Mrs Awat Darya
Representative of the Kurdistan Zoroastrians in the Kurdistan Government, addresses the gathering at The California Zoroastrian Center
on April 9, 2017
“Ladies and gentlemen On behalf of the
Yasna organization, to which I and
the entire Zoroastrian community in
Kurdistan belong, I welcome you
all and thank you for your presence. I thank
all those who have come from far distances.
I also thank all Yasna members for their
steadfast work to show our Good Religion to
the oppressed people. I thank my beloved
husband Jamal for his continued support.
In the last few days your generous hospitality
has made us very happy and we feel we are
among our own families. It is truly a great
experience to see several Atashgahs and
meet many great people. I had meetings with
very important persons and we find many
interesting ways to support and work together
in the areas of education.
We, the Zoroastrians have seen many bad
days for centuries. Enemies of our religion
and our nations have attacked us on our
lands. I cannot go on and talk to you about
those days. You are all aware of that, and we
are living it again now in the Middle East.
Today, in the Middle East the hands of
darkness are destroying the lands,
harvesting many innocent souls, destroying
our heritage and historical sites, taking
women and children as prisoners and
selling them in the slavery market as sex
slaves. Kurdistan especially is becoming the
war zone along a border that extends for
over 1500 miles.
People are living in a very harsh situation.
Over two million refugees have come to live
among a population of five million. Just
imagine the burden on the living people.
Many people have immigrated through lands
and seas. Many of these people have died
under difficult situations, either drowned in
the seas or died in the cold weather in the
mountains, or just got ill from hunger and
passed away quietly in the remote lands.
My dear fellow Zoroastrians, the soul of the
world is crying for help. It is asking why all
these atrocities? Why we cannot live in
peace in an advanced civilization? Does not
this remind you of Yasna 29 verse 1?
You all know who can help in this case. The
Gathas, the way of Asho Zartosht, the good
people like us can give some help.
We Zoroastrians are the first who wrote the
Human Rights articles. Today, we ourselves
are the ones who do not have the rights to
practice our religion freely. All Zoroastrian
nations live on their own lands as secondclass
citizens. That is not right.
Fortunately, to us, the Zoroastrians of
Southern Kurdistan live under a region
which is semi-independent. Our Parliament
and the government have approved the
article 5 which gives freedom to practice our
religion and every citizen can freely choose
his religion. Now, the Zoroastrians of
Kurdistan are contributing to the country in
many ways, like taking care of the
environment, planting trees in the barren
mountains. volunteering to clean up city
streets, helping the needy. Having youth
organizations, finding jobs for young people,
having weekly seminars to educate and
make people aware of our religion, making
good relations with other religious groups
and organizations and supporting our brave
Peshmerga fighting the forces of darkness,
the ISIS, also known as Daesh.
I hope soon the other countries like Turkey,
Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and others do for
Zoroastrians like the Kurdistan Government
has done. The Zoroastrians are peace
loving, country loving, progressive, and will
contribute very good to the progress of their
nations.
In Kurdistan, we have started the Yasna
organization. This organization is the
frontline to gather the Zoroastrians together.
Slowly the ones who were practicing the
religion are coming out and announcing
their religion with no fear. The Zoroastrians
are growing in numbers, groups and lately,
tribes are coming out and announcing
openly to be Zoroastrians. Just last Friday,
a tribe close to the Peeramagron mountain
whose villages are close to the ruins of
Zoroastrian Atashgahs invited the Yasna
organization and announced openly their
Good Religion.
As a representative of the Zoroastrian in the
Government of Kurdistan, I have good
relations with various other religions like
Christians, Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims,
Kakaee, Yazidi, Mandaee, Jews, and other
organization. We have good relations with
foreign consulates like the United States of
America, France, and others. We have a
good presence in the media. We appear on
many talk shows and debates. Our voice is
reaching many. We have an Atashgah in the
city of Sulaymania. It was inaugurated in
2016. Many dignitaries like the Governor of
Sulaymania, Mr Haval Abubakr and Mr
Marewan Naqsgbandi were present and cut
the ribbon.
