According to the Public Relations Department of the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism (ADVT), the 4th conference of “The Examples of Patience” was held in Urmia to pay tribute to the martyrs and survivors of terrorism in West Azerbaijan
The conference was organized in partnership with provincial organizations and the United Nations Information Centre in Tehran on the International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism on 21 August.
At the beginning of the event, Mansoureh Karami, the chairwoman of the ADVT, welcomed the attendees and lauded the provincial authorities.
She said families of the victims of terrorism are among the most plagued members of the society, whose rights are often ignored.
“The Examples of Patience conference has been held in Tehran, Isfahan, and Golestan provinces and the 4th conference is being held in this city today,” she stated.
Karami, wife of nuclear scientist Masoud Alimohammadi who was assassinated in January 2010, added that families of the victims of terrorism are the examples of patience in keeping peace in every society.
Rahim Fa’al, the general director of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans of West Azerbaijan, said at the event that there are about 200 victims of terrorism in West Azerbaijan, and the victims of terrorism are from all sections of the society, including Sunni and Shia imams, workers, farmers, women and children, who were killed only because of defending truth and justice.
He emphasized that West Azerbaijan is exemplary in defending the values of human society and “we should appreciate families of the victims.”
Then, Maria Dotsenko, the UNIC director in Iran, read out the UN secretary general’s statement in a video message on the occasion of the International Day of Remembrance of, and Tribute to, the Victims of Terrorism.
“This international day reminds us that no matter how long ago an attack happened, victims continue to struggle with its legacy,” the message read.
“We need to provide long-term, multi-faceted support to victims and survivors of terrorism, including through partnerships with governments and civil society, so that they can heal, recover, rebuild their lives and help others.”
In the end of the message, the UN Secretary General stated, “Let us commit to showing victims that they are not alone, and that the international community stands in solidarity with them, wherever they may be.”
Hazratpour, the mayor of Urmia was the next speaker. He said the martyrs who were killed innocently for defending the Islamic establishment are bestowed high positions by God.
He added, “Whenever our society parted from the ideals of our martyrs, the society was close to collapse.”
The Urmia mayor emphasized that the martyrs “have sent messages to all of us which can be guides of salvation. If we follow the martyrs, our society will be saved.”
Tabatabaei, a deputy of the Urmia governor, said that one of the best signs of a developed civil society is the number of its NGOs.
Any increase in the activity of the NGOs in the society is a sign of social dynamism, and because of it, the governorate of West Azerbaijan is ready to help the establishment of a new branch of the association, he said.
Tabatabaei said all the martyrs, in their lives, were the best formidable defenses against the global imperial approaches and the act of killing them is a sign of inability of rouge global imperialists in preventing progress in Iran.
Salari, an advisor to the Iranian foreign minister, said that with dominance of the devils, a hollow definition about terrorism has been propagated and that is why international organizations have been unable to combat it.
Hinting at the aims of terrorism, he said the creation of unpredictable violence against governments for the sake of specific ideologies is one of the aims of this inhuman act.
“All terrorists in our region are supported by the foreign and evil states,” he said.
He said spreading the victims’ voice, promoting cooperation between associations of victims of terrorism at national and international levels and also collecting information about the victims are necessary steps to counter terrorism.
Jason McCue, an international lawyer, said in a video message that he had spent a lot of his career in pursuing terrorism through the criminal and civil courts around the world.
“One of the things that takes a lot of time is to create patience through our media outlets, which means making use of the communication strategy,” he said, adding that an important point in terror acts is showing that the victims of terrorism and their families never forget and the act will never be forgotten and justice will prevail no matter how long it takes.
“My only message to all of you is to have patience,” he said.
At the end of the event, Moeinfar, a professor of sociology at Urmia University, highlighted the importance of the social consequences of the terrorism phenomenon and attributed the loss of national identity and the creation of social rifts to terrorist acts.
Stereotyping the ethnicities leads to strengthening of terrorism, he opined.
Terrorists want to sow insecurity in the society, which in turn leads to increased rate of suicide as well as the refugee crisis in the current societies, he emphasized.
Moeinfar asked the association to collaborate with other organizations to further shed light on the Iranian nation’s innocence at the national and international levels.
In the conference, the daughter of the martyr Anwar Amini, spoke about the situation of her father’s death and said the aftereffects of that attack on her life are incurable.
The 4th conference of “The Examples of Patience” came to an end after special gifts were granted to families of the victims of terrorism in West Azerbaijan province.
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