Iranian writer says wars happen because of West’s fake definition of peace

Iranian writer Habib Ahmadzadeh (2nd L) attends “Belgrade Counterpoint 2019”.

TEHRAN – Habib Ahmadzadeh, the author of the Iranian bestselling war novel “Chess with the Doomsday Machine”, has said that the reason behind the wars in the world is the fake definition of peace as presented by the West. 

He made the remarks during the international conference Belgrade Counterpoint 2019 held in the Serbian capital of Belgrade on June 17 and 18. “Art in Times of Crisis and War” was the subject discussed at the conference.

Ahmadzadeh said that wars occur only because the West gives a fake definition of real and sustainable peace.

He also noted that ignoring injustice can also act as the main reason behind any war, and that the hyperbolized word “peace” as defined in the West is merely a pain reliever for a patient who is suffering from cancer.

“We Iranians are perhaps the only nation in the world that does not believe in this fake definition, and that is why the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, bravely did not accept the letter from (U.S. President) Donald Trump,” he said at the conference.

“I think there is no humiliating joke worse than this in the world that Trump with 3,000 atomic bombs, gives a letter to the prime minister of the country which was once invaded by the U.S atomic bombs, to bring to our country that itself believes making atomic bombs is haram and forbidden,” explained Ahmadzadeh, whose novel on the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war “Chess with the Doomsday Machine” was published in Serbian last year. 

A number of writers including Serbian-Swiss writer and publisher Slobodan Despot, Serbian director Emir Kusturica, and Russian writer German Sadulaev, were among the participating authors at the conference this year.

Belgrade Counterpoint is organized by Serbia’s Ministry of Culture and Information and the Center for Studies in Cultural Development.

The event is an international conference aiming to gather artists and thinkers from different parts of the world, who with their work contribute significantly to an understanding of contemporary global currents.