeastern Iranian region of Khorasan , known as Dari. The region, which comprised
14168-575: The Sassanids (who were Persians, i.e. from the southwest) from the preceding Arsacids (who were Parthians, i.e. from the northeast). While Ibn al-Muqaffa' (eighth century) still distinguished between Pahlavi (i.e. Parthian) and Persian (in Arabic text: al-Farisiyah) (i.e. Middle Persian), this distinction is not evident in Arab commentaries written after that date. "New Persian" (also referred to as Modern Persian)
14329-457: The Seljuks, the Sultanate of Rum , took Persian language, art, and letters to Anatolia. They adopted the Persian language as the official language of the empire. The Ottomans , who can roughly be seen as their eventual successors, inherited this tradition. Persian was the official court language of the empire, and for some time, the official language of the empire. The educated and noble class of
14490-480: The Shah's prisons before the Islamic Revolution. In February 2008, an economist, Farhad Rahbar, a former vice president of Iran and head of Management and Planning Organization of Iran, became the new (31st) chancellor of the university. One hundred and nineteen faculty members of the University of Tehran are said to have resigned on 15 June 2009 to protest the attack on university dorms in the wake of contested 2009 presidential elections : although clear follow-up data
14651-524: The University of Tehran is based on an image which can be found in the stucco relief and seals of the Sasanid period. It is a copy from a stucco relief discovered in the city of Ctesiphon . The seal symbolized ownership. In the Sassanid period, these seals were used in stucco reliefs , coins, and silver utensils as a family symbol. Since the alphabet of Sasanid Pahlavi 's script was used in these badges, they have
14812-513: The University of Tehran publishes more than 50 scientific journals, some of which have the ISI index. The Central Library and Documentation Center of the University of Tehran has been a member of the International Federation of Library Associations and institutions (IFLA) since 1967. The library complements the 35 specialized libraries based at different faculties, all with the aim of advancing
14973-456: The area around Tehran University, 50 people were killed, 200 wounded, and 1,000 taken into custody, surpassing the intensity of most street battles during the Islamic Revolution. 23 demonstrators were also executed by firing squads, with teenage girls among those executed. From June 24 to 27, the regime executed an additional 50 people. The reported number of executions increased to "600 by September, 1700 by October, and 2500 by December." Initially,
15134-493: The area of Lake Urmia in the records of Shalmaneser III . The exact identity of the Parsuwash is not known for certain, but from a linguistic viewpoint the word matches Old Persian pārsa itself coming directly from the older word * pārćwa . Also, as Old Persian contains many words from another extinct Iranian language, Median , according to P. O. Skjærvø it is probable that Old Persian had already been spoken before
15295-577: The arrests, and 10 members including Neda Hassani , immolated themselves in various European capitals. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy declared that the MEK "recently wanted to make France its support base, notably after the intervention in Iraq", while Pierre de Bousquet de Florian , head of France's domestic intelligence service, claimed that the group was "transforming its Val d'Oise centre [near Paris] [...] into an international terrorist base". Police found $ 1.3 million in $ 100 bills in cash in their offices. U.S. Senator Sam Brownback ,
15456-589: The attack. In July 1981, the MEK then formed the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) with the stated goal of uniting the opposition to the Iranian government under one umbrella organization . Rajavi assumed the position of chairman of the organization. On 30 August 1981, they bombed the Prime Minister's office , killing the elected President Rajai and Premier Mohammad Javad Bahonar . Iranian authorities announced that Massoud Keshmiri, an MEK member
15617-491: The best universities in the Middle East and is among the top universities of the world . It is also the premier knowledge producing institute among all OIC countries. Tehran University of Medical Sciences is in the 7th ranking of the Islamic World University Ranking in 2021. The university offers more than 111 bachelor's degree programs, 177 master's degree programs, and 156 PhD . programs. Many of
15778-419: The camp to a prison in a town named Khalis, where the arrestees went on hunger strike for 72 days. Finally, the dissidents were released when they were in an extremely critical condition and on the verge of death. In January 2010, Iranian authorities charged five MEK protesters of "rioting and arson" under the crime of moharebeh , an offence reserved for those who "take up arms against the state" and carries
