IRAN: UNESCO DIRECTOR SHARES THE UPS AND DOWNS OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001543

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/IR AND SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/02/2019
TAGS: IR PGOV PHUM PREL TX
SUBJECT: IRAN: UNESCO DIRECTOR SHARES THE UPS AND DOWNS OF
OPERATING IN IRAN

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Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Peter Eckstrom. Reasons 1.4(b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: During a visit to Ashgabat this week, the
Director of UNESCO's office in Tehran spoke of the challenges
of cooperating with the Iranian government in several areas,
including training journalists and the preservation of
cultural heritage sites. He also described the reaction of
his local staff to the presidential election outcome, the
government's preference for political favoritism over
competence in government appointments and its poor use of
public funds. Notwithstanding the challenges, he remains
highly optimistic and sees UNESCO's mandate in Iran as
bridging the gap -- caused by Iran's isolation -- between
Iranian scientists, artists and professionals with their
counterparts in other countries. END SUMMARY


2. (C) In a December 2 conversation with Iran Watcher, Qunli
Han, Director and Representative of UNESCO's Tehran "Cluster
Office" (also covering the agency's work in Turkmenistan,
Afghanistan and Pakistan),said that despite the unique
challenges of working with the government in Iran, he is
pleased with the outcome of many of their projects. He sees
UNESCO's main mission there as facilitating contact between
Iranian academics, artists and scientists with those of other
countries in the face of Iran's increased isolation in the
world. Recently, he said, UNESCO has begun to focus on Iran's
"intangible" cultural heritage (i.e. music, poetry and
dance),in which, somewhat to his surprise, the Islamic
government takes great pride, as much of it represents Iran's
pre-Islamic Persian, rather than Islamic heritage.

MEDIA TRAINING? "JOURNALISTIC ETHICS" OKAY, BUT NO PRESS
FREEDOM SEMINARS


3. (C) Han, a Chinese national, has been in Tehran for the
past two years and directs UNESCO's cultural heritage,
educational, scientific, and media/information technology
projects in Iran. He said that when it comes to media and
information, the government is keen to promote IT training,
but routinely nixes anything related to training for
journalists, particularly if it is remotely related to press
freedom. So far, they have approved only courses in
"journalistic ethics" for the media, but Han said that he now
has the green light to conduct workshops on how to report on
topics like infectious diseases and natural disasters, having
observed that very often journalists in Iran are unfamiliar
with either the lexicon or background of those subjects.

THE ELECTIONS AND AFTERWARDS


4. (C) After last June's disputed presidential election, Han
said that he gathered his local staff and told them to
"please be careful" and avoid the street demonstrations
taking place, because, he said, he could not guarantee that
the UN could "get them out of trouble" if they were detained.
He said that the employees, particularly the younger ones,
were adamant that they wanted to participate, notwithstanding
the risks, because they saw it as their right. Just after the
election, his IT specialist was severely beaten and then
detained with a group of demonstrators on the street, but
fortunately released by the militiaman who was supposed to be
guarding him. Han said he was extremely relieved and believes
the employee would not otherwise have survived his injuries.
He called Iranian youth "at the end of their rope. They can
no longer be held down."


5. (C) Han said the Iranians he knows were angry and shocked
following the election: In the months that preceded it, he
said, people had hopes that a great change was going to come
about, particularly following an international conference on
religion hosted by former president Khatami in October 2008,
attended by several prominent former European prime ministers
and the former UNESCO general director, Federico Mayor. He
said people viewed the event as a signal that Iran was moving
away from its former isolation and entering a new era. The
reported visit last spring by the Swiss Ambassador to the
former U.S. Embassy compound also caused speculation and hope
that the U.S. was planning to reestablish a diplomatic

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presence in Iran. He opined that had the elections been
conducted fairly, Ahmadinejad would likely still have
prevailed, but with a very narrow margin.

POLITICAL FAVORITISM TRUMPS COMPETENCE


6. (C) Iran is home to ten UNESCO World Heritage sites, and,
according to Han, has a high number of skilled archeologists
and experts in restoration. In recent years, however, the
government has been replacing skilled professionals in
government ministries with less competent individuals closely
tied to the regime. For example, UNESCO learned recently that
the team with which they were collaborating on a project to
reconstruct the ancient city of Bam, which was destroyed in
an earthquake in 2003, had been dismissed and would be
replaced. To date, however, a new team of experts has not
been appointed, so the project is on hold.

SHAHRAK-E GHARB: EMBELLISHING EMPTY LOTS


7. (C) Han and his wife reside in the affluent district of
Shahrak-e Gharb, in NW Tehran, an area that was home to U.S.
diplomats and other expats prior to Iran's revolution. Large
swaths of the district are still unused and undeveloped,
however Han said the government has recently begun
large-scale projects to pave and beautify those areas using
Afghan refugee labor, with sidewalks and marble fixtures, to
no apparent end. He sees these efforts as nonsensical, "a
waste of petro dollars that the government could be using in
much-needed areas like education, health care or the arts."
Iranians he knows are frequently asking "where all the money
went" from the recent oil boom.


8. (C) COMMENT: Han is an engaging interlocutor who exudes
optimism. Rather than focusing on what UNESCO cannot do in
Iran, he directs his efforts to those things that it can.
Given the Iranian people's currant difficult circumstances
and isolation in the world, he feels all the more responsible
to bridge the gap between its scientists, artists and
educators and their couterparts in other countries. In his
words, "There are problematic officials in Iran, but once you
get past that layer, you find the really good people. They're
everywhere."
ECKSTROM