By: Azad Karimi
After five years of study, I graduated from college as a painter. After the army, I entered the Yerevan State Art Academy and graduated as a graphic artist.
Interiew
Armenian Painter Karen Movsisyan
By Azad Karimi
Today in the history of Iran, it is recorded as the anniversary of the signing of the constitutional decree by Mozaffar al-Din Shah Qajar in 1906.
Iran was made up of Protected states in 1900 AD, and a tyrannical king named Muzaffar al-Din Shah ruled in Tehran. But after returning to Iran, Iranian intellectuals who had gone to Europe to study science demanded modern West ideas such as democracy, libertarianism, the free press, and an independent parliament and judiciary. The king and the Shi’a mullas opposed them because their power had faced a great challenge after three hundred years.
Fifty-six years before this date, Sheikh Mohammad Ali Bab announced the transformation and reform of the Shi'a-Islamic religion, and then he announced that he is a new prophet. The Iranian government executed him at the instigation of the Shi'a mullas but his path was continued by his disciples Bahaullah and his brother Sobhe Azal...The teachings of this new religion, which was very revolutionary and modern and aimed at a fundamental change in Shiism, spread rapidly in Iran but it was suppressed very severely ...
The Shi'a Mullas had taught their followers that they were the representatives of Imam Zamaan, who is the promised savior and he is absent, and no one knows when he will appear and until Imam Zamaan appearance, the Mullas should receive Zakat, Khums, and Alms from the people ...
... But Bab came and said that he is the promised savior and that the Shi'a religion is an invented religion and heresy and has no legitimacy.
In this way, the interests of the mullas were jeopardized. Until then, they had fought the Sunni-Islamic religion, but now they had to fight against a new religion: Bahayism.
The Babis and Baha'is were scattered throughout the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Africa, and their religion was very much in tune with Western culture.
Therefore, those Bahayis who were in Iran were among the founders of Western liberal ideas in Iran ... Gradually, they were able to bring together many Shi'a, Sunni, Kurdish, Lur, Gilani, Turkish, and Armenian libertarians and form a party called the Moderates or Democratic Party of Iran in Tehran, Zanjan, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Rasht, Shiraz, Mazandaran and even the city where I was born although this party faced a major obstacle in Kurdistan called Kurdish nationalism, it was necessarily welcomed.
The efforts of the leaders of the Democratic Party of Iran, known as the Constitutionalists, paid off on 4 August 1906, and the King of Iran was forced to accept their demand for the establishment of an independent parliament and judiciary. The signing of this statement by the king of Iran was a historic victory for the freedom fighters. The next day, the news was officially announced in Iran. This day became known as the Constitutional Revolution.
Among the constitutional leaders, I must mention Mirza Jahangir Khan Sur Israfil, who was a brave and great journalist. In his articles, he criticized the tyranny of the King and the domination of the mullas, and finally, he was killed in the Shah's garden on 21 June 1908 in Tehran... A Russian journalist named Mamnotov was there and has described Mirza Jahangir Khan murder scene as follows:
The end of these two people (Mirza Jahangir Khan and Malek al-Motakalemin) was very simple. Today they were taken to the garden and kept by the fountain. Two executioners came and they threw the rope around Mirza Jahangir Khan and Malek al-Motakalemin's necks... Blood came out of their mouths and this time the third executioner came and stabbed them in the hearts...
I read on Wikipedia that Dehkhoda, a famous Iranian writer and poet who was a close friend of Mirza Jahangir Khan, dreamed a few months after his death that Mirza Jahangir Khan was dressed in white and told him why did you not write anything about my death?... and when Dehkhoda wakes up, he writes a famous poem in Persian about the death of Mirza Jahangir Khan.
Last night, reading this, I remembered a dream I had in a hotel in Tehran in the winter of 1997:
Mirza Jahangir Khan was standing in front of the gate of a large garden (the National Assembly of Iran) in a long white shirt and his hands were tied behind his back by executioners... there was not the statue of lions above the gate. Mirza Jahangir Khan was looking at me and I was standing silently and staring at him. Suddenly two Qazaqs came and threw a very sharp metal ring around his neck, and suddenly they pressed on his neck from the side, which immediately cut his jugular vein and blood gushed out of his severed veins. Seeing this scene, I shouted and woke up…
What is clear is that oppression, ignorance, backwardness, and lack of political, cultural and economic development is a serious problem of Iran and it has involved all Iranians and this country is still in the era of classical tyranny and libertarians have to pay a heavy price for freedom and democracy, such as death, imprisonment, isolation, and exile.
I dedicate this introduction to all true libertarians in the world, and I hope that justice, freedom, and democracy will be established in all dictatorial countries.
I will share with you a link here... This is a Persian song by the artist Giti so that the national parliament of Iran and the place where I dreamed about Mirza Jahangir Khan will be manifested to you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uSgzsQCxPw
I wish my dear brother Karen success and happiness.
Thank you!
Østland-Norway
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1- Please present yourself (Name, education, Civil status and...)
.I am Karen Movsisyan. I was born and raised in Armenia and I am Armenian by nationality.
2- What is your artistic specialize?
.I’m a painter.All my adult life I have been drawing
3- When and how did you become interested in this field of art?
. I started to get involved in art from my childhood.
4- Who was your motivator?
. I was inspired and got help from my teachers.
5- What was your parent’s reaction?
. Parents did not mind and helped as best they could. Then I entered the art school named Panos Terlemezyan.
6- When started you such as a professional artist-painter?
. After five years of study, I graduated from college as a painter. After the army, I entered the Yerevan State Art Academy and graduated as a graphic artist.
7- Are you thankful and happy because of your activities as an artist?
. I am happy that I chose art, I live it every day.
8- How you see the view for art, painting and future of culture?
. I think that art is the best that humans have created and creates. And I think that there is a great responsibility on the people who chose art.
9- Can you become one part of the artistic-cultural movement for motivation in youth or new generation in your country and so than?
. Our goal should be light and what we create should be light, kind, and deep.
10- How can you help our world become a better place to live?
.It is very important to help the growing generation grow up in art, to introduce them to art.
11- Have you more word to say or suggestion for our readers?
.Life is the creation of each of us, let's create beauty