15939-725: The campuses. Amir Abad Campus is where most of the dormitories are located. Aside from physical campuses, University of Tehran also has an online campus program first started in 2003 under a project to provide online degree programs, becoming the first university in Iran to host events in regards to the development of formal national ICT. U.S. News & World Report 2018 Best Global Universities 2022 Best Global Universities: #329 Academic Ranking of World Universities 2019: 301-400 2018: 301-400 2017: 301-400 2016 : 301-400 2015 : 201-300 Times Higher Education 2016–2019 : 601–800 U.S. News & World Report 2017 Best Global Universities Ranking As
16100-464: The capital, but the only obvious deficiency is that this city has no 'university'. It is a pity that this city lags far behind other great countries of the world. " His words had a profound impact on everyone in the meeting, resulting in the acceptance of the proposal. Thus allocating an initial budget of 250,000 Tomans, the Ministry of Education was authorized to find a suitable land for the establishment of
16261-457: The code fas for the dialects spoken across Iran and Afghanistan. This consists of the individual languages Dari ( prs ) and Iranian Persian ( pes ). It uses tgk for Tajik, separately. In general, the Iranian languages are known from three periods: namely Old, Middle, and New (Modern). These correspond to three historical eras of Iranian history ; Old era being sometime around the Achaemenid Empire (i.e., 400–300 BC), Middle era being
16422-512: The collapse of the Sassanid state, Parsik came to be applied exclusively to (either Middle or New) Persian that was written in the Arabic script . From about the 9th century onward, as Middle Persian was on the threshold of becoming New Persian, the older form of the language came to be erroneously called Pahlavi , which was actually but one of the writing systems used to render both Middle Persian as well as various other Middle Iranian languages. That writing system had previously been adopted by
16583-626: The death penalty. In July 2010, the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal issued an arrest warrant for 39 MEK members, including Massoud and Maryam Rajavi , accusing them of crimes against humanity during the 1991 uprisings in Iraq . The MEK denied the charges. In 2012, the MEK moved from Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya in Baghdad (a onetime U.S. base formerly known as Camp Liberty ). A rocket and mortar attack killed 5 and injured 50 others at Camp Hurriya on 9 February 2013. MEK residents of
16744-526: The departments were absorbed into the University of Tehran from the Dar al-Funun established in 1851 and the Tehran School of Political Sciences established in 1899. The main campus of the university is located in the central part of the city. However, other campuses are spread across the city as well as in the suburbs such as the Baghe Negarestan Campus at the central eastern part of the city,
16905-745: The early 1980s, as part of Iran's Cultural Revolution. UT continues to constitute a central part of Iran's student movement. In 1986, the Iranian parliament, known as the Majlis of Iran, stipulated that the university's overcrowded College of Medicine be separated into the independent Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), and that TUMS be placed under the leadership of the new ministry of health and Medical Education. 1. Regional Campuses: 2. Colleges: 3. Faculties Humanities Faculties: Social and Behavioral Sciences Faculties: University of Tehran also co-ordinates several major institutes: The University of Tehran hosts cultural and academic activities on
17066-411: The establishment of a university in Tehran. Isa Sedigh regarded the letter as an invitation to outline a comprehensive scheme for the establishment of a new university. In 1933, during the cabinet meeting, the subject was brought up. Ali Asghar Hekmat , the acting minister of the Ministry of Education stated the following words there: " Of course, there is no doubt on the thriving state and the glory of
17227-487: The establishment of the "National Liberation Army of Iran" (NLA). Its objective was to serve as an infantry force that included different militant groups members of the NCRI. Through a broadcast on Baghdad radio, the MEK extended an invitation to all progressive-nationalist Iranian individuals to join the NLA in overthrowing the government of the Islamic Republic. On 27 March 1988, the NLA launched its first military offensive against
17388-433: The executions, Amnesty International has stated that "there has also been an ongoing campaign by the Islamic Republic to demonize victims, distort facts, and repress family survivors and human rights defenders." According to Professor Cheryl Bernard, the mass execution of political prisoners carried out by the Islamic Republic in 1981 caused the MEK to split into four groups: those that were arrested, imprisoned or executed,
