Questions About Iran #3.5

[mahdial_x5]

HEY! what wrong with Salam 3aleyk?

[shugs]

I dunno.. What's wrong in saying 'Peace be upon you' in Arabic? I certainly can't see anything...

I just don't think Iranians use it that much at all, Salam on its own seems to be the prefered Iranian greeting

[mahdial_x5]

lOl i say Sooom Aleykk, not salam aleyk , to my persian freinds here, not the arabs

[Marcialou]

This came up in conversation recently. In English, the word fair has a lot of meanings but two of them, as defined in dictionary.com, are as follows.

12. of a light hue; not dark: fair skin.
13. pleasing in appearance; attractive: a fair young maiden.

I wondered if there was an English word that meant both dark skinned and attractive and I couldn't think of any. My question is, are there any words in Farsi, Arabic, or any other languages people out there speak, that mean both dark and attractive?

Marcia

[Gilgamesh]

I think 'Sabzeh', means greenish used for darker ppl (not africans though).

[mahdial_x5]

yea yea ture ture thats true, sabzeh means darkish in coulour,

and i suppose its attractive...not really though, its not defined as both dark and attractive could be

[soccerstar10]

hey guys iam going back to iran soon and i want to go to dubai while iam there.. does any of u guys know how much is the air fair? or if u can give me some infortmation on it..
Thanks

[shugs]

Hi

First of all, welome to the forum

A flight from Tehran to Dubai should cost around 120,000 Toman... Around $115.. Maybe a little more.

Visa wise if you buy the ticket from Iran Air from a travel agent the travel agent themselves will arrange a visa for you... I remember when I was in Iran last I was told from my mothers friend who is a manager at a travel agent that Emirates airlines has started to automaticly arange tourist visas for Dubai when Iranian citizens buy a ticket from them... Don't know if they still do it but getting a visa for Dubai should not be a problem at all.. I wont even be suprised if they have romoved the visa requirements..

[avicenna]

you should go to kish, i remember when i went their i got a package for about $95 which consisted of the flight there, the hotel, and the flight back. Not bad at all.

[Purple Dreams]

Does Persian refer to specifically those who are ethnically Persian or do other Iranians consider themselves Persian as well?

[shugs]

Technically yes it only refers to those of Persian ethnicity...

Some like to call themselves Persian regardless to the specifics of their actual Iranic ethnicity... All Iranic ethnicities are related by a common ancestor (the Aryan tribe from Central Asia) they just have slightly different histories.

I guess you could argue that all Persian speaking peoples can call themselves Persian but then that would include many nations in Central Asia who speak Persian indigenously.

Personally I'm Mazandarani and proud but I do admit I have called myself Persian a few times as unfortunately calling oneself Iranian makes people think of Iran in the past 30 years regardless to the ancient name of our land (Iran) and if I say Mazandarani they just look at me blankly lol

[Purple Dreams]

Thanks a lot. And your answer was very thorough as I was also wondering about the other Persian speaking peoples of Central Asia.

[Halawala]

Guys, please I have questions:

1. As a GCC citizen, do I need a visa to get to Iran?
2. Is Tehran a good place for a getaway for 4-5 days? Are the forests/mountains close to Tehran?
3. I love the food there, but where are the good restaurants in Tehran?

[gamayun]

From CIA factbook

Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%

Do these ethnic minorities have separatist feelings? Or they consider Iran as their one and only country. Do Azeries want to become part of Azerbaijan?

[shugs]

There are tiny separatist movements in the Balouch and Arab boarder areas. They are poor underfunded terrorists who can afford to set off one charge every year or so or manage to kidnap some soldiers... Both Iran and Pakistan are having problems with Balouchi insurgents but Pakistan a lot more so, Iran has it very easy in comparison.

Kurds and Azeris have had separatist movements in the past but the general feel is that they are Iranian and those who want to separate are foreigners who come from other countries... Few Iranian Azeris are influenced by Pan-Turkists which is the issue. But as I said pretty much all Iranian Azeris and Kurds consider themselves Iranian first... Especially as many of them have kushy positions in the government or Islamic Guard.

As I said few Azeris are influenced by Pan-Turkists, most of them having knowledge of their family history know if they are 'Turkified' Iranians living in Azerbaijan (Azera Padegan as it was previously known) for thousands of years and were forced to change their language by the Turks or if they were migrants to the region after the Turkish invasion of the region.... I have a ton of Azeri friends in Iran from varying generations and they consider themselves 1000times more Iranian than me lol

The Kurds are general quite happy.. there is a lot of development in the region and they are intergrated in Iranian society as they have always been... Almost non of them want to separate from Iran and they claim that it is only the Kurds who enter Iran illegally attempt to cause trouble. I don't think the Kurds have revolted since Reza Shah's era (early 20th Century) and even then it was blamed on the Kurds of other nations, Reza Shah improved Iranian Kurdistan a lot afterwards. The Iranian Kurds do not feel acceptance with their fellow Kurds of other nations and feel much closer to their Iranian cousins.

The Arabs of Khuzestan often consider themselves more Iranian than the next Persian but they do have organised groups who want to separate from Iran taking its oil fields into a state called 'Arabistan' this is a pan-Arab funded organisation most likely helped out big time by the Wehebis.

After Reza Shah renamed Persia to Iran (to its ancient and right full name) most of the separatists from the time went quiet as the official name of the nation is not one that only refers to one ethnicity (Persians) and not even Reza Shah himself was Persian but he was Mazandarani

Persian, Gilaki, Mazandarani Lur, Turkmen are all very comfortable in Iran well... not all with the government but they do not want to separate.

Bare in mind all of the ethnicities minues the Turkmen, Arabs and to an extent Azeris (as some of them are actual Turks not 'Turkified' Iranians) are all related to one common Aryan ancestral tribe originating in Central Asia.

-I think that sounds about right... Anything to add anyone?

[gamayun]

Thank you.

Here in Bosnia, we have two entities: Serb Republic (49% of territory) and Muslim-Croat Federation (51%). Serbs want badly to join Serbia and Croats too were eager to become part of Greater Croatia. It's damaging economy badly. Nice to hear that you don't have such problems.

[shugs]

Originally Posted by Halawala

Guys, please I have questions:

1. As a GCC citizen, do I need a visa to get to Iran?
2. Is Tehran a good place for a getaway for 4-5 days? Are the forests/mountains close to Tehran?
3. I love the food there, but where are the good restaurants in Tehran?

1. No idea, I would assume it would be pretty easy for you to get a tourist visa. Perhaps someone else here knows.

2. Yeh it is defiantly a place to see... But depending on what you like it is perhaps not a great getaway place because it is the typical crazily busy capital city! Isfahan or Shiraz would be a much better place to go and kick back for a few days.

3. As I mention above if you do not go to Tehran the food as Shiraz is not great, they mostly have fast food places and very few proper restaurants. Isfahan has fantastic food. Tehran is great also... an infinite amount of places to go and eat. Personally one of my favourites is the traditional restaurant in Hotel Laleh (formerly Hotel Continental). The restaurant is called Namakdun, the food is great and the service friendly.. not to mention its surroundings are beautifully decorated.

[Halawala]

Thanks for replying Shugs. If I do go I will surely post some pictures.

[mahdial_x5]

Inshallah you will

Tehran DOES infact have many places for 'sightseeing', but then again, only to the north of the ****...not really any 'peaceful' nature IN the ****
i have some pics of some parks and mountains and trails and whatnot, i will post them if, you would like me to?

[gole_hayahou]

I HAVE A QUESTION

WHY THE HELL IS THIS PLACE SO FRIGGIN DEAD?