Shiraz Representative Calls for Official Celebration of 'Cyrus Day'

The representative of Shiraz in the Islamic Consultative Assembly has requested in a letter to the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance to hold an official ceremony on Cyrus Day, the Achaemenid king. ISNA news agency published a copy of Bahram Parsai's letter to Abbas Salehi on Wednesday (October 11). In this letter, Mr. Parsai called for a ceremony on the 29th of October, which has long been known in Iran as Cyrus Day, to introduce 'the culture and civilization' of Iran. He wrote that Cyrus is 'the founder of human rights and one of the great honors of our history and civilization and even of the world.' The 29th of October has been introduced as Cyrus's memorial day for a reason that could become an opportunity to create national cohesion, attract tourists, and introduce the rich culture of this land. The letter added that so far, due to the lack of 'planning and management by the relevant authorities,' this day has not been properly 'utilized' and the 'exploitation by a handful of individuals' has led to 'confrontations with some people and youths who had no connection with opportunists.' Parsai also considered holding an official ceremony on Cyrus Day as aligned with the 'resistant economy' envisioned by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. He requested the Minister of Culture to 'coordinate with relevant ministries and organizations to organize and hold this ceremony on the mentioned date in a way that has both the necessary attraction for tourists and the ability to introduce our culture and civilization while ensuring the security of the ceremony without making it overly security-oriented.' According to this report and the Shiraz representative, a copy of this letter has also been sent to the Ministers of Intelligence, Interior, Justice, the head of the Cultural Heritage Organization, and the governor of Fars. This request comes at a time when last year, following a gathering of thousands to commemorate Cyrus, the first Achaemenid king at his tomb in Pasargadae, many participants were arrested. The prosecutor of Shiraz announced three days after this gathering that the organizers of the Cyrus Day gathering had been arrested and stated that 'a judicial case has been formed for these individuals and necessary judicial actions will be taken against them according to regulations.' According to some reports, a group of participants in Pasargadae chanted slogans such as 'Iran is our homeland, Cyrus is our father' as well as slogans against the Islamic Republic government. Ali Salehi, the public and revolutionary prosecutor of Fars province, stated that this gathering was accompanied by 'norm-breaking' and that 'the main perpetrators of this norm-breaking have been arrested.' Hussein Nouri Hamadani, a Shia cleric in Qom, also criticized the presence of thousands at the tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae, stating that Ruhollah Khomeini, the former leader of the Islamic Republic, referred to those 'remembering Cyrus' as 'anti-revolutionaries.' There are no exact statistics on the number of attendees at the Cyrus Day gathering in Pasargadae, but Shahin Sepanta, a cultural activist in Isfahan, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that based on unofficial estimates, about 15,000 to 20,000 people participated in this ceremony. Reports indicate that other slogans chanted by the participants on this day in Pasargadae included 'Happy Birthday, Prince,' referring to the 30th of October, the birthday of Reza Pahlavi, the former crown prince of Iran. Reza Pahlavi also reacted to this slogan on his Facebook page, saying it was 'the best birthday gift in recent years.' In this context, the unveiling of a statue inspired by the Cyrus Cylinder in Los Angeles confirmed the buried cultural heritage of 'unknown martyrs' in the ancient area of Pasargadae. 'The detainees in Pasargadae had no lawyer, and their sentences were announced verbally.' The display of Cyrus's power after 38 years of isolation, widespread interest in Cyrus Day; is Iran witnessing a 'revivalist movement'? The changing battlefield of 'proxies'; war against the people in the streets of Iran. The first paragraph; the responsibility of the opposition and the possibility of radicalizing Iranian society. The death of the last Mossad representative in Tehran amid the Iranian crisis. 1300 hours of internet outages; Witkoff: a horrific massacre occurred during the protests in Iran.