17549-508: The existence of Iranian nuclear facilities . In 2003, the MEK's military wing signed a ceasefire agreement with the U.S. and was disarmed at Camp Ashraf . Between 1997 and 2013, the MEK was on the lists of terrorist organizations of the US, Canada, EU, UK and Japan for various periods. The MEK is designated as a terrorist organization by Iran and Iraq. During its life in exile, MEK was initially financed by backers including Saddam Hussein , and later
17710-632: The extent of its influence on certain languages of the Indian subcontinent. Words borrowed from Persian are still quite commonly used in certain Indo-Aryan languages, especially Hindi - Urdu (also historically known as Hindustani ), Punjabi , Kashmiri , and Sindhi . There is also a small population of Zoroastrian Iranis in India, who migrated in the 19th century to escape religious execution in Qajar Iran and speak
17871-688: The facility and their representatives appealed to the UN Secretary-General and U.S. officials to let them return to Ashraf, which they said has concrete buildings and shelters that offer more protection. The United States has been working with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on the resettlement project. The MEK and the NCRI revealed the existence of Iran's nuclear program in a press conference held on 14 August 2002 in Washington, D.C. MEK representative Alireza Jafarzadeh stated that Iran
18032-600: The following phylogenetic classification: Tehran University 1899 ( Tehran School of Political Sciences ) The University of Tehran ( Tehran University or UT , Persian : دانشگاه تهران , romanized Dāneshgāh-e Tehran ) is a Collegiate university and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran , Iran . Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching profile, UT has been nicknamed "The Mother University [of Iran]" ( Persian : دانشگاه مادر ). In international rankings, UT has been ranked as one of
18193-562: The formation of many modern languages in West Asia, Europe, Central Asia , and South Asia . Following the Turko-Persian Ghaznavid conquest of South Asia , Persian was firstly introduced in the region by Turkic Central Asians. The basis in general for the introduction of Persian language into the subcontinent was set, from its earliest days, by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties. For five centuries prior to
18354-471: The formation of the Achaemenid Empire and was spoken during most of the first half of the first millennium BCE. Xenophon , a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BCE, which is when Old Persian was still spoken and extensively used. He relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like
18515-462: The front lines. On June 28 1981, the Islamic Republican Party headquarters was bombed in the Hafte Tir bombing , which killed 74 party officials and other party members, including Mohammad Beheshti , the party's secretary-general and Chief Justice of Iran , 4 cabinet ministers , 10 vice ministers and 27 members of the Parliament of Iran . Iranian officials initially blamed various groups including
18676-420: The group primarily engaged in ideological work. Despite their Marxist influence, the group never used the terms "socialist" or "communist" to describe themselves. During the 1970s, the MEK carried out a series of attacks against the Iranian and Western targets and tried to kidnap the U.S. Ambassador to Iran Douglas MacArthur II in 1970. Some sources attribute the attempted kidnap to other groups. By August 1971,
18837-533: The information, but they refused because it would be seen negatively by the people of Iran. Similar accounts could be found elsewhere by others, including comments made by US officials. On 18 November 2004, MEK representative Mohammad Mohaddessin used satellite images to state that a new facility existed in northeast Tehran named "Center for the Development of Advanced Defence Technology". This allegation by MEK and all their subsequent allegations were false. In 2010
18998-461: The language of the Persians. Related to Old Persian, but from a different branch of the Iranian language family, was Avestan , the language of the Zoroastrian liturgical texts. The complex grammatical conjugation and declension of Old Persian yielded to the structure of Middle Persian in which the dual number disappeared, leaving only singular and plural, as did gender. Middle Persian developed
19159-576: The largest academic library in Iran, the Central Library and Documentation Center of the University of Tehran includes a selection of resources in different fields of science, technology, and literature. The library holdings include over one million books, periodicals, manuscripts, microfilms, pictorial copies, historical documents and photos, lithography books, academic dissertations, scientific documents and maps, over 120,000 books in English, French, German, Russian, Italian, and other languages. Since 1967,
