Alik Daily

80th Anniversary Of Alik Daily Celebrated

Iran Book News Agency http://www.ibna.ir/vdcgyx9q3ak9xu4.5jra.html Nov 23 2011 IBNA, Iran

The 80th anniversary of Alik Daily, the first and only newspaper in Iran for Armenians, was celebrated at Armenian's community hall in Tehran. Introduction of Armenian books released in the country is one of the daily's concerns.

IBNA: The ceremony was held yesterday, November 22, 2011, in the presence of Grigor Arakelian, Armenia's ambassador to Iran, Saeid Taghavi, head of the Religious Minority's Affairs in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Ali Dehbashi, chief editor of Bokhara Cultural-Arts magazine, Robert Beglerian, representative of Isfahan minorities in the Islamic Assembly, Dr Husseini, head of the Caucasus Research Foundation and Media Kashigar, translator and writer.

In his speech, Drenik Malekian, chief editor of the daily, praised the presence of luminaries in the celebration and stated he could not remember similar ceremonies for the daily during his post, even though the daily is as old as Etela'at (one of Iran's oldest newspapers).

"Despite the fact that Alik is primarily concerned in Armenian's issues, it has constantly been committed to the Iranian society and has tried to promote its values," asserted Malekian.

He went on to say that Alik seeks to make connections between the Persian and Armenian speaking citizens of the society. He emphasized the fact that Alik's goals are hinged upon the Islamic Revolution and posited that it has always kept company with the Islamic community of Iran.

As he said, Alik along with other Iranian newspapers, followed Imam Khomeini's 62-day strike proposal against the ruling regime in 1979.

He concluded his address with stress on expansion of direct contacts with Persian speaking audience saying that a column in Persian has been added to the pages of the newspaper addressing Persians. He expressed hope that Alik would circulate further as a bilingual newspaper in the Islamic Republic.

Head of the administrative affairs of religious minorities at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Saeid Taghavi, was the next speaker, who termed the daily a global newspaper for the stretch of the topics it covers.

He went on to say that some 3500 journals are published in Iran with 100 of them being published daily. Alik is the only Armenian daily newspaper in the country, however, there are some other Armenian-based journals published weekly, monthly or as quarterly journals.

He further added that 13 journals are presently being published in Iran addressing religious minorities and the culture ministry is prepared to license new journals for minorities.

Circulation of Alik began 80 years ago when there were very few specialized journals in the country, he further added.

"Cultural links between Iranian and Armenian societies are much older and more deeply rooted than any other cultural ties of any other nations," Ali Dehbashi, chief editor of Bokhara Cultural-arts Magazine in his speech, is quoted as saying. "Armenians launched the first printing house in Iran and after Etela'at, Alik is the oldest newspaper in Iran."

He asserted that despite all vicissitudes, Alik has managed to endure being published because of its far-sighted staff even though many journals are politicized and receive circulation bans. "[In all these years,] Alik has withstood hardships like a vessel in the tumultuous sea. It is considered as the second most important daily in Iran," he added.

He praised Alik's independence and said the newspaper preserves its originality in all the lines it publishes in ever issue. "The originality can even be felt in the paper the words are printed on for the newspaper."

He demanded Alik to unite with the Majlis library and proposed that Ali's affiliate journals may be digitalized at Majli library to be profiled and made available to researchers. He also suggested that Ali's select articles on literature, arts, politics, society, etc. could be collected in volume.

"All nations, tribes, dynasties, societies, families, foundations and organizations always exchange energy, matter and data during their lives," said Robert Beglarian in his address at the celebration. "In its history, Armenia has always affected and been affected in history despite all hardships but has preserved its cultural, religious, human and integrity values."

He remarked the deeply-rooted activities of Armenians in Iran and added the first print house was build in Isfahan by Armenians in 1638 and the first dramatic plays, theatres and many other cultural stuff have been initiated by them in the country.

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