TEHRAN -- The director of Iran’s office for religious minority affairs has provided some details about the programs the office will be holding in commemoration of anniversary of the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

At a session at the office on Monday, Saeid Taqavi said that the office, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, actively participates in the Ten-Day Dawn celebrations (February 1 to 11) every year.
He noted that there are about 150,000 Iranians who are practitioners of the three main minority religions (Zoroastrianism Christianity, and Judaism), adding that special programs will be held in West Azarbaijan and East Azarbaijan provinces and in the cities of Shiraz, Kerman, Yazd, and Isfahan since many practitioners of minority religions reside in those places.
He stated, “Members of parliament and the religious figures of all the minority religions gathered at the mausoleum of the late Imam Khomeini to pay tribute to the Founder of the Islamic Republic on January 25.”
Taqavi added, “The programs will include decoration of sacred monuments and schools, participation in the opening ceremony of the 10-Day Dawn at the mausoleum of the late Imam Khomeini, the ringing of church bells on the morning of February first (to commemorate the arrival of Imam Khomeini in Tehran on that day in 1979), a ceremony to honor Armenian martyrs (of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war) at their graveyard on February 7, and a rally on February 11, the day of the victory.”
Robert Markarian of the Armenian Christian community also took part in the session, saying that the unveiling of the book “Armenians and the Iraqi Imposed War”, art and cultural contests, and visits to patients at the Avedisian charity clinic are some of the programs Armenians are organizing for the Ten-Day Dawn celebrations.
Zoroastrian Rostam Khosravian said his community would be arranging an exhibition of handicrafts by Zoroastrian women and special programs at schools and holding ceremonies to commemorate the Zoroastrian martyrs of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war during the Ten-Day Dawn celebrations.
Representatives of the Assyrian and Chaldean Christian communities and the Jewish community also attended the session and spoke about the programs they would be holding for the Ten-Day Dawn celebrations.