An Overview on the Process of Compilation the Book "The Mystery of Pearl"

Maryam Asadi Jafari
Translated By: Fazel Shirzad

2018-12-4

Right: Captain Kayvan Shokuhi, the narrator of book. Left: Moanes Abdi-Zadeh, author.

According to Iranian oral history website, the Navy of Iran's Islamic Republic Army (Nedaja) had and will have a unique role in preserving the water borders and the continuation of Iran's economic relations with other countries through the waterways from the first days of the imposed war (the 34-day resistance of Khorramshahr).

The personnel of Nedaja are self-giving and genuine militants of Iranian military and armed forces who have been talked less about them. The Office of Theoretical Research and Strategic Studies of Nedaja in recent years have had extensive efforts in the field of publishing documents on the role of Nedaja in the war, and published several volumes of "The Sacred Defense Calendar of Nedaja". Also, they began to record the memories of Navy's commanders about eight-year war, and published a collection of books "the Stories of Sea" and the book "The Mysteries of Pearl" in collaboration with the Art Center.

Iranian Oral History Correspondent is interviewing with Mons Abdizadeh, the author of book "The Mystery of Pearl" to get acquainted with the process of compilation of this book. Moanes Abdi-Zadeh was born in 1384, in Bushehr port.

The story of familiarity with narration "The Mystery of Pearl"

"My father, Hassan Abdi-zadeh, is a retired captain of Navy. I like the army very much and one of my hopes was to write about one of Nedaja's operations. So, I decided to write a book about it. Before I wanted to choose the memories of captain, Kayvan Shokuhi, for compilation, I intended to address one of the martyrs of the Bushehr province, such as: Martyr Mahini and several divers. Pearl operation was the fifth issue of research I wanted to do in upcoming years. But since the subjects in Bushehr did not work, I went to do research on Pearl operations.

I write the story of my familiarity with Captain Kayvan Shokuhi in the introduction of book "The Mystery of Pearl". In 2008, I read a story about pearl operations on the site Emtedad; I read a line about Captain Kayvan Shokuhi. I thought it was a good subject. Unlike others, he easily accepted my request for an interview and came to captain's office for an interview."

In Remembrance of "Paykan Gunboat Martyrs"

"I started interview since 2013. Finally, additional interviews with friends of Captain Kayvan Shokuhi were completed by 2015. The book "The Mystery of Pearl" is about the time of youth and the retirement of Captain Kayvan Shokuhi. During his Pahlavi[1] regime, he spent his student years in the United Kingdom or was on a maritime mission. Considering special character of Captain Kayvan Shokuhi, it was easy for him to discuss wherever the defect was. He were not biased on a particular topic and did not self-censor in expressing memories.

Captain Kayvan Shokuhi, who had many documents from sacred defense in his house, and many of his memoirs are based on these documents in which some martyrs are mentioned such as: Hossein Hafizai, Mohammad Ebrahim Hemmati and even the great men like Captain Mostafa Madinenzhad, who is not living in Iran. All of these people have taken measures during the war which had remained untold up to now. Reviewing the memories of Captain Kayvan Shokuhi made me get a better understanding of the details of pearl operations, and as a child of a lieutenant commander, I got familiar with the elders of Navy army. "

Supplementary interviews                             

"I studied documents and books on the history of Nedaja's sacred defense history at the coordinating distance until the interview with the narrator of book" The Mystery of the Pearl" I read. I also reviewed sites that had been published about Navy's operations, so that I took step forward this way; and in this way, Nedaja’s Research Center worked well.

During the research, I interviewed with characters such as Yusuf Karampoor, one of the survivors of Peikan's Gunshot, Mr. Motamedi, Air-Sea Pilot, and late Ismail Babaei, a Navy commander. In 2014, I interviewed with Mr. Madeninejad in an email format, and I used his memoirs in the book "The Mystery of Pearl". I also used the memories of captain Noinshoar and Mr. al-Fati and Mr. Akhgar on the operations Ashkan and Martyr Safari. I even interviewed with Air Force's commanders to complete the information, and I found that martyr Hussein Khalatbari responded to Iraqi fighter attacking Peikan Gunboat."

Special atmosphere of Navy's memories

"For the design of a package of questions, people like my father advised me, but I did design the questions myself. Based on my father's life, I ordered the questions. As the captain Kayvan Shokuhi said in his memoirs, when a ship explodes at sea and all sailors get into the water, everyone is trying to save their sailors in any way. Especially in this regard, I tried to reflect the words of Captain Kayvan Shokuhi without any changes in the book "The Mystery of the Pearl"; for preserving memories, I did not give any additional words to memories. One of my dreams is to write about a Paykan Gunboat at a time. "