An interview with the Director of the “Center for Iran, Balkans and Central European Studies” on the occasion of the summer school of Iranian Studies which took place between 11 and 17 September 2017, about the goals, the achievements and the future intentions of this non-governmental organization
Vladimir Mitev
Alireza Pourmohammad is the Director of the “Center for Iran, Balkans and Central European Studies” (IBCE), which was established in Sofia in 2016 with the intention to contribute to the scientific communication and the development of Iranian Studies in Bulgaria and in the Balkan and Central European countries. He started teaching in the department of Iranian Studies in the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” in 2008, where he covers “Introduction in Mysticism”, “Persian language and literature”, “Tehran dialect”, “Oral Persian language”, “Introduction in the Persian mythology and epic”.
Alireza Pourmohammad has graduated from the Iranian University “Allameh Tabatabai”. The joint work of the IBCE’s Director and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ivo Panov, who is the head of the department “Iranian Studies” in the Sofia University and a president of “The Association of the Persian Language and Culture’s Friends in the Republic of Bulgaria” led to the organization of several international scientific conferences in Bulgaria, to the translation and the publication of books, dictionaries and volumes with scientific articles in Bulgarian language. In the middle of September 2017 the first summer school of Iranian Studies with lecturers from Iran, Hungary and Bulgaria took place. There were lectures about Introduction to the Old Persian and Middle Persian language, Persian Classical Literature, Contemporary Iranian Literature, and about Iranian philosophy and religion. These lectures dealt also with the historical evolution of the Shi’a sects, Iranian mysticism, etc. The Persian language (Farsi) seminars contributed to the overcoming of some specific problems, connected with writing and speaking in Persian language.
After the end of the summer school a meeting of the heads of the academic centers and Iranian Studies courses from Poland, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Serbia, Kosovo, Iran and Bulgaria took place in the central building of the Sofia University. The main goal of the meeting was the mutual acquaintance and the search for possibilities for collaboration in the field of Iranian Studies research. IBCE’s activity became an occasion for the blog “Bridge of Friendship” to talk with the president of this regional center for strategic research.