19320-487: The match, extra security entered Stade Gerland. In 1999, after a 2 1⁄2-year investigation, Federal authorities arrested 29 individuals in Operation Eastern Approach, of whom 15 were held on charges of helping MEK members illegally enter the United States. The ringleader was pleaded guilty to providing phony documents to MEK members and violation of Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 . In 2002
19481-432: The middle-period form only continuing in the texts of Zoroastrianism . Middle Persian is considered to be a later form of the same dialect as Old Persian. The native name of Middle Persian was Parsig or Parsik , after the name of the ethnic group of the southwest, that is, "of Pars ", Old Persian Parsa , New Persian Fars . This is the origin of the name Farsi as it is today used to signify New Persian. Following
19642-525: The most widely spoken. The term Persian is an English derivation of Latin Persiānus , the adjectival form of Persia , itself deriving from Greek Persís ( Περσίς ), a Hellenized form of Old Persian Pārsa ( 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 ), which means " Persia " (a region in southwestern Iran, corresponding to modern-day Fars ). According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the term Persian as
19803-467: The mounting casualties on both sides, the lingering underground presence of the MEK in Iran remained operational and went on to perform an average of sixty operations per week, resulting in assassinations of important Khomeini deputies. The MEK came to be considered Iran's "largest and most active Iranian exile organization", and its publications were commonly circulated within the Iranian diaspora. In 1986, after French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac struck
19964-899: The national and international levels. Furthermore, UT hosts delegations and professors from abroad. University of Tehran is appointed as the Center of Excellence (قطب علمی) by Iran's Ministry of Science and Technology in the fields of "Evaluation and improvement of irrigation networks", "Breeding and Biotechnology of trees", "Farming, Grading and Biotechnology", "Applied Electromagnetic Systems", "Land Logistics", "Sustainable Urban Planning and Development", "Architectural Technology", "Biological Control of Pests and Plant Diseases", "Rural Studies and Planning", "High-Performance Materials", "Control and Intelligent Processing", "Sustainable Management of Watershed", "Applied Management of Fast Growing Wood Species", "Surveying and Disaster Management", "Engineering and Infrastructure Management", "Oil and Gas". This appointment
20125-411: The nationalist movement of the time. The academy was a key institution in the struggle to re-build Iran as a nation-state after the collapse of the Qajar dynasty. During the 1930s and 1940s, the academy led massive campaigns to replace the many Arabic , Russian , French , and Greek loanwords whose widespread use in Persian during the centuries preceding the foundation of the Pahlavi dynasty had created
20286-523: The nature of a monogram as well. The motif is placed between two eagle wings. One can also find these motifs in other images of this period, such as in royal crowns, particularly at the end of the Sasanid period. Crowns with these seals have been called "two-feather crowns" in the Shahnameh . The motif between the wings was made by combining Pahlavi scripts. Some scholars have tried to read these images. The script
20447-448: The necessity of protecting the Persian language against foreign words, and to the standardization of Persian orthography , were under the reign of Naser ed Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1871. After Naser ed Din Shah, Mozaffar ed Din Shah ordered the establishment of the first Persian association in 1903. This association officially declared that it used Persian and Arabic as acceptable sources for coining words. The ultimate goal
20608-414: The next period most officially around the Sasanian Empire , and New era being the period afterward down to present day. According to available documents, the Persian language is "the only Iranian language" for which close philological relationships between all of its three stages are established and so that Old, Middle, and New Persian represent one and the same language of Persian; that is, New Persian
20769-514: The north of the then Tehran between Amirabad village and the northern trench of Tehran. This garden was founded in the early 1900s during the final years of Nasir ad- Din Shah, by the order of Prince Jalal ad-dawlah. The master plan of the campus buildings was drawn up by French architects Roland Dubrulle and Maxime Siroux, Swiss architect Alexandre Moser, as well as Andre Godard, Nicolai Markov and Mohsen Foroughi. The University of Tehran officially inaugurated in 1934. The Amir-abad (North Karegar) campus
