Memoirs of Marzieh Hadidchi (Dabbagh) (Part 55)

2018-8-28

Memoirs of Marzieh Hadidchi (Dabbagh) (Part 55)

Edited by: Mohsen Kazemi

Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company

‎2002 (Persian Version)‎

Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

To be welcomed in Moscow

In the remaining short time, I accomplished some of my unfinished personal works, clarified my financial affairs, and amended and revised my will.

In the promised day, I moved toward airport after saying goodbye to my family. Arriving there, I saw Mr. Larijani[1] along with a number of embassy agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Moscow, besides Mr. Javadi Amoli. Then it turned out that Mr. Larijani was also one of the members of the mission which was supervised by Mr. Javadi Amoli. The embassy agents accompanied us and came to Moscow to facilitate the consular affairs and administrative procedures.

During flight, we each had our own emotions and thoughts, and we thought more about what to do when we arrived in Moscow and delivered the letter. We lunched on the plane. When the plane landed at the Moscow airport, I stepped on the air stairs behind Mr. Javadi Amoli and Mr. Larijani. A group consisted of the foreign minister and Gorbachev’s special advisor and the imam of Grand Mosque of Moscow, as well as a number of Iranian diplomats welcomed us. Climbing down the air stairs, I notified that they all looked up at me. When we stepped on the ground, the imam of Grand Mosque of Moscow who had dressed suits and tie came ahead, welcomed, and said, ‘It is customary for diplomats to present the bouquet to the head of the delegation and guests, but let us present this bouquet to the lady whose cloth was new for us.’ Then he stepped forward, bowed slightly out of respect and without stretching his hand for shaking, gave me the bouquet and shook others’ hand and welcomed. I realized that our diplomat friends in the Soviet Union had already done some coordination, so that their men did not stretch their hands for shaking.

After some formalities and welcome ceremony, we went to the pavilion and left the airport without any inspection. Of course, I guessed that they did it with some electronic devices intangibly.

After explanation of one of the diplomats, the presence of Gorbachev's special adviser among those who came for welcoming had a very good meaning for us. Apparently the special adviser has only been welcoming the king and the leader of countries, but that day he had come to the airport to welcome ambassadors, due to Imam Khomeini’s prestige and status.

The presence of a woman in this form of clothing was a surprise for them, and even it was mentioned in newspapers. Interestingly, in one of Zionist newspapers it had been written that [Imam] Khomeini has sent a military woman, who was commander of the Guards of one of the provinces, along with a delegation; while I was not the commander of the Guard at that time.

The hardest night of my life

After leaving the airport, we threesome got on a car and along with three other cars; one for those who had come to welcome us, one for diplomats, and a police car, passed the wide streets of Moscow in which high buildings with amazing architecture could be seen.

In the city of Moscow, people were walking in the streets and everyone was busy doing their works, and nobody paid attention to the passing of cars. I saw a few hunchbacked elderly women who wore thick glasses and shoveled snow with short handle spade. They shoveled the snow into wheelbarrows, and then men came, took the wheelbarrows, and emptied them into a truck; and in this way, they cleared the streets from snow. "There is no retirement in your country?" I asked the interpreter when I saw the scene, "Why these women work at this age?" He said, "In fact this is their second job." I asked, "What do you mean?" he replied, "After retirement, they usually requested for employment in a light job to get an allowance for living expenses; because their retirement pensions do not cover their daily expenses." The embassy agents also explained that if they did not have a second job, would die of hunger. It was very strange for me, because it was a phenomenon in a country where billion dollars of its wealth were spent on armament and spy races and on interference in other countries. And it was a country which was once the undisputed rival for the United States.

The cars went to a military place. There were residential buildings in this military environment which belonged to the high ranking officers of the Red Army. They led us to one of these buildings and resettled. There were three or four rooms on the first floor and three or four rooms on the second floor.

Traveling by plane and then performing ceremony had worn out all of us and we needed a little rest and recuperation. First we each settled in a separate room, one of the agents of the embassy; who was our guide, was settled in a room. In the drawing room of the first floor, some fruits, foods, and soft drinks had been placed on a table. We drank some of soft drinks, but Mr. Javadi Amoli abstained from it and drank only tea which had been taken from the embassy.

Because we ourselves could not prepare our dinner, we got into difficulty. Also, it was not appropriate for the embassy agents to bring dinner from outside. Inevitably, the embassy agent, who was responsible for the formalities, informed the host that they customarily visited and entertained any delegation which came from Iran at the embassy. Therefore, on this pretext, they took us to the embassy that night, and we were the guest on the embassy for supper.

Seeing the agents of our embassy at the heart of East Empire was not in vain; and therefor I met wives of staff and diplomats at the embassy. They really lived in a difficult and hard environment and for the same reason they did not come out of the embassy at all. That night I saw a woman who was one of my students in the past. It was about two years that she and her husband had been sent on a mission to Moscow.

Although we have not enough time that night, but dined at the embassy. After that we returned to our place to think and discuss about the important meeting which we were waiting for at tomorrow.

Perhaps one of the hardest nights in my life was the night I spent in the building which was located in the military area. Until that moment none of us knew about the content of Imam’s letter. Therefore, on that hard night Mr. Javadi Amoli told us that we needed to be informed of the letter, in order if, firstly, we had any question to be answered, and secondly, we prepared ourselves for questions which Gorbachev and high-ranking authorities of the Soviet Union might ask.

As I was expecting this moment, I asked him to give me the letter to study it in loneliness and with more focus. Thus, I read Imam’s letter in my room and noted some points. Then I returned it to Mr. Javadi Amoli, and also I asked about the Kiblah, and he showed me.

That night I was, at least, in a strange state and frightened. Of course, it was not because of horror, but I was afraid that we would be under control. As I was the only woman in the delegation, I was very careful about my behavior and took care of myself very much. For example, when I went to the bathroom to perform my ablutions, I did not leave aside my chador and scarf. Even at sleeping time, I wore my scarf and put my forearm on my face so that they could not take a picture or film of me.

Though that night I ransacked all the corners and inside the drawer and various places of the room and did not find any microphone or camera, but I was not at my ease. The men also did not feel safety, so that whenever we want to speak and consult with each other, we first turned on two existing radio devices and then talked very slowly.

To be continued…