German-Armenian Society (DAG) Web: www.dag-online.de Contact: Ilyas Kevork Uyar Gernsheimer Str. 17 51107 Koln e-mail: post@dag-online.de German-Armenian Society Berlin series of lectures We would like to inform you on Monday 8th of November at 7:30 pm to the Hessian permanent representation located in the Ministergärten 5 10117 Berlin to the lecture of Dr. Raoul Motika University of Heidelberg and Ruhr-University Bochum about the subject „Iran and Armenia in History and Today” Iran and the Armenian people are connected with each other for more than two thousand years. even the pre-Islamic Iranian empires comprised territories settled by Armenians. Wars and conflicts as well as co-operation and mutual cultural relations alternated with each other. The lecture shortly presents the historical background before describing the position of the Armenians in the Islamic Republic of Iran and discussing the current relationship between Armenia and Iran in the context of the political situation in Southern Caucasia. Dr. Raoul Motika (University of Heidelberg and Ruhr-University Bochum) is a scholar working on the Islamic world with a focus on the history politics and religions of the Turco-Iranian world. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on Iranian history. As Director of the Heidelberg Centre for Euro-Asiatic Studies he is currently concentrating on the question of a possible EU-membership of Turkey. At the University of Bochum he is coordinating an international research group on Islamic education in the Soviet Union and the CIS. Another research group lead by him at the University of Heidelberg works on the change of rituals of Alevis Yezidis and Nusayris in a transnational context. During his numerous research stays in Iran Turkey the Caucasus and Central Asia he gained deep insights into the societies of these countries.