20930-713: The northern part of Greece). Vardar Yenicesi differed from other localities in the Balkans insofar as that it was a town where Persian was also widely spoken. However, the Persian of Vardar Yenicesi and throughout the rest of the Ottoman-held Balkans was different from formal Persian both in accent and vocabulary. The difference was apparent to such a degree that the Ottomans referred to it as "Rumelian Persian" ( Rumili Farsisi ). As learned people such as students, scholars and literati often frequented Vardar Yenicesi, it soon became
21091-529: The official language of the Achaemenid kings. Assyrian records, which in fact appear to provide the earliest evidence for ancient Iranian (Persian and Median) presence on the Iranian Plateau, give a good chronology but only an approximate geographical indication of what seem to be ancient Persians. In these records of the 9th century BCE, Parsuwash (along with Matai , presumably Medians) are first mentioned in
21252-622: The operation, the MEK and Baghdad said Iraqi soldiers did not take part. Near the end of the Iran–Iraq War , a military force of 7,000 members of the MEK, armed and equipped by Saddam's Iraq and calling itself the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA) was founded. On 26 July 1988, six days after Ayatollah Khomeini had announced his acceptance of the UN-brokered ceasefire resolution, the NLA advanced under heavy Iraqi air cover, crossing
21413-401: The operation. The operation was called Foroughe Javidan (Eternal Light) by the MEK and the counterattack Operation Mersad by the Iranian forces. Rajavi later stated that "the failure of Eternal Light was not a military blunder, but was instead rooted in the members' thoughts for their spouses". Following the MEK's Operation Mersad against Iranian forces, thousands of imprisoned members of
21574-449: The opposition, the 3 December 1979 referendum vote approved the new constitution. Once the constitution had been ratified, the MEK proposed Rajavi as their presidential candidate. In his campaign, Rajavi promised to rectify the constitution's shortcomings. The conflict surrounding the Constitution intensified when the Assembly of Experts added numerous clauses that transferred sovereignty from
21735-502: The original central committee members were replaced in 1972 and 1973, and the replacing members were in charge of leading the organization until the internal purge of 1975. 1971-1972 arrests and executions by the Shah's security services, also infighting within the organization "practically shattered the organization". By 1973, MEK members that declared themselves Marxist–Leninist launched an "internal ideological struggle", and by 1975 two opposing MEK factions had formed, one being Muslim and
21896-490: The other Marxist. The Marxist faction asserted that "they had reached the conclusion that Marxism, not Islam, was the true revolutionary philosophy". Members who did not convert to Marxism were expelled or reported to SAVAK. This led to two rival Mojahedin, each with its own publication, its own organization, and its own activities. The Marxist faction was initially known as the Mojahedin M.L. (Marxist–Leninist). A few months before
22057-628: The present territories of northwestern Afghanistan as well as parts of Central Asia, played a leading role in the rise of New Persian. Khorasan, which was the homeland of the Parthians, was Persianized under the Sasanians. Dari Persian thus supplanted Parthian language , which by the end of the Sasanian era had fallen out of use. New Persian has incorporated many foreign words, including from eastern northern and northern Iranian languages such as Sogdian and especially Parthian. The transition to New Persian
22218-616: The recent reformist President Mohammad Khatami . Academics include Lotfi A. Zadeh the inventor of fuzzy logic, Fields Medal winner Caucher Birkar , Ali Javan who invented the gas laser and is ranked number 12 on the list of the top 100 living geniuses, intellectual and former Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan and biophysicist Mohammad-Nabi Sarbolouki . Art figures include filmmakers Abbas Kiarostami and Asghar Farhadi , actor Khosrow Shakibai and poet Mohammad-Taqi Bahar . Other notable figures include Human Rights Lawyer Shirin Ebadi who won
22379-586: The regime publicly displayed the bodies and took pride in declaring the execution of entire families, "including teenage daughters and 60-year-old grandmothers." The MEK responded by declaring war against the Government of Islamic Republic of Iran , and initiating a series of bombings and assassinations targeting the clerical leadership. In September 1980 during Iraq's invasion of Iran, the MEK stepped up to fight for their country despite its strained relationship with Khomeini's government. Thousands of MEK members joined
