Iran`s Zahedan university hosting intl. conference on Shahnameh

TEHRAN,Dec.26(MNA) -- An international conference on the Shahnameh opened at the University of Sistan and Baluchestan in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan on Saturday. Scholars and university professors from France, Egypt, the U.S., Georgia, Tajikistan, Malaysia, Syria, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan are attending the 3-day conference, the secretary of the conference Maryam Jahantiq mentioned in a press release. She said that several commemorations were held at home and in other countries, included among them were the city of Bonn in Germany and Paris for Ferdowsi and Shahnameh. The event was organized by the university’s South Asian and Subcontinent Research Center and Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan. She said that over 6000 articles were received by the secretariat of the conference, among which 3000 were selected by the academic committee. The selected articles have been published in Persian and English in four volumes as a source for researchers. The University of Sistan and Baluchestan was founded in 1974 in Zahedan. It did not take long for the university to become a higher education hub in the region. It is the second largest university after the University of Tehran.