INFLUENCES OF THE BBC PERSIAN
DEPARTMENT
ON THE IRANIAN SOCIETY
Recently
there was a news report that got lost among the headlines…
In the news reports of the press-publication organs the news
report that “the British Broadcasting Channel (BBC) is
setting up a Persian television… The Persian television
channel for which the BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation,
has started the work of infrastructure will commence
broadcasting at the beginning of 2008 with an annual budget
of 15 million pounds upon the proposal of the UK Foreign
Ministry. The television channel which will broadcast for 24
hours to Afghanistan, Tajikistan and particularly Iran on
news, political analysis, documentary and history via
satellite will be based in London and its broadcast will be
united with the already existing Persian radio broadcast”
have made the Iranians vary happy… (By the way, it is
deemed useful that the British Foreign and Finance
Ministries have announced that the Persian channel will not
depend on the policies pursued by the UK.)
The Persian
Department of the BBC Radio (BBC Radio 4) that knows what
Iranians want very well state that they will broadcast the
programs of this channel at the time when the people watch
television most. Nobody living in Iran in the years when the
66-year-old BBC was established knew what “communication” or
“transfer of information” meant. Nobody knew at the time
“why the UK broadcast the news that it found appropriate in
other languages through the BBC. Nobody in the country asked
for which purposes the BBC and especially the Persian
department which the Iranians liked and trusted very much
were established and how the broadcast affected the
developments in Iran.”
The famous
news and program agency that is known as BBC in short is a
national company that conducts its work in many parts of the
world particularly in the USA and Canada. BBC World Service
with 250 reporters who work for it examines all the events
and broadcast in 43 languages. The surveys and opinion pools
indicate that BBC is a leader in collecting and presenting
information in various times and places. It is said that
today BBC Radio has more than 150 millions of audience
around the world and 75 million people visit its internet
websites every month. It can be considered that the real
reason of this interest results from the fact that “BBC
concentrates on the roots of the existing problems around
the world.” Now let’s question this altogether… How were
this interest and love created?
BBC was
established as a consortium of the Markoni, GEC, British
Tampson, Metropolitan Wakers and electric companies in 1922.
The primary aim of this company was to set up radio
transmitters that may reach every part of Britain and the
secondary aim was to protect the Great Britain’s ideological
fundamentals in front of the Nazism wave. In the current
structure of BBC that was set up in 1927, the directors are
elected by a special council and the proposed names are
submitted to Queen for approval.
Before
examining the work conducted by the Persian Department of
BBC in Iran and their influence on the Iranian society, we
will go back in time and revive our history knowledge…
On 27 May
1901 an agreement was raised upon the proposal of
Aminolsoltan Mirza Ali Asghar Atabek in Sahebgharaniyeh
Palce in Iran. The agreement which the state of Iran made
with the person called William Knox Darcy was approved with
the signature of Mozaffaraddin Shah Ghajar. Through this
agreement the Iran Ghajar Kingdom gave the right to survey-extract-prepare-refine
and sell the substances such as oil, gas, pitch and natural
wax to William Knox Darcy for 60 years. The owner of this
patent, according to the Section 10, had to give a total of
40.000 pounds annually with 20.000 in cash and 20.000 pounds
in the share of the company to the State of Iran. Apart from
this, the subsidiary companies that would be established had
to give sixteen per cent of their annual net revenue to the
state of Iran. In the year when the company was established
Darsy submitted the state 20.000 in cash and the share of
company worth of 20.000 pounds.
After a
short survey, Darsy and his researcher fellows who found
rich oil fields believed that they took hold of a great
wealth. However, they needed a great capital to do advance
research and obtain more proceeds. Therefore, Anglo-Persian
Oil Company Ltd. that is a joint Iranian-British oil
company was set up in London in 1909 with a capital of 2
million pounds. The oil that was taken out for the first
time in 1912 was being exported as crude oil. This oil was
43 thousand tons in the first year and in 1914 this amount
was increased to 274 tons. The connection that was made
between the two states through Iranian-British joint oil
company Anglo-Persian Oil Company Ltd. did not come to an
end. The UK which had been looking covetously at the rich
territories of Iran for 300 years penetrated through this
weak point and began to make itself felt in every field of
the country. The weak policies of the State of Iran in the
era of Ghajar Kingdom was making the UK more ambitious to
this end.
It was
ironical that somebody called Mirpench Reza Khan turned up
in Iran when everything was going well for the UK. Reza
Khan who was known for his oppression that changed the fate
of Iran subsequently became the Minister of War and after a
while managed to take hold of the Iranian kingdom throne.
