Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri met with people from religious minorities living in Iran during a ceremony at Tehran's Ferdowsi Hotel on Sunday evening.
Among those attending was Armenian Orthodox primate of the diocese of Tehran, Archbishop Sebuh Sarkisian.
The meeting was arranged to mark the Ten-Day Dawn Celebration, which is annually held to commemorate the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"We emphasize unity, solidarity and friendship among all the individuals and regard the ethnic and religious minorities in the country as a rainbow in the sky, each having its own beautiful color," the minister said at the ceremony.
"All the Iranian ethnic groups live in peace. Every Iranian is a citizen of this country and being an Iranian is a value in itself, therefore the shared commonalities among all of us are wisdom and humanity," he added.
"We have a common history, pain, beliefs and concerns, all of which together give greater meaning to being a human," he remarked.
He next pointed to years ago when he was living in a neighborhood with a number of Iranian Christians and said that he has learned many things from them. "They never complained and always treated us with kindness and smiles," he remarked.
"Culture can help us achieve unity and fight against division," he concluded.
source: commonspace.eu with Tehran Times
photo: Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance welcoming the Armenian Orthodox primate of the diocese of Tehran, Archbishop Sebuh Sarkisian at a ceremony in Tehran on Sunday (picture courtesy of IRNA
