Page 1 |No. 4| May 2016 MEHR NEWSAGENCY Mehr Vision|No.4|June 2016 29th Tehran International Book Fair Page 2 |No. 4| June 2016 MEHR NEWSAGENCY Contents 29th TIBF: ‘Stop Stalling, Start Reading!’ 3 Iran, Russia’s cultural ties go much deeper than you think 4 Multi-award winning photographer says how his book changed people’s minds about Iran 6 US curbed nuclear dealin 2005: Jack Straw 10 ‘Iran ordered to pay compensation to victims of Israeli false flag’ 12 Democracy US justification to commit crime in ME 13 Offshore tax havens ‘extensions of global banking system’ 15 China, Iran have sights firmly set on enhancement of cultural ties 19 Iran’s sustained prosperity must be built on non-oil economy 20 All US breaches of promise 22 Iran ‘a rising power’ in ME 23 Brussels attacks direct result of Western governments’ policies 27 Leader’s Nowruz message for Iranian New Year 30 Most visited cities during Nowruz 32 Mehr Vision Meshgin Shahr, a horn of plenty for tourism 33 Sand therapy on world’s tallestsand dunes in Kerman 34 Managing Director: Ali Asgari Abbasabad, Pearl of Mazandaran 35 Editorial Board: Paveh, legacy of Uramanat’s euphoria 36 Seyed Amir Hassan Dehghani, Tehran and its 2,000 tourist spots 37 Mohammad Ghaderi, Chinese Spring Festival, Iranian Nowruz: More in common than you think 38 HamidReza Gholamzadeh Women key to world peace 40 Editorial Coordinator: Women need to balance motherhood, employment 41 Marjohn Sheikhi Woman now more comfortable with pursuing musical careers 42 Contributors: Lachin Rezaian, Marjohn Sheikhi, Parnaz Talebi Iranian scientist’s breakthrough helps stop ‘ticking time bomb’ 45 Hossein Azari, Abdolhamid Mustafa Prize further introduces Muslim scientific contributions to world 47 Bayati, Hamid Reza Invisible materials soon to be tangible reality 48 Gholamzadeh, Samad Habibi Technology Art Director: Mahboubeh Azizi 34th Tehran’s Fajr International Film Festival a hit with local, foreign audience 51 Phone: +98-21-43051350 ‘Dawn’ brings vintage Soviet cinemato Iran’s silver screen 53 Email:[email protected] Icelandic film 'Rams' a hit with Iranian audience 54 Address: No. 18, Bimeh Alley, Film festivals bring to light senselessness of war 55 Nejatollahi St., Tehran, Iran Dossier World cinema would suffer great loss without Iranian cinema 57 Mehr Vision welcomes contributions by readers which can be sent via email. News in Vision 58 Cover Story Page 3 |No. 4| May 2016 MEHR NEWSAGENCY 29th TIBF: ‘Stop Stalling, Start Reading!’ By: Marjohn Sheikhi The 29th edition of Tehran International year’s TIBF with over 1200 titles from 50 long journey to a new location, Shahre Book Fair with the slogan “Tomorrow Is publishers, and its delegation consisted Aftab, a newly-constructed fairground Too Late to Read” ran from May 4 to 14, of 35 cultural figures including Alexey in southern Tehran. The organizers were 2016 at the Shahr-e Aftab International Varlamov, Viktor Yerofeev, Kanta Ibragi- concerned that publishers would not Exhibition Complex. mov, Farit Nagimov, Guzel Yakhina, Yele- turn up and publishers were concerned na Usachyova, Aliyona Karimova, Nazim that visitors would not turn up, but Publishers from over 60 countries Zeynalov, as well as Russian publishers, everyone was in for a big surprise as the including Russia, Germany, Italy, China, journalists and book distributors. 29th TIBF received millions of visitors Sweden, Lebanon, Denmark, Kazakh- Sergey Kaykin, Head of Russia’s Inter- during its 11-day run. stan, Belgium and Syria displayed their national Book Exhibitions and Fairs, was According to Abbas Salehi, the direc- works on 7,000 stalls and booths to the the organizer of “Books from Russia” tor of the 29th TIBF, one of the major Iranian booklovers in various fields of Russian National Stand in the 29th TIBF, concerns of the publishers and people humanities, arts, engineering, science, which showcased snippets of Russian of culture about the relocation of the medicine and reference. culture and science, education and fine fair venue was the possible decline in This year’s edition honored Russia arts, architecture and tourism through number of visitors and costumers; “for- as its special guest, a country whose the prism of book publishing industry. tunately, with the tremendous help from relations with Iran date back to the What marked a major difference the media, everyone was taken aback by 16th century, and which has stood firm in this year’s edition of the book fair the visit of millions of people to the fair,” alongside Iran in all areas of cooperation compared to last years was the change Salehi said, adding, “this enthusiastic from economic, political and security to of venue. Iranian book hunters had reception showed that the Iranian com- cultural, tourism and scientific. Iranians become accustomed to making a trip munity has a unique cultural