22540-578: The region during the following centuries. Persian continued to act as a courtly language for various empires in Punjab through the early 19th century serving finally as the official state language of the Sikh Empire , preceding British conquest and the decline of Persian in South Asia. Beginning in 1843, though, English and Hindustani gradually replaced Persian in importance on the subcontinent. Evidence of Persian's historical influence there can be seen in
22701-540: The reign of Sultan Ghiyathuddin Azam Shah is described as the "golden age of Persian literature in Bengal". Its stature was illustrated by the Sultan's own correspondence and collaboration with the Persian poet Hafez ; a poem which can be found in the Divan of Hafez today. A Bengali dialect emerged among the common Bengali Muslim folk, based on a Persian model and known as Dobhashi ; meaning mixed language . Dobhashi Bengali
22862-482: The research goals of the university. Currently the Central Library and Documentation Center is offering its services to more than 65 thousand members. It hosts more than 5,000 users daily. The library offers its resources under 13 main collections (most of which have been donated by distinguished professors of the university). The manuscript collection of the University of Tehran includes over 17,000 volumes of manuscripts in Persian, Arabic and Turkish. The library also hosts
23023-607: The site of a flourishing Persianate linguistic and literary culture. The 16th-century Ottoman Aşık Çelebi (died 1572), who hailed from Prizren in modern-day Kosovo , was galvanized by the abundant Persian-speaking and Persian-writing communities of Vardar Yenicesi, and he referred to the city as a "hotbed of Persian". Many Ottoman Persianists who established a career in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul ) pursued early Persian training in Saraybosna, amongst them Ahmed Sudi . The Persian language influenced
23184-561: The standard Persian of Tajikistan, has been officially designated as Tajik ( тоҷикӣ , tojikī ) since the time of the Soviet Union . It is the name given to the varieties of Persian spoken in Central Asia in general. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa for the Persian language, as its coding system is mostly based on the native-language designations. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses
23345-687: The standard Persian. The Hazaragi dialect (in Central Afghanistan and Pakistan), Herati (in Western Afghanistan), Darwazi (in Afghanistan and Tajikistan), Basseri (in Southern Iran), and the Tehrani accent (in Iran, the basis of standard Iranian Persian) are examples of these dialects. Persian-speaking peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan can understand one another with a relatively high degree of mutual intelligibility . Nevertheless,
23506-407: The university and take necessary measures to construct the building as soon as possible. Ali Asghar Hekmat in collaboration and consultation with André Godard , a French architect – who was serving the Ministry of Education as an engineer, began looking for a location for the university grounds. By the orders of Rezā Shāh , the compound of Jalaliyeh garden was selected. Jalaliyeh garden was located in
23667-478: The use of Farsi in foreign languages. Etymologically, the Persian term Farsi derives from its earlier form Pārsi ( Pārsik in Middle Persian ), which in turn comes from the same root as the English term Persian . In the same process, the Middle Persian toponym Pārs ("Persia") evolved into the modern name Fars. The phonemic shift from /p/ to /f/ is due to the influence of Arabic in
23828-510: Was Massoud Rajavi in the referendum of August 1979. He was not elected. The MEK further launched an unsuccessful campaign supporting total abolition of Iran's standing military, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army , in order to prevent a coup d'état against the system. They also claimed credit for infiltration against the Nojeh coup plot . The MEK was one of the supporters of the occupation of
23989-481: Was added in 1945 after American troops left the property as World War II was coming to an end. The university admitted women as students for the first time in 1937. In 1935, the formerly males-only university opened its doors to women as part of the country's sweeping universal education policy. UT played a central role in the overthrow of the Pahlavi government in the 1978-9 revolution. University curricula, staff, and student intake were subject to major revisions in
24150-578: Was already complete by the era of the three princely dynasties of Iranian origin, the Tahirid dynasty (820–872), Saffarid dynasty (860–903), and Samanid Empire (874–999). Abbas of Merv is mentioned as being the earliest minstrel to chant verse in the New Persian tongue and after him the poems of Hanzala Badghisi were among the most famous between the Persian-speakers of the time. The first poems of
