Don’t make Iran the second Syria, Please!!!
Iran or the former Persia is an integral part of human history on our planet that it has been present throughout ancient times and contemporary with the ancient Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, Roman, Babylonian, British, Ottoman, etc.
empires and influenced their future and ours present. As in biology, we all come from a common ancestor and similar genetic base and are scattered across different geographic areas, we can also historically say, we as human beings have common ancestors and similar historical structures that have influenced each other’s lives, cultures, traditions, societies, behaviors, and histories from a very long time. In other words, it could be said that Iran is Greece, Egypt, Afghanistan, Turkey, China, France, Russia, England and America in some way and they are all Iran.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It’s somewhat true based on religious, political, and racist concepts, but let’s take a look at other things in a very simple way.
Defined in these current geographical and political boundaries, Iran is one of the richest countries in history, culture and nature in the world. Regarding natural resources, oil and gas are considered to be the most well-known sources of Iran, which are some of the current pests of the Iranian economy,
but they were not and are not the most important natural resources of Iran. In the other hand, the number of sites registered in UNESCO’s cultural heritage is also evidenced by its historical and cultural resources.
However, Iran has been presented as a militant, adventurous, and opposition country against US due to the little knowledge of Iranian history and culture, the influence of the media in recent decades, and the attractiveness of political news and events more than historical events.
This, of course, can be true in some of the highest political and government levels of Iran, because of what we call the “Government Syndrome”. Government syndrome is a variable phenomenon in which individuals are optimally aligned with the goals and ideologies of the system in the higher levels when entering politics and government positions. Individuals will be removed and replaced in the case of a major disagreement.
This phenomenon can be true in most countries and governments and will gradually show positive or negative effects according to the government purposes. In this case, we can look at the advertising (propaganda) promises of presidential candidates and how they performed during their tenure.
In Iran, the basis of the religious ideology of the government has made this more acute and clearer, and most news from Iran has been affected by the syndrome over the past 40 years.
The inevitable impact of these events and news is a decrease in the number of tourists entering the country and the collapse of Iran’s infant tourism industry, which is a direct result of instilling a sense of insecurity and danger for the tourist. But given the adventures of the Iranian government, the current challenges between the West and Iran and the nuclear, military and human rights issues, why is this important?
During the last 50 years and after the white revolution of the former Shah of Iran along with the increase of population, Iran has faced new problems due to the expansion of the use of natural resources and the continuous and sometimes organized mismanagement.
One of the problems is related to Iran’s most important natural resource, water. As mentioned earlier, Iran has deep historical and cultural commonalities with other countries, one of which is an underground structure that is very effective while being simple and creative.
This underground structure is called “Qanat”, which, like an underground river, extended the lives of ancestors in areas without the presence of surface water. The qanat began to expand in Iran about 2,500 years ago, creating numerous settlements and cities because of its ability to provide the water needed for agricultural and domestic purposes.
The structure was taken to other countries after the Arab invasion of Iran, and reached the American continent later by the Spanish. Sometimes human history has been influenced and shared in small and positive ways. However, if we consider the qanat as a simple indicator, many active Iranian qanats have been completely dried up and destroyed over the years.
It is an environmental disaster that has been ignored by digging deeper wells. This destructive process had begun slowly before the White Revolution and is now located in its critical zone as it continues. The need of local people to subsistence through agriculture, overuse, mismanagement in exploitation and consumption, traditional irrigation systems, and arid and semi-arid climate of the country are among the reasons for this crisis, “water crisis”.
The crisis itself will lead to dominoes of crises and catastrophes, including a decline in people’s quality of life, increased internal migration, greater use of available resources to subsistence in the lack of sustainable development considerations, environmental degradation, environmental catastrophes such as floods, landslides, etc.
climate change in micro and macro scales, rising unemployment rates, rising crime rates, the start of civil wars, increasing overseas migration, and problems for migrants and refugees. An example of this can be seen in Syria in recent years, when the problems began to be primarily the neglect of environmental management.
Compared to Syria, Iran could be faced with more challenging conditions due to its larger population. According to official statistics and studies in Iran, the alarm of environmental critical conditions will sound soon in Iran.
One criterion for assessing water conditions is the study of groundwater and its depths that are more than 200 m deep in many areas of Iran and even more than 500 m deep in some cases. According to some experts, Iran is currently on the brink of ecological collapse.
Going back a bit, it was said that recent events and news have reduced the number of tourists entering Iran. But are these issues related to each other? The answer is yes.
Sustainable tourism can be considered as a serious and real solution to these crises. Given Iran’s natural and historical resources and attractions, as well as the potential of “S-Tourism” (Story-Tourism that highlights and sustains a part of the vita of the cultural and historical attractions through the stories), tourism alongside the principal management in other respects can not only prevent the coming crisis, but it can also eradicate the limiting political boundaries, racism and the possibility of war.
In the current situation, about 70% of incoming tours to Iran have been reduced according to available information, which is naturally due to news and tensions between governments. Of course, this information is relevant to the current situation and it is anticipated that as the tensions continue, the amount will be much higher for the next appropriate tourism season.
This will have a serious negative impact on small and independent businesses, rather than large corporations and organizations and the government. Small businesses with full of creativity, innovative ideas, environmental concerns and trying to bring tourism benefits for local communities; a sustainable and green industry.
The result will soon be a growing interest among the various segments of society for leaving Iran to pursue education, migration and asylum.
It can be interpreted as a natural reaction to the conditions in an ideological state and as a means of escape. Because of the ideological system of government, accepting the problem and trying to find a long-term, viable and sustainable solution will not be accomplished and if the system wants to act, the preventive, short-term and destructive methods will only be implemented. However, denial will be the major solution for the government in most cases.
But what would be the solution for the future unclear situation? Are other countries responsible for this? And will they be affected?
It should first be stated that other countries enclosed in the current political boundaries do not actually have legal responsibility (and should not! The primary responsibility is on the Iranian government), but, the situation will rationally and morally be different.
If the Iranian government revises its management practices and improves them scientifically, rationally and sustainably, sustainable tourism can save a country and prevent its catastrophic collapse into an abyss of destruction.
Certainly, common sense will not recommend traveling to the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Middle East in the current situation, but it should be borne in mind that these stressful conditions will inevitably change and move on to a more relaxed situation after a while.
In that case, the arrival of every single tourist to Iran will help to preserve a country with the name of Iran, save its very kind and lovely people along with a rich, ancient and common history and culture, and prevent environmental, economic and political problems on a regional and global scale. So do not let Iran become another Syria, please. And finally, “Sohrab Sepehri” said, “Plant trees in place of politicians to clear the air.”
1 Comment
Great content! Super high-quality! Keep it up! 🙂