Presentation Transcript

1. Islamic Republic of Iran

   Muharrem Sağır
2. Content Country Historical Background Geography Society Economy Government and Politics Foreign Relations National Security
3. Country Formal Name: Islamic Republic of Iran / Persian (Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran) Government Type: Theocratic republic Term for Citizen(s): Iranian(s) Capital: Tehran Other Major Cities (in order of population): Mashhad, Esfahan, Tabriz, Karaj, Qom, and Ahvaz (totally 31 provinces) Independence: In the modern era, Iran always has existed as an independence country Flag: The flag was adopted after the 1978-79 Revolution,
4. Before 1979 Revolution After 1979 Revolution
5. Historical Background Early History The first Iranian state was the Achaemenian Empirein about 550 B.C Followed it the Greeks in about 330 B.C The Parthians ruled from 247 B.C until A.D. 224 And the Sassanians who governed from A.D. 224 until the Arabs conquered Iran in A.D. 642 The Arabs brought with them Islam, which eventually became the predominant religion. In the centuries that followed, Iran has ruled by a succession of Arab, Iranian and Turkic dynasties. In 1501 the Iranian Safavis made up a strong empire under Ismael I and also established Shia Islam as the official religion.
6. The Qajars (1795-1925) In 1795 the Qajar family established a dynasty that would rule Iran until 1925. A popular desire for accountable government led to the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-7 and the formation of a parliament. In 1921 army officer Reza Khan provided military support for a coup against the government.
7. The Pahlavis (1925-1979) Following parliament’s deposition of the Qajar dynasty in 1925, he became shah of Iran, adopting the surname Pahlavis As Reza Shah Pahlavi, he restored order and sought to modernize the economy and society and to forge cultural links abroad.
8. In the 1960s, Iran recovered from the economic disruption of the oil nationalization period, but the authoritarian rule of the shah provoked political discontent During this period, Ayatollah RuhollahMusavi Khomeini developed a following as an anti-government leader and was sent into exile (1964), first to Turkey and subsequently to Iraq Between 1965 and 1977, Iran enjoyed improved prosperity, expanded regional influence, and relative stability
9. Increased anti-government protests against Westernalizationprocess of the shah administration in 1977 and early 1978 that developed into a nationwide revolutionary movement Khomeini, in Iraq, emerged as the leader of an increasing strong opposition movement, and organized nationwide strikes As a result, the shah decided to leave the country
10. Khomeini returned back from exile on February 1, 1979, refused to recognize the authority of the shah’s prime minister, and appointed a provisional government Power struggle started between two the governments, the monarchy effectively ended
11. The Islamic Republic of Iran Following a national plebiscite, an Islamic republic was proclaimed officially on April 1, 1979 The provisional government was composed of a coalition of nationalist and religious leaders who had moderate views with respect to social and economic changes The latter group, in particular, wanted to end all ties with the United States In November 1979, students affiliated with the latter group occupied the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 53 U.S. diplomats hostage for the next 14 mounts This incident was a turning point in terms of U.S.-Iran relations, which represents a decisive break!
12. Between 1980 and 1988, during the Iran-Iraq war that resulted in more than 200.000 Iranian deaths, serious differences between the moderate and militant factions of the revolutionary government In 1989 the death of Khomeini removed the one figure with authority to arbitrate between the two mutually antagonistic political factions: Reformists:A liberal interpretation of the constitution and Islamic law but there were themselves some disagreements with respect to economic, political and social policies Conservatives:The strict and literal interpretation of the constitution and Islamic law
13. During the presidency of Ali Akbar HashemiRafsancani (1989-97), “reformist” controlled a majority of seats in parliament until 1992 In both 1992 and 1997 parliamentary elections the “conservatives” won a majority of seats, thus, many reforms weakened and stopped. Mohammad Khatami (in officially 1997-2005), the administration of Rafsancani’s successor, encountered the same resistance “Reformists” won again a majority of seats in the 2000 parliamentary elections and enacted several notable pieces of reform legislation Having lost control of the parliament, conservatives tried to use their influence in the judiciary and bureaucracy “Conservatives” regained control of the parliament in the 2004 elections, continued control of conservatives with Ahmedinejad last election in 2010
14. Geography Location: Iran is located in the Middle East Size:It’s total area is nearly 1.65 million square kilometers Disputed Territory: Three island in the Persian Gulf that are occupied by Iran Maritime: The one of the most important river that the Shatt al Arab waterway was established by treaty in 1975 that draws the maritime border with Iraq Principal Rivers: Iran has no major rivers Climate:Iran’s climate is mostly arid (kurak) and semi-arid
15. Natural Resources: Iran has enormous reserves of oil and natural gas Oil reserves: more than 130 billion barrels (third in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq) Natural Gas reserves: more than 32 trillion cubic meters (second in the world behind Russia) Mineral resources: chromium, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, red oxide, salt, sulfur and uranium
16. Society Population: Iran’s population is 76,923,300 (July 2010 est.), of that number, approximately one-third is rural and two-thirds urban Iran hosted more than 660,000 Afghan and 54,000 Iraqi refugees
17. Ethnic Groups and Languages: The main ethnic groups in Iran are Persians (approximately 51 percent) {CIA Factbook} Azerbaijani Turks : 24 % Gilaki and Mazandarani : 8 % Kurds : 7 % Arabs : 3 % Lur: 2 % Baluchis : 2 % Turkmens : 2 % Other : 1 %
18. Languages: Persian, the official languages, is spoken as a mother tongue by at least 58 percent of the population and as a second language Turkic and Turkic dialects by a large proportion of remaining 26 percent. Kurdish : 9 % Luri : 2 % Balochi : 1 % Arabic : 1 % Others : 2 %
19. Religion: The constitution declares Shia Islam to be the official religion of Iran. At least 90 percent of Iranians are Shia Muslims, and about 9 percent are Sunni Muslims The constitution recognizes Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism as legitimate minority religions. The Baha’i faith is not recognized as a legitimate minority religion Individuals of all religions are required to observe Islamic codes on dress and gender segregation in public
20. Economy Iran’s economy is dominated by the oil industry more than 80 percent of export earnings came from oil and gas! Most economic activity is controlled by the state Private sector activity is typically limited to small-scale workshops, farming, and services GDP: $ 827.1 billion (2009 est.) Unemployment rate: 11.8 % (2009 est.) Inflation rate: 13.5 % (2009 est.) Industries: essentially petroleum, petrochemicals Exports: $ 70.32 billion (2009 est.) Imports: $ 57.16 billion (2009 est.)
