09/01/2014 17:16
Iranian president donates 1 billion tomans to Avetisian Clinic in Tehran
“The peaceful coexistence of Muslims and non-Muslims in Iran is the best example for the region ridden with unrest,” the Iranian president’s special aide Hossein Fereydoun was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency.
On the occasion of the New Year and Christmas, Hossein Fereydoun, accompanied by Iranian health minister, visited the Avetisian Clinic belonging to the Armenian community of Iran where he announced that President Hassan Rouhani donated 1 billion tomans to the medical institution (1 U.S. dollar equals 3,000 Iranian tomans).
Touching upon the rights of religious minorities in Iran, H. Fereydoun said: “I don’t accept the word ‘minority’. It would be more correct to use the expression ‘non-Muslim Iranians’. Peaceful coexistence of Muslims and non-Muslims in Iran is the best example for the region ridden with unrest”.
It is noteworthy that there are no ethnic minorities in Iran: everybody is considered an Iranian, but under Article 13 of Iran’s Constitution, the religious minorities such as Armenians, Jews, and Zoroastrians have their deputies in the Majlis, their places to hold religious assemblies (churches, etc.), cultural institutions, the press, and so on.