UAE | General
'The way Dubai has developed is like magic'
Iranians say their community has flourished over the years.
- By Abbas Al Lawati, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:08 February 18, 2008
- Image Credit: Hadrian Hernandez/Gulf News
- An Iranian shopkeeper in the Al Seef area near Dubai Creek. Many Iranians have been drawn to the emirate due to its lifestyle and welcoming approach.
Dubai: Ahmad Golchin first came to Dubai in 1963, during the days of camels, the Qatar and Dubai Riyal and one open-air cinema, as he recalls. Back then, he says, there simply wasn't much here.
Since then, Golchin has seen Dubai grow, and with it he has seen his community flourish.
"There were some Iranians here when I first came, but the migration of Iranians came in three waves after the Islamic Revolution, the Iran-Iraq war and the Kuwait-Iraq war," he said.
Golchin was a publisher in Iran who was on a lengthy transit in Dubai, planning to settle down in Australia or the United States. Today, he is still here and does not seem to have any regrets, as he now owns Gulf Film, parent company to one of the largest film distributors in the region.
When he first came, Golchin found one cinema at Baniyas square which played old Hindi, Iranian and English movies.
"The tickets cost three riyals and instead of a parking lot we had a place to keep your camels and donkeys while you watched the movie," he recalls, referring to the currency used before the dirham was introduced.
The square was next to what was then a far end of the city, next to a cemetery.
"It was the only form of entertainment, and it accommodated up to 1,700 people".
Iranians in the UAE, he says, have prospered in a very short time. The stability of the emirate in a volatile region as well as its "good management" is what attracted the Iranian community, among many others, here.
"The way Dubai has developed is like magic. I started from zero here."
Open-minded
Canadian-Iranian lawyer Sam Bayat moved to Dubai 15 years ago to provide legal services to the growing Iranian community here. For him, Dubai has been one of the most open-minded and welcoming places for Iranians in the world.
"It is very difficult for Iranians to get visas for most countries in the world, except the UAE. It's a place where Iranians feel secure and close to home," he says.
Ease of doing business with Iran, political stability and Farsi being widely spoken contributed to Iranians choosing to live here, he says.
"We now have Iranians working in Tehran and living in Dubai, and there are almost two dozen flights a day to Iran from the UAE," he said.
He notes that for many Iranians, Dubai is a place where they can be free. When Iranian performers like Dariush and Googoosh want to perform for Iranians, they often do so in Dubai, and their audiences follow them here.
Iranian entrepreneur Ali Poursafar, 26, agrees that Dubai offers a combination of East and West that makes people from all over the world comfortable to live here.
"Iranian people have had many opportunities in Dubai. The lifestyle and the standard of living and education are attractive for them, besides being so close in proximity," he said.
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