Word: ayatullah
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
With the referendum behind him, the next step for Khomeini was to name the members of his new government. But this process was suddenly interrupted by the revolt of the Azerbaijani Turks, who follow the leadership of Iran's second most powerful ayatullah, Sharietmadari. They number about 13 million out of Iran's total population of 35 million, and have long sought autonomy. When Sharietmadari expressed mild reservations about the new constitution-he wanted some checks on Khomeini's power-and said that he would boycott the polls, most of his followers in Azerbaijjrfi followed suit...
...trouble in the province of Kurdistan, to the south of Azerbaijan. The 4 million Kurds, who revolted unsuccessfully against Tehran's rule last summer, had boycotted the referendum too. Late last week Khomeini's revolutionary guards that were supposed to pull out of Kurdistan stayed on. The Ayatullah also faces potential trouble among Iran's other minorities, particularly the Baluchi tribesmen in the southeast, Turkomans in the northeast and the Arabs in the southwest...
Republicans were more outspoken. Said John Connally: "I am sure that Ayatullah Khomeini is pleased to hear Senator Kennedy's remarks." George Bush felt that the statement "might endanger the lives of the hostages" and raises "serious questions about Kennedy's judgment on foreign policy." Press comment was strongly unfavorable and occasionally stinging. The Washington Post: "It wasn't right, it wasn't responsible, and it wasn't smart." The Atlanta Constitution: "Kennedy, in a cynical campaign ploy against the incumbent President who cannot respond, has publicly sided with the Khomeini anarchy in Iran...
...faction of the student radicals is composed of seminarians from the theological college at Qum, the holy city where the Ayatullah Khomeini resides. Many others are from Tehran campuses. One Tehran University professor says he knows of four students from his own department who took part in the assault, and a teacher at Melli University in the city reports that about 90 students from his campus joined the takeover...
...York City, N.G. Slater Corp. manufactures buttons that bear anti-Iranian vulgarisms. There are numerous varieties of Khomeini dart boards and targets for sharpshooters. One dart board features a caricature of the Ayatullah holding a lighted match to his posterior. In Bedford Park, Ill., Michael McCormack was inspired to make Khomeini dart boards by a diaper serviceman who lined his truck with pictures of the Ayatullah and threw soiled diapers on them. Says McCormack: "We have sold 200,000 to everyone from little old ladies to a kid who wants to peddle them in grammar school...