Religious Minorities Leading Normal Lives in Iran: Assyrian MP

     

TEHRAN – Tehrantimes — MP Yonatan Bet Kolia, the representative of the Assyrian and Chaldean Christian communities in the Majlis, said on Saturday that religious minorities live in peace in Iran and are free to perform their religious ceremonies.

The MP also said the Iranian officials are committed to an equal treatment of minorities in the country. The Christian lawmaker went on to say that religious minorities are ready to defend their country in the face of any foreign threat.

“They (minorities) are prepared to defend the country against any external attacks as they did so during the (1980-1988) Sacred Defense,” Kolia said in the opening ceremony of the eighth Tamuz Festival in Uremia, northwest Iran. 200 athletes from Armenia, Georgia, Iraq and Syria have participated in the festival.

The festival is scheduled to last for ten days.