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Iran is to host the first international conference on the wave of Islamic awakening and the popular revolts sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East, Press TV reports.
More than 500 scholars from 80 countries are to convene at the event, scheduled for the 17-18 of September in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
The two-day conference is to focus on the uprisings in Western-backed Arab countries, namely Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, and will most likely be overshadowed by the Saudi troops´ brutal crackdown on protesters in Bahrain. The months-long unrest in Syria and foreign interference in the country´s political crisis are also expected to incite debates at the event.
“With regards to Syria, it is important to note that the very countries that have not welcomed [democratic] changes in the Arab world, are taking advantage of the situation to break down [the anti-Israeli] resistance, and Syria is the best target,” says Akbar Velayati, former foreign minister and a foreign policy advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.
“They have not forgotten the bitter defeat at the 33-day war in Lebanon and the 22-day war in Gaza,” he pointed out, referring to the 2006 war Israel waged against southern Lebanon and the December 2008-January 2009 military onslaught Tel Aviv waged in the Gaza Strip.
The events will be discussed from both regional and international perspectives.
“After World War II, the US sought three objectives in the Middle East which include securing Israel and addressing their energy concerns; that is how dictatorships were established in the region,” says political analyst Mojtaba Babai.
“But today, with Twitter, Facebook and an internet savvy generation, these nations no longer believed these regimes. What they all have in common is Islam, which they want to incorporate in their systems of government.”
Observers say the ouster of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia in January, followed by the revolution in Egypt that toppled Hosni Mubarak in February, the ongoing protests in other parts of the Arab world and motives behind these events are strongly reminiscent of the Islamic revolution in Iran. The 1979 uprising saw the overthrow of the western-backed Shah in Iran.
In late August, Tehran held a domestic Islamic awakening conference attended by some 100 lawmakers, and hundreds of supporters including political and cultural thinkers.
The gathering is aimed at turning the Islamic awakening into a regional dialogue among Muslim nations
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Last Updated: 5 September 2011
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