Iran’s real source of revenue at the time was oil as it is
always the case and the new king needed more money to
fortify its own throne and to conduct some reforms in the
country. To this end, Reza Shah began asking for more share
and funds from the UK that had been exploiting our oil for
years through Anglo-Persian Oil Company. The UK that
supported Reza Shah Pahlavi initially did not consider the
reforms which Shah sought to introduce and the policies
which he pursued in the following period in parallel with
its own interests and wanted to destroy this newly
established kingdom. We can give the Sheyh Khozal insurgency
as an example for the initiatives which were materialized
within this framework.
While the
strife between the UK and Reza Shah was escalating, Shah
gave the Iranian Finance Ministry order to abolish the Darcy
Company. With this decision Reza Shah was signaling Darcy
Company and the British State that ‘he wanted to obtain more
oil revenues.’
With the
spread of this news, Iranian people went out to the streets
and displayed their joy. ‘The telegrams of congratulation’
that were sent to state departments then proved the fact
that the people were so fed up with the influence of the
foreigners. On the other hand, the political circles of the
Anglo-Persian Company Oil Company and the UK which were only
able to observe the events but unable to intervene were
wishing to review the agreements which had been made with
the State of Iran. The UK that was in need of the rich oil
wealth in Iran was doing everything in its power. A
delegation that arrived at Iran from the UK arranged ‘the
Agreement of 1933’ between the representatives of the two
companies. This agreement was submitted to the Assembly and
it was approved within two weeks. Thus Darsy Company
restarted its production and sale of oil. Despite these
events, the mentioned company and the UK was continuing to
pay Iran’s shares and cash revenues with delays. This
situation was exasperating Reza Shah Pahlavi.
It was at
this time that dark clouds of the World War II began to
gather over Europe and the Nazi Germany planned to ride its
horse of war to all over the world. The Germans and Russians
got closer in the early years of World War II and had good
relations. Reza Shah Pahlavi who was sympathetic to the
ideology and policies which Germany pursued and provided a
special place to the German engineers in various reformist
projects that were materialized in Iran was intending to
take advantage of this process. Seeing the opportunity in
the two important and great war poles getting closer, Shah
opened the debt book of the UK which became weak at the time
and demanded all the debts remained from the oil sales. The
cunning British who were surprised completely in this case
accepted to pay Iranian’s debts. (Yet, they have never
forgotten this action of Reza Shah.) Meanwhile; the British
began siding against Germany and Russia. After a while,
everything began developing in the direction which the UK
wished.
The BBC
Persian Department that was set up in 1940 by Hasan Muvaghar
Balyozi, the son of Mohammad Khan Movagharaldoleh who was of
Bahai origin and was a member of Ghajar family began radio
broadcast with a duration of an hour a week. Like the other
foreign press and news agencies BBC was feeding on its
embassies in various countries then. Meanwhile, the UK that
was known for its nickname “old fox” in Iran spread the
habit of radio listening among people through BBC Persian
Department and began its propaganda activities against
Pahlavi. From then on the people were gathering in the
gardens of the rich who had radios in their houses and were
listening to the propaganda against Reza Pahlavi. As a
result of various disinformation activities which were
carried out by BBC in a planned way the Iranian people began
advocating that “the state which Reza Shah set up was in
fact “British mandate”. As a result of this propaganda a
deep rift occurred between the people and Shah. Tyrannical
Shah Reza Pahlavi who had been planning to take his country
to a new future with minimum means was left alone so much
that even his own shadow was escaping from him. Meanwhile,
the interest and the unnecessary persistence displayed for
this closeness worried the UK and Russia that were in
position of the old friends of Iran. Propaganda which is the
most important instruments of political influence in their
foreign policy was included in the circuit just at this
point. The first systematic propaganda example that was
applied by the UK during World War I. was edited towards
Iran this time and the closeness between the UK and Russia
due to Shah’s love of Germany has prepared the end of Reza
Shah Pahlavi. For, as a result of closeness between Britain
and Russia Reza Shah’s state toppled and Shah was exiled.
However, the real actor of this game was BBC. The role
assumed by BBC in this game was “to present Shah as if he
were a traitor to the people”. The stages of propaganda that
“arousing suspicion regarding beliefs and values and shaking
these values”, “alienating from adopted beliefs and thoughts
and making one unable to defend them, make one loose its
belief”, “indoctrinating new ideas and opposite belief”,
“making one adopt new ideas and raising the adoption level
to the extent of defending the new views” have been applied
on the Iranian people through BBC and in the end the
intended result was achieved.