21. Transportations and Telecommunications(under the economy as asub-title) Constant construction and expansion of the road and rail networks, even during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), have resulted in an overland transportation system Ports destroyed during the war have been rebuilt, and new ones on the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf have been developed. Air transportation is relatively inexpensive Most phases of telecommunications services are controlled by the state
22. Government and Politics I Following the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79, a national referendum approved a new constitution According to constitution, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a republic with separation of powers among to the executive, judicial and legislative branches The senior figure in the system is the faqih (leader) The constitution named Ayatollah Khomeini as the first faqih Leaders are elected by a majority vote of the Assembly of Experts The legal system based on sharia (Islamic Law) The constitution specifies that the president must be a Shia Muslim
23. Velayet-iFakih(Ulemanın Önderliği) It is not an institution, but a concept Politicized with Khomeini (The name of his book in 1970 had written `Velayet-iFakih: The Islam State` ) The leader is selected by people (halk) Checking institution of the laws in terms of the seriah Representative of 12imams (İsnaAşeriye) According to the 57. article of constitution as the supreme religion leader has a voice in executive, legislative and judiciary
24. Government and Politics II The legislative branch consists of a parliament, or Majlis, and the Guardians Council The comprises 290 deputies for four-years In 2005 some 12 women held seats:? Suffrage is universal at age 16 Political parties were legalized in 1998 The constitution guarantees freedom of the press Freedom of speech is not guaranteed Radio and television broadcasting is controlled by the state
25. Foreign Relations I The election of Mohammad Khatamiin 1997 led to improved relations with Iran’s neighbors and with most of the West, excluding Israel and the United States And also stressed commercial and geopolitical relations with Western Europe and Japan It is important matter that foreign relations have been an area of consensus among conservatives and reformers since the late 1980 In the early 2000s, the Khatamiregime tried to find common ground with the United States, but did not archive to complete the normalization process
26. Foreign Relations II The Bush administative declared “axis of evil”, including especially Iran! In 2002 brought relations to a new low in the post-1989 period Beginning in 2004, relations deteriorated further because U.S. officials believe that Iran intends to develop nuclear weapons… The Bush administration also expressed that Iran might be supporting insurgents against U.S. forces in Iraq and Palestinian groups opposed to the peace process in Israel The relations, in that time, with the United States and the Europe of Iran declined because of Iran nuclear energy plan Yet, Russia on the contrary to others supported to Iran in nuclear energy process, and build twin nuclear reactors
27. Foreign Relations III After the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iran has established cooperative relations with the interim government and tried to force Iraqi Shia political parties Relations with other regional Arab countries are relatively good Iran has also relatively good relations particularly in the area of military cooperation with China, India, and Russia Relations with significant neighbors Turkey and Pakistan have been “correct”, but not “close”
28. Foreign Relations IV Broadlyspeaking, Iran is close-gate for many countries in the world. Especially, Ahmedinejad administration hold till 2005 election a strict policy against the West Iran Nuclear Crisis going on as main discussion between two sides= useless sanctions! Iran is a member of the many international organizations… It is also a signatory to international environment agreements…
29. National Security Under a unified command with the leader as commander in chief including about 420,000 active personnel in the regular forces and 125,000 in the auxiliary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Modernizations of the navy, seen as vital for protecting interests in the Persian Gulf Technology purchased from North Korea and China (axis of evil!!!) There are some military agreements with Russia The most remarkable external threats are Israel and U.S. As internal threat, Iran is a main transit country for narcotics from neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan; also from Europe, Central Asia and the Gulf region
30. Terrorism and Iran During 2005 several incidents of domestic terrorism occurred using bombs in public places Most of these were in areas of ethnic tensions Although Iran has condemned all terrorist actions abroad, against Israel and U.S., but Iran is the most active sponsor of terrorismaccordingtothe West brother! Iran has supplied funding, haven, and weapons for the Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad
31. Thank you for listening!