Diversity is an opportunity
Well, our country is comprised of different languages and ethnicities. We have Azeri, Farsi, Arabic, Baluchi, Luri and Kurdish. This is diversity and diversity is an opportunity, but the enemy has always pinned his eyes on using this as a tool for creating a rift. The great Iranian ethnicities themselves – and the best one in this regard is the people of Azerbaijan – have stood up against this malicious policy which has been adopted by the enemies.
Our dear youth throughout the country should pay attention that the enemy has pinned his eyes on implementing this policy. He wants to use every fault line that he thinks can cause an earthquake so that he can destroy the pillars of this country’s independence and of this Revolution. He wants to use all the resources. He is searching so that he can find the faults with this assumption in his mind. This is while there are not any fault lines. The people are unanimous, they are united.
What nation enjoys such wonderful ethnic diversity?
The fact that some fathers and mothers in a country voluntarily send their dear children to the battlefields to serve a divine cause is a genuine source of honor for that country. And when their children get martyred, satisfaction of God makes this tragic loss pleasant for the parents, especially the parents who suffered the loss of two, three, or four children. This is a source of honor for any nation. The loss of two, three, or four children is not a trivial issue, and it is not peculiar to a specific part of our country or nation.
You dear people who enjoy these magnificent qualities are the parents of those martyred youth. And you represent various ethnicities and geographic areas of the country. There are Persians, Arabs, Azeris, Kurds, Turkmen, and Baluchis among you. What nation enjoys such wonderful ethnic diversity? On my trip to Kurdistan, I met a family that had suffered the loss of 6 children during the imposed war. Of course I had previously met this family. On my trip to Kurdistan province, I learnt that the parents of this family had passed away. Just like the memory of our martyrs, the memory of these great, brave men and women - that is, the fathers and mothers of our martyrs - will stay alive forever. These things cannot be erased from the memory and history of a nation.
The Islamic Republic welcomes diversity
The Islamic Republic does not really adopt discriminatory outlooks, whether towards Kurdistan or towards any other specific area in the country. When we repeatedly announced that we consider the existence of many ethnicities in our country to be an opportunity, this is the truth. The existence of different ethnicities is really an opportunity for us. The outlook that the Islamic Republic adopts towards tribal and religious diversity is not a biased, nepotistic and one-dimensional outlook. I am saying this for certain.
The Islamic Republic has not adopted this outlook in the present time - I am saying this on the basis of my own intentions - and it did not adopt such outlooks it in the past either. It did not adopt this outlook in the 1360s, during Imam's (may God bestow paradise on him) auspicious lifetime. The judgment of the Islamic Republic is on the basis of following Islam and being Iranian. Its judgment is one the basis of being Muslim and Iranian. On the basis of this outlook, all Muslims and all Iranians are valuable throughout the geographical range of the country. The Islamic Republic wants to establish this thought in a firm way.