24311-449: Was attributed to the MEK. According to George Cave , MEK hit squad members also attacked Harold Price and disabled him for the rest of his life. These assassinations were carried out either by the Marxist or Islamist branch of the MEK. In August 1976, a car carrying three American employees of Rockwell International - William Cottrell, Donald Smith, and Robert Krongard - was attacked, resulting in their deaths. While some sources suggest
24472-413: Was in turn suppressed by Khomeini's revolutionary organizations. On June 20, 1981, the MEK organized a large-scale protest against Khomeini , intending to topple the regime. Big crowds gathered in various cities, with the Tehran protest alone attracting up to 500,000 people. Leading clerics proclaimed that demonstrators would be considered "enemies of God" and face immediate execution regardless of age. In
24633-449: Was launched on June 18, 1988. With 530 aircraft sorties and heavy use of nerve gas , they attacked to the Iranian forces in the area around Mehran, killing or wounding 3,500 and nearly destroying a Revolutionary Guard division. The forces captured the city and took positions in the heights near Mehran, coming close to wiping the whole Iranian Pasdaran division and taking most of its equipment. While some sources claim that Iraq participated in
24794-464: Was no longer designated as a terrorist group, the US was able to convince Albania to accept the remaining 2,700 members who were brought to Tirana between 2014 and 2016. Separate to events in Iraq, the organization launched a free-to-air satellite television network named Vision of Freedom ( Sima-ye-Azadi ) in England in 2003. It previously operated Vision of Resistance analogue television in Iraq in
24955-420: Was one of the few surviving initial members who had undertaken the organizations original ideological training. The MEK stressed the significance of ideology, which was shaped by its interpretation of what was missing in Iran at the time such as lack of freedom and human rights limitations by the Islamic Republic. The majority of the MEK leadership and members fled to France, where it operated until 1985. In 1983,
25116-586: Was patronised and given official status under the Sultans of Bengal , and was a popular literary form used by Bengalis during the pre-colonial period, irrespective of their religion. Following the defeat of the Hindu Shahi dynasty, classical Persian was established as a courtly language in the region during the late 10th century under Ghaznavid rule over the northwestern frontier of the subcontinent . Employed by Punjabis in literature, Persian achieved prominence in
25277-613: Was probably responsible. The reaction to the Hafte Tir bombing and the bombing of the Prime Minister's office was intense, with many arrests and executions of Mojahedin. The MEK responded by targeting key Iranian official figures for assassination, as well as attacking low-ranking civil servants and members of the Revolutionary Guards , along with ordinary citizens who supported the new government. Between June 1981 and April 1982, around 3500 MEK members were either executed or killed by
25438-419: Was released from prison and rebuilt the MEK together with other members that had been imprisoned. The group supported the revolution in its initial phases, and became "a major force in Iranian politics" according to Ervand Abrahamian. Although it soon entered into conflict with Khomeini, and became a leading opposition to the new theocratic regime. Its candidate for the head of the newly founded council of experts
25599-600: Was taught in state schools, and was also offered as an elective course or recommended for study in some madrasas . Persian learning was also widespread in the Ottoman-held Balkans ( Rumelia ), with a range of cities being famed for their long-standing traditions in the study of Persian and its classics, amongst them Saraybosna (modern Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mostar (also in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Vardar Yenicesi (or Yenice-i Vardar, now Giannitsa , in
25760-467: Was there and 20 years later in July 1999 that, albeit, a much smaller number of dissident students confronted the police. University of Tehran (UT) has always been a bastion of political movement and ideology. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the main campus of the university and its surrounding streets have been the site for Tehran's Friday prayers . The political and social role of the University of Tehran in
25921-425: Was to prevent books from being printed with wrong use of words. According to the executive guarantee of this association, the government was responsible for wrongfully printed books. Words coined by this association, such as rāh-āhan ( راهآهن ) for "railway", were printed in Soltani Newspaper ; but the association was eventually closed due to inattention. A scientific association was founded in 1911, resulting in
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