I admit we do not have adequate financial
capabilities to open branches in various cities
and town. But, the growth continues. We have
large Zoroastrian communities in many towns
and cities, but we do not have adequate
financial capability to open an Atashgah in
each of these cities. The economic situation is
very harsh now in Kurdistan due to this war by
ISIS against us.
My dear Zoroastrians, the time has come to
stick our necks out. The world is in a very
bad situation. The solution is in our book
Gathas to help build the good mentality and
eliminate the destructive ones. This
civilization is in need for Good Thoughts,
Good Word and Good Deeds.
To unite and act we need a few easy steps
we must all practice it:
1. Gathas: It is the key for our good
mentality. Try to learn it from your sources.
You are lucky you are close to very
intelligent persons here. I and my colleague
have to travel thousands of miles to come
and see them and learn from them.
2. Contacts: Keep contact with your friends
and family all the time and learn from each
other.
3. News: We broadcast our activities every
month. Please read them, circulate them
around and send them to your friends
everywhere. This way, we will be connected
spiritually. Before you know it, you will find
you are in love with every Zoroastrian in the
world.
4. Look for the leaders: Listen to them and
create nice youth groups and contacts. The
youth can make seminars and lectures
among themselves. Not just about religion.
They can communicate about science, jobs,
or just friendship.
5. Help: Your brothers and sisters in
Kurdistan are on the front lines making a
huge change. They are spearheading the
return of Zoroastrianism. Sometimes they
need help. Work with your leaders and
organization to organize a good help in an
effective way.
These are very simple things to do but are
very effective to unite us and work together.
I am leaving tomorrow, but my heart is not
willing to go. I think, I will leave and my
heart here to stay behind. I hope I see you
all visiting us in Kurdistan.
Better days are coming.”
Acche din aa rahe hain.
Cheers, Doc
Representative of the Kurdistan Zoroastrians in the Kurdistan Government, addresses the gathering at The California Zoroastrian Center
on April 9, 2017
“Ladies and gentlemen On behalf of the
Yasna organization, to which I and
the entire Zoroastrian community in
Kurdistan belong, I welcome you
all and thank you for your presence. I thank
all those who have come from far distances.
I also thank all Yasna members for their
steadfast work to show our Good Religion to
the oppressed people. I thank my beloved
husband Jamal for his continued support.
In the last few days your generous hospitality
has made us very happy and we feel we are
among our own families. It is truly a great
experience to see several Atashgahs and
meet many great people. I had meetings with
very important persons and we find many
interesting ways to support and work together
in the areas of education.
We, the Zoroastrians have seen many bad
days for centuries. Enemies of our religion
and our nations have attacked us on our
lands. I cannot go on and talk to you about
those days. You are all aware of that, and we
are living it again now in the Middle East.
Today, in the Middle East the hands of
darkness are destroying the lands,
harvesting many innocent souls, destroying
our heritage and historical sites, taking
women and children as prisoners and
selling them in the slavery market as sex
slaves. Kurdistan especially is becoming the
war zone along a border that extends for
over 1500 miles.
People are living in a very harsh situation.
Over two million refugees have come to live
among a population of five million. Just
imagine the burden on the living people.
Many people have immigrated through lands
and seas. Many of these people have died
under difficult situations, either drowned in
the seas or died in the cold weather in the
mountains, or just got ill from hunger and
passed away quietly in the remote lands.
My dear fellow Zoroastrians, the soul of the
world is crying for help. It is asking why all
these atrocities? Why we cannot live in
peace in an advanced civilization? Does not
this remind you of Yasna 29 verse 1?
You all know who can help in this case. The
Gathas, the way of Asho Zartosht, the good
people like us can give some help.