BBC Persian
Department which came to the fore among the news agencies
influenced the fate of Iran and Iranians and altered the
developments in this country in the direction of the UK’s
interests. One of these events occurred in the process of
“28 Mordad Coup” in the time of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The
subject appeared in the documents published by CIA recently
in the following way: “the UK implemented a hostile policy
towards ‘nationalization policy’ on oil implemented by the
Iranian President Dr. Mohammad Mosadegh and its policy was
supported by BBC News Agency”. Based on these documents, it
has been announced that ‘BBC, in one of the programs in
English, broadcast a code to Shah to show its support for
the coup occurred against Mosadegh’. Despite these, the UK
avoided to publish information, documents or make denial
regarding the 28 Mordad Coup. In fact, the order for the
conduct of 28 Mordad Coup was given by the UK Prime Minister
Churchill and the USA President Eisenhover. The UK which
intended to take the revenge of the nationalization of the
oil industry in Iran was also worried that Communists will
dominate Iran. Meanwhile, “the planned coup” would take
place in 1952 however, the Prime Minister Mosadeq was
informed about that. He closed down the Embassy of the UK in
Tehran and deported the diplomats. 4 days before the coup
which took place 18 August 1953 (28 Mordad 1332), a group of
officers from CIA had gathered in safe villa in Tehran and
had been listening to the codes broadcast from BBC. It was
right at this point that BBC accompanied the dirty game that
was carried out to prevent the nationalization of oil and
the following demand of the people for democracy and
influenced the fate of the Iranian people once more.
The
significant and broad influence of BBC on the Iranian
society is also apparent in the subsequent revolution that
took place against Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. BBC and Persian
Department in particular were providing direction to the
revolution by broadcasting anti-Pahlavi propaganda. The oil
prices that reached 38 dollars per barrel were intolerable
and it was believed that the real reason for this was the
fact that Shah was getting increasingly stronger in the
Middle East and was acting as if he had assumed the role of
gendarme. For, Shah was intending to use the oil at his own
initiative, sell this natural wealth of his country through
OPEC and set the prices. West would not remain silent about
this, of course. BBC was put in charge for this purpose and
the old files were opened again. The game restarted.
BBC that
knows very well how to alter the fate of many societies
around the world, particularly the Iranian people and Iran
was humiliating Shah continuously and indicating methods to
his opponents in its broadcast listened in surprise. Shah
who voiced his discontent many times with the broadcasts of
BBC had to leave Iran in the end and the revolution that
was started by the hand of BBC was concluded with victory
for the Westerners. Two years after the revolution Iran-Iraq
War started and the prices for “the nationalized oil”
declined to 5-8 dollars per barrel. Thus BBC played its role
well and the UK saved the West from an economic crisis.
As can be
seen through these examples, BBC Persian department managed
to deceive and influenced them through its nasty games…
Moreover this scenario is still taking place. To give an
example from the recent past; in the BBC Internet website
the news report for the demonstrations in Tabriz, Urumiya
and other cities of South Azerbaijan were started to be
posted very briefly and only with the dimension of the
arrest of the cartoonist - after a week-long boycott by BBC
(!) – during the cartoon crisis occurred in South Azerbaijan.
A delay for the broadcast of a news report in an ordinary
agency can be considered natural initially. However, given
the communication network of BB, it can not be possible to
define this event ‘only as a delay’. This situation strikes
as ‘a nasty boycott’.
The most
important point that must be emphasized in international
politics is ‘political propaganda’ which seeks to spread the
ideas that will alter political ideas-beliefs and opinions
of the human communities and thus states in the direction of
the source’s interests. We all know that a balance that is
difficult to destroy has formed at this point where the
nuclear weapons have been improved and the power limits have
been increased to the maximum. This fact has made the
countries find a bloodless type of war in obtaining their
national aims and interests and their defense. As a result
propaganda which used to be given a limited importance and
applied in a limited area was taken as the base for a new
type of war and it was given a name. This war is the
Political War that uses all the capabilities apart from the
general armed war and its most important weapon is
propaganda.
BBC is an
instrument that has applied “the political propaganda” in
the best way throughout the history. Considered that BBC
Persian Internet website is visited by 7 million in average
every month, it is impossible to understand how grave the
situation is. We should know that BBC is continuing to play
with the fate of the Iranian society this time through
modern tools – in other words via Internet – … Under the
light of these general assessments; in our opinion, the
beginning of BBC Persian TV broadcast is a method of work
which cane too late … It should be known that the Iranian
people that like very much the BBC broadcast are awaiting
this television channel with curiosity…
However, in
the meantime, the Iranian people should decide “WHETHER THEY
WILL PLAY THE GAME ACCORDING TO THE RULES SET BY BBC OR
UNDER THE SCOPE OF NATIONAL INTERESTS.”
