Afshin Parto, Distinguished Gilani Historian and Scholar, died of heart attack at 66

Mahdi Bazargani
Translated by: Mahdi Soleymani

2015-11-2

Afshin Parto (PhD), Gilani writer, editor, translator and teacher spent most of his life researching on local history and wrote about fifty books on different historical fields. Unfortunately, a large number of his books have not been published yet, and duo to his sudden death, many of his drafts are incomplete. Although his writings contained many historical issues, in intellectual circles he is considered as the historian of Jungle Movement of Gilan and Gilani Constitutional Revolution. Parto edited many old texts on Gilan history as well as working on history of Baluchistan, Bushehr and Fars. He also wrote plays, satire and poem published on various journals. He was buried in Siahkal on Sunday, September 19^th.

Because of his heart condition, he had two heart attacks of which the last one took his life. “He was diagnosed with heart condition and always hurt him. But despite of this, my father devoted his life to his scientific work and I hope society may get a chance to know him”, said his son, Mazdak Parto. “I hope the remainder of his work will be released properly and he will be recognized as other Iranian cultural figures”. He continued: “We should introduce this tireless man to society and young people and that the cultural officials should lead this move.”

Head of culture and Islamic guidance department of Gilan reminded Afshin Parto’s contribution and said: “Gilan is the first province to legally establish the Society of Cultural Elite .If we decide to hold a conference about a figure like Afshin Parto, the Society has to approve it .If it does, then such programs will be pursued. Other plans like naming streets or installing a statue are in the realm of Siahkal Municipality and City council”, said Firoz Fazeli. “We, as a cultural institute, have proposed such plans, and we’ll surely support if a street or a town square is named after him. I will personally write a letter to Siahkal Municipality”, he added.

He had to be celebrated in his lifetime

Manager of Ilia Press solemnly mourned loosing this remarkable writer and called for recognition writers during their lifetimes. He informed about the publication of new books by Afshin Parto which have receive certification. “We have several of his books in process specially “Siahkal, Diare Paidar” which will be published in a few weeks. Another book titled “Negahi az Daroon be Enghelabe Mosalahane Jangal” which is the memoirs of Saburi Deylami and has been edited by Afshin Parto. There are also two other books, “Joghrafiaye Gillani” by M. Lahiji and “Tarikhe Golestan and Deylamestan” by Mirzahiredin Marashi, which have been edited by him as well. He addressed his tough living situation as well as other writers saying, “Parto’s situation was like other independent writers and probably had problems in his life, but he was never driven by money. He was an honorable man.”

As writers like Parto was being marginalized, Mirzanejad continued, “Today it doesn’t matter if there is a fuss about him like we are doing this and so on. Because nothing was done at the time when it should, and we all know that we didn’t make use of his potential and thought. What to do now is no use of him, but it’s ours.” This Gilani publisher stressed, “All of his unfinished material should be concluded by someone. And take action to make available the documents collected for public use.” Manager of Ilia Press also talked about the necessity of appreciating him and introducing him to the next generation. “We should observe justice and fairness with regard to figures like Afshin Parto.”

An Introduction to the Life of a Historian

Afshin Parto was born to a Gilani parents in March 1940 in Mashhad. They went to Tehran when he was 3 and studied first few years of elementary school in “Rastegari” , ”Khazaeli” and “Barsayeh” schools in Tehran. Duo to his father’s mission, they returned to Khorasan. He concluded elementary school in “Ferdowsi” school in Mashhad and “Ghotb” school in Torbat Heidarie. On his first experience as a writer, Afshin Parto once said “I was in 6^th grade when my first story was published in Keyhan Bacheha”. He still remembered his father’s endorsements, “My father always encouraged me to read and write through buying good books and I never forget his gifts after the publication of each one of my writings.”

He continued his education in “Ghotb” and “Amir Kabir” schools in Torbat Heidarie and “Darol Fonun” and “Bu-Ali Sina” in Tehran and “Gheravi” and “Farhangian” in Rasht until he entered Pahlavi University of Shiraz in 1968 to study history. In 1994 he went to Moscow to continue his education and after four years he received Ph.D in history from “Centre of Middle East Studies” in Russian Academy of Sciences. Afshin Parto retired after 30 years of teaching in 2004 and spent rest of his life researching, investigating and translating.

Afshin Parto wrote more than fifty books and thousands of scientific essays all of which are valuable and useful to scholars, As well as everyone who is interested in historical subjects. In spite of Parto’s tireless endeavor, unfortunately a large part of this Gilani historian’s writings is yet unpublished.