habit which are well-informed about Russia, and the to Imam Khomeini Mosalla located in is the mark of a culture-friendly society.” Russian language courses in Iranian uni- north-central neighborhood of Tehran, 1518 general publishers, 559 aca- versities are vastly popular. Russian lit- but this year, they were to make a rather demic publishers, 145 educational, and » erature, especially the classical one, is loved and admired by a large population of Iranian bibliophiles. Almost every- one here has read or knows about ‘The Three Musketeers’, or ‘Crime and Pun- ishment’ or ‘Anna Karenina’, all of which among President Putin’s favorite titles. Tehran was the guest of honor for Moscow’s 2015 International Book Fair, and it was now time for Iran to return the favor. Seeing as how Russia’s con- temporary literature had been neglect- ed for the most part, overshadowed by the brilliant bulk of its classics, the 2016 TIBF served as a golden opportunity for Russia to introduce its most recent publications to the Iranian public. The Eurasian country participated in this Cover Story Page 4 |No. 4| June 2016 MEHR NEWSAGENCY 342 children publishing houses helped promote the cultural atmosphere of the country by their participation in Tehran Book Fair. Iran, Russia’s cultural Another special feature of this year’s fair was the particular attention given to its internation- al aspect. According to Salehi, the internation- ties go much deeper al section of the fair was more active this year than ever before, and foreign publishers had brought more titles with them to their stands. than you think First edition books had also made a good por- tion of the presented titles. “Almost every foreign publisher who attend- ed this year’s fair was completely blown away by the number of visitors and the grand venue of the book fair,” Salehi said, adding “I hope the 30th TIBF will have an even better international aspect so that a window would open to Iran’s cultural diplomacy.” In the international section, each day was as- signed to a particular country or city, and given the high capacities of this section, many inter- esting and informative programs were put on display by international publishers. “For me, coming to Tehran Book Fair every year is like a cultural ritual,” said Sara, a 27-year old English literature graduate, as she hefted a heavy-looking plastic bag full of newly-pur- chased books. “This venue is much bigger, and may appear to feel less organized due to the fact that bookstands have been scattered around a massive ground. It takes me over half Interview by: Marjohn Sheikhi International Book Fair 2016 has an hour to travel from one pavilion to another, sought to remedy that. there are free bicycles and shuttle bus rides to Now in its 29th edition packed use of course, but I’d rather take the tradition- With the 29th Tehran Intl. Book with three decades of experi- al way.” She laughs as she walks away with her Fair just wrapped up, Mehr ence and reputation, Tehran heavy plastic bags. News conducted an interview International Book Fair had cho- Nima, a 23-year old student of psychology, with Sergey Kaykin, head of sen Russia as the guest of honor, said his biggest motivation for deciding to buy Russia’s International Book a country whose vast reservoir books at the fair instead of regular bookstores, Exhibitions and Fairs, who of rich literature has long fasci- was the discount coupons; “Sure, here we have represented Russia stand as the nated the Iranian readers with a wide range of titles to choose from and I can guest of honor of TIBF 2016. tales of human alienation, great almost find every book I need, but the 50 per suffering, and philosophical and cent discount makes purchasing books much Russian literature with its fre- psychological questions. more pleasurable.” His purchased books mostly quent themes of suffering and Iran-Russia relations date consisted of psychology textbooks, but among sadness has always been wide- back to the 16th century. Such them were also Oriana Fallaci’s ‘Letter to a Child read by the Iranian book lovers. historical ties intertwined with Never Born’, Italo Calvino’s ‘If on a Winter’s Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, a long-standing tradition of cul- Night a Traveler’, and Alberto Moravia’s ‘The Anton Chekhov and Alexander tural, political and social inter- Thing and Other Stories’. “I like Italian literate,” Pushkin are as familiar a name actions give both countries even he shrugs sheepishly. to the Iranian readers as Hafiz, more reason to step up cooper- As a matter of fact, Deputy Culture Min- Ferdowsi or more contemporary ation in as many fields as possi- ister of Italy also attended the 29th TIBF in in Persian novelists such as Sadegh ble. It may come as a pleasant the company of the Iranian Culture Minister Ali Hedayat or Simin Daneshvar.