Memoirs of Dr. Mohammad Javad Asayesh

Ahmad Sajedi
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2021-4-13

Note: Oral historiography and history are among the most effective methods of historiography and the discovery and recording of historical events. Memoir-writing has a special place in showing the developments of history because of its attractiveness and because it expresses the narrator's observations without intermediaries Many of the facts of contemporary Iranian history from the 150-year Qajar era and even before that is due to the memoirs of writers and narrators who witnessed the developments themselves and wrote their observations. Oral history is considered by historians and researchers today as one of the methods of historiography in Iran and the world.

Memoir-based historiography and oral history have grown in the years since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, and documentary centers and research institutes have worked in this direction. During this period, many political or cultural figures of the country have written memoirs of their activity. These memoirs, especially their more comprehensive and complete examples, in a way, express the developments in the country after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, and their study can acquaint the writers and researchers with the events in Iran after the fall of the Shah. Memoir-writing has greatly contributed to the historiographical process of the Islamic Revolution and has played a significant role in clarifying important aspects of the country's history in the last forty years.

The memoirs of Dr. Mohammad Javad Asayesh also have features that encourage those interested in contemporary history to read them. Dr. Mohammad Javad Asayesh Zarchi was born in 1955 in the Zarch region of Yazd province. He completed his primary education in Zarch, and in 1967 he started working at the same time, and at the same time, she met Dr. Seyed Reza Paknejad. He participated in the meetings of the Hojjatieh Association of Yazd, whose main leaders were Martyr Paknejad and Martyr Mohammad Montazer Ghaem. Dr. Asayesh spent his secondary education in Iranshahr and Rasoulian high schools in Yazd and entered the University of Isfahan in 1974 and studied educational sciences. The next year, he changed majors and studied sociology at the University of Tehran. He was one of the founders of the Islamic Association of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Tehran. At that time, he reproduced the announcements of Imam Khomeini and the tapes of the speeches of Ayatollah Khamenei and other revolutionary and religious speakers. In the educational year 1976-1977, he was expelled from the university along with 30 other students due to his political activities. Then, he established a library in Yazd with the advice and financial support of the martyr Ayatollah Beheshti. In this city, he was summoned to SAVAK for printing and duplicating leaflets and photographs of Imam Khomeini, and then fled to Bandar Abbas. In Bandar Abbas, he was able to open a religious bookstore with the help of religious people. This library, located in front of the Fatemeh Mosque, was a good cover for his connection with the revolutionary and religious people of Bandar Abbas.

Dr. Mohammad Javad Asayesh was active in the Yazd Construction Jihad for a short time after the victory of the Islamic Revolution and then from where he went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held positions such as Director-General of Education and Evaluation, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Yugoslavia, Head of the Second US Office, Ambassador of Iran to Chile, Ambassador of Iran to Croatia, Head of the European-American Studies Group at the Office of Political and International Studies, Director General of Evaluation and Inspection, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Oman, and as an advisor to the Minister and Assistant to the Vice President.

Dr. Mohammad Javad Asayesh's memoirs are arranged in 9 chapters. The first chapter narrates from his birth to his migration from Yazd. The second chapter includes his stay in Bandar Abbas. The third chapter covers the period of the narrator's activity in the Islamic Revolution. The fourth chapter of the book deals with the period of activity in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Chapter 5 includes the activity of the embassy in Yugoslavia. (This section provides a comprehensive account of Ayatollah Khamenei's visit to Yugoslavia in March 1988.) Chapter 6 deals with his activity at the Iranian Embassy in Chile. Chapter 7 recounts the memories of the narrator's activity in the embassy in Croatia. (In this section, the war of Bosnian against the Serbs is analyzed.) Chapter 8 deals with the period of activity at the Iranian embassy in Oman. The ninth chapter, which is the final chapter of the book, also deals with his activity in the embassy in Qatar.

Mohammad Javad Asayesh's memoirs examine the developments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over thirty years. This book was compiled and edited by Hossein Kavoshi Seyedabadi through an interview with Dr. Asayesh and was published in the summer of 2019 by the Islamic Revolutionary Documentation Center at a price of 47,000 Toman (Iranian currency). This 413-page book also includes 100 pages of documents and photos.