The head of Majlis documents and archive announced
Valuable notes; 63 years after Foroughi's death
24 Jan 2010 14:00
The head of Majlis documents center announced the publication of "The diary of Mohamamd Ali Foroughi" 63 years after the death of this political, social and cultural personage. He saiud: These notes of which even Foroughi's children were unaware of will be of interest to researchers in political science, contemporary history and journalists.
IBNA: Ali Tatarri, researcher and professor of contemporary history said: This collection includes Foroughi's notes from 1942 until 1943. These notes are first of Social and cultural importance and then of political importance. They are 151 pages.
Mohammad Ali Foroughi Zoka-ol-Molk was a politician and Prime Minister of Iran. He was born to a family from Isfahan and studied at the élite school of Dar ol-Fonoon in Tehran. In 1907 he became director of Tehran School of Political Sciences.
In 1909 Foroughi entered politics as a member of Majlis, representing Tehran. He subsequently became speaker of the house and later minister in several cabinets.
Foroughi was instrumental in the bringing to power of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi after Reza Shah was forced to abdicate (September 16, 1941) and exiled by the allied forces of the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union during the World War II. He then became ambassador of Iran in the United States of America. He died at the age of 66, shortly after Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ascended the throne.
The head of Majlis documents center said: Foroughi's was descended from a famous political family who were active since after the constitutional period. His father published Iran's first newspaper "Tarbiat". He started his political, cultural and social activites beside his father and later became a teacher in iranian political science school. The diary that we are publishing belongs to the period when he had not entered the political scene of the country actively.
Foroughi was the head of Majlis (Parliament) for a while. His other posts include: Minister of interior affairs, Minister of foreign affairs and the prime minister of Iran.
He added: More than 6 collections about Foroughi were dedicated to Majlis Library in the past year by Dr Hassan rahavard. This is one of the most valuable and important collection of documents dedicated to the library in the past years.
He said: Dr. Rahavard said he bought the note book that includes this notes in a street auction. We had never heard about the existence of such a notebook which was written when Foroughi was very young.
Tatarri added: Even Foroughi's children were unaware of the existence of such a note book. It is a very important document in analyzing the social, political and cultural conditions that lead to Iranian constitutional revolution. It also reveals interesting information about the connections of his father with the members of Majlis.
According to Tatarri this book presents Foroughi as a cultural figure since he was a teacher at the time and also a journalist in Tarbiat newspaper. It also gives us some information about Foroughi's personal life.
When asked "Who are the addresses of this work?" Tatarri said: this book is of interest to researchers of political science, history, journalism and many people who work in the field of humanities. We have few notes by such important figures.
Tatarri said: Foroughi was an important scientific figure. He was among the 5 important political figures of 1920's up to 1940's.
"The diary of Mohamamd Ali Foroughi" edited by Iraj Afshar will be published in 490 pages.
