Western States Afraid Of Smart Iranian Youth: Ambassador

Ankara, Dec 10, IRNA - Western states are afraid of intelligence of Iranian youth, Iran's Ambassador to Turkey Bahman Hosseinpour said on Friday. He made the remarks in a ceremony held in commemoration of ‘Student Day’ in Ankara. 'If some western states do not accept Iranian students in some fields of study including aerospace sciences, it is because of their fear from Iranian students' intelligence in acquiring new technologies,' the official added. Iranian envoy to Ankara noted that Iranian students played an important role in the victory of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution which has inspired the recent uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. The Student Day is the anniversary of the murder of three students of University of Tehran on December 7, 1953 (16 Azar 1332 in the Iranian calendar) by former shah's Savak (intelligence services). Every year, demonstrations are held by university students. Ahmad Ghandchi and two other Iranian students, Shariat-Razavi and Bozorg-Nia, were killed when the Savak's forces opened fire on students of the University of Tehran who were protesting the resumption of Iran's relations with Britain and the former US President Richard Nixon's visit to Iran, following the coup d'état of 1953, which toppled the popular government of former Iranian Prime Mminister Mohammad Mosaddeq. The next day, Nixon came to Iran and received an Honorary Doctorate in Law at University of Tehran, while the occupation of the university campus by police forces was quite evident. The Islamic Awakening is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Middle East and North Africa. Since 18 December 2010, there have been revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt; a civil war in Libya resulting in the fall of its regime; civil uprisings in Bahrain and Yemen; major protests in occupied Palestine against the Zionist regime, Algeria, Jordan, Morocco and Oman, and similar protests in Kuwait, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Western Sahara. Clashes at the borders of occupied Palestine with the occupying forces of Zionist regime in May 2011 were also inspired by the regional Islamic Awakening./end