We Zoroastrians are the first who wrote the
Human Rights articles. Today, we ourselves
are the ones who do not have the rights to
practice our religion freely. All Zoroastrian
nations live on their own lands as secondclass
citizens. That is not right.
Fortunately, to us, the Zoroastrians of
Southern Kurdistan live under a region
which is semi-independent. Our Parliament
and the government have approved the
article 5 which gives freedom to practice our
religion and every citizen can freely choose
his religion. Now, the Zoroastrians of
Kurdistan are contributing to the country in
many ways, like taking care of the
environment, planting trees in the barren
mountains. volunteering to clean up city
streets, helping the needy. Having youth
organizations, finding jobs for young people,
having weekly seminars to educate and
make people aware of our religion, making
good relations with other religious groups
and organizations and supporting our brave
Peshmerga fighting the forces of darkness,
the ISIS, also known as Daesh.
I hope soon the other countries like Turkey,
Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and others do for
Zoroastrians like the Kurdistan Government
has done. The Zoroastrians are peace
loving, country loving, progressive, and will
contribute very good to the progress of their
nations.
In Kurdistan, we have started the Yasna
organization. This organization is the
frontline to gather the Zoroastrians together.
Slowly the ones who were practicing the
religion are coming out and announcing
their religion with no fear. The Zoroastrians
are growing in numbers, groups and lately,
tribes are coming out and announcing
openly to be Zoroastrians. Just last Friday,
a tribe close to the Peeramagron mountain
whose villages are close to the ruins of
Zoroastrian Atashgahs invited the Yasna
organization and announced openly their
Good Religion.
As a representative of the Zoroastrian in the
Government of Kurdistan, I have good
relations with various other religions like
Christians, Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims,
Kakaee, Yazidi, Mandaee, Jews, and other
organization. We have good relations with
foreign consulates like the United States of
America, France, and others. We have a
good presence in the media. We appear on
many talk shows and debates. Our voice is
reaching many. We have an Atashgah in the
city of Sulaymania. It was inaugurated in
2016. Many dignitaries like the Governor of
Sulaymania, Mr Haval Abubakr and Mr
Marewan Naqsgbandi were present and cut
the ribbon.
I admit we do not have adequate financial
capabilities to open branches in various cities
and town. But, the growth continues. We have
large Zoroastrian communities in many towns
and cities, but we do not have adequate
financial capability to open an Atashgah in
each of these cities. The economic situation is
very harsh now in Kurdistan due to this war by
ISIS against us.
My dear Zoroastrians, the time has come to
stick our necks out. The world is in a very
bad situation. The solution is in our book
Gathas to help build the good mentality and
eliminate the destructive ones. This
civilization is in need for Good Thoughts,
Good Word and Good Deeds.
To unite and act we need a few easy steps
we must all practice it:
1. Gathas: It is the key for our good
mentality. Try to learn it from your sources.
You are lucky you are close to very
intelligent persons here. I and my colleague
have to travel thousands of miles to come
and see them and learn from them.
2. Contacts: Keep contact with your friends
and family all the time and learn from each
other.
3. News: We broadcast our activities every
month. Please read them, circulate them
around and send them to your friends
everywhere. This way, we will be connected
spiritually. Before you know it, you will find
you are in love with every Zoroastrian in the
world.
4. Look for the leaders: Listen to them and
create nice youth groups and contacts. The
youth can make seminars and lectures
among themselves. Not just about religion.
They can communicate about science, jobs,
or just friendship.
5. Help: Your brothers and sisters in
Kurdistan are on the front lines making a
huge change. They are spearheading the
return of Zoroastrianism. Sometimes they
need help. Work with your leaders and
organization to organize a good help in an
effective way.
These are very simple things to do but are
very effective to unite us and work together.
I am leaving tomorrow, but my heart is not
willing to go. I think, I will leave and my
heart here to stay behind. I hope I see you
all visiting us in Kurdistan.
Better days are coming.”
Acche din aa rahe hain.
Cheers, Doc
