Have you ever wonder what it would be like if you didn’t have the right to vote for a president? Yes, it would be difficult being controlled by a king, but Margarit Aslanyan lived with the ruling of king Shah for many years of her life. Margarit Aslanyan was born in Iran, Tayran on July 21, 1935. Now seventy-one year old citizen in Glendale California couldn’t be happier with her move from Iran to America and becoming a free American. As we walked to the dining room table to begin our interview she took her seat, then turned to me and smile while saying “years came and went by very quickly.” As we continue with our interview Margarit Aslanyan explained, “In Iran, Shah was our owner, our master...our KING!”
My country Iran was ruled by one man, Shah, who was the king and he got into position by continuous ruling by generation. Like…Shah took the place of his father, and Shah’s father took the place of his father, and it goes back like that. Personally… for me…there hasn’t been a time where I disliked the ruling of Shah…but…I mean… I am sure other people have thought about it. Those people who thought about it might have wanted to do something but we weren’t allowed to go against the king. In Iran Shah was our owner, our master…our KING! What Shah said was what was to be followed…yes we were given rights…some rights…but over all we were under the control of our king.
In Iran we the people were given individual rights but to a limited extent. We were given the freedom of religion and we were allowed to believe what we wished to believe. Personally I have always been a Christian but in Iran there were many Muslims as well. Most of the population was Persian in Iran… Their voice was a lot and they had more people…even though we had the right to any religion we wanted…butt 90% of the population was Islamic. Muslim people had their beliefs …and they lived their separate lives and we Christians lived our own separate lives. Everyone had their own beliefs….and for Muslim people they had their rules that were forced…but in general the religion and religious beliefs were not forced. Christians with their own will and their own decision went to church on Sundays…but Christians went to their own church and Muslims went to theirs.
We had a limited amount of newspapers and news station as well. We had seven…um no no ten…actually…fifteen newspapers and around seven or eight news stations. Even though the news papers and the news station were given rights, there were certain topics that were not allowed to be cover, for example the likes and dislikes against Shah. No, in Iran we weren’t allowed to talk bad about Shah. We were given rights…yes…but never to go against the government and authorities. If we didn’t like a certain way the Shah was running the country we weren’t allowed to say so. We didn’t allow our selves to make that mistake and say we don’t like Shah, because we had great life styles and we had nothing to complain about most of the time.
For people who make mistakes well small mistakes they give a charge and if u steal they give u a charge first you pay for the police charges and then the amount for the object that is stolen…you give the money or else you go to jail…The police system worked really well and the police had nothing to do with the people unless u do a wrong and if your on the street they will stop u and first he will introduce him self and shake our hands then he will tell us our mistake and our consequence or ticket payment...and we would have to take that to the head police and pay the payment or do the consequence. During the ruling under king Shah there was no beating, wiping, or torture allowed…no hitting with rocks…we lives very calm lives with no torture. No! Punishments was given only if he or she made a mistake the police would stop them and explain nicely the mistake that they have made and secondly they would be give a ticket by the police.
There was no election in Iran continuously a family member would be chosen for the throne. Back in the days when king Shah was in charge and the throne was passed from generation to generation there was no election…the only thing was that it was passed on from family to family.
The beginning wage was giving by the job completed and what the job area was…office workers got a certain wage…and other places had their own wages. Store workers got paid at a different amount then and office worker answering phone calls…the wage was figured by the type of job completed. The whole entire month was probably around seven hundred dollars to about one thousand dollars. In some offices woman were hired to make coffee. And others were hired to be head accountants. Women were treated as well as men were and there was no separation based on a human’s sex. Also the women were granted the same amount of right any man had. In our days everyone was treated equally. Shah’s rules set out to everyone that no matter the religious difference or even sexuality difference a human being is human no matter the situation.
Daily life in Iran was good we all lived well…from the rich people to the poor we all lived well with the amount we had and the level we were at in life. The rich people lived very well. High class people at their own level and middle class people at there own level but over all we lived well lives as a daily routine. Iran Tehran I had a house with an excellent life style and a beautiful family; I have a wonderful life in Iran. We had a business and I had children who we paid for to send them to private Armenian school. To keep the Armenian respect we made our children go to school from first to twelfth grade in a private Armenian school. We put our children into private school because in private school they taught out children how to speak, read and write in Armenian as well as Persian. In public school the only language taught was Persian and every Armenian family wanted their children to be able to read and write as well as speak Armenian.
From morning to night I had a good time. In the morning I woke up I took my children to school, then came back home and began to make lunch. I drank my coffee as a daily routine at ten o clock sharp and at twelve the children came home on a lunch break for two hours. After their two hours is over I took them back to school at two o clock. By that time the children go home the dinner was cooked and the table was set. As a family tradition we would have dinner all together and before we ate we would say a little prayer thanking god for our wonderful life and the food that is set onto our dinner table. After dinner the children would start on their homework and I would continue cleaning the house. As night would come, around nine o ‘clock the children would head to bed and as we sleep the next morning we would start a new day with the same routine. Therefore I was considered a house wife.
I left Iran in 1971 on April 5. I went to Armenia Abovian. There I had a great life and my husband worked as a taxi driver. I went to Armenia in 1971 and I left Armenia in 1980 to come to America. I came to Glendale Californian and I have been living here for twenty five years.
Interviewed by me