21/01/2013
The Persian Saluki is facing a severe threat and we, as a group of independent breeders and lovers of this dog, deem it necessary to enlighten the international community of some facts. The Saluki's future is threatened in its home country and hence we believe it is important to put all of our energy on its survival. Some of the kennels that have signed this letter have been active for the past fifty years, having weathered many a storm and always put a great effort into their work.
Alas, even with the dire situation of the Saluki in mind, some profit-oriented people have stepped into the scene and creating serious problems with the immoral and dishonest behavior.
One of these people is Mr. "Arman Torkzaban" who has started dealing with Salukis in the recent years. The likes of Mr. Torkzaban have nothing but their monetary gain in mind and care little for the future of a pure breed and thus put the dogs in danger. Mr. Torkzaban has a very bad record with the Iranian kennels, due to his lies and improper finances. Therefore he has teamed up with profit-hungry people and founded a Kennel (or company) called "Bourchin", and using this company Mr. Torkzaban has imported some salukis from outside Iran. Bearing in mind the importance of the purity of the breed in Iran, one can imagine the graveness of this matter. Impure stock from outside the country is a imminent danger to the Iranian stock. What is worse is that Mr. Torkzaban has been deceitfully gifting pups born of these impure parents as "pure Persian salukis", both inside and outside of Iran. Along with this so-called "gift" came a receipt of USD1500, for food and shelter expenses, much to the dismay of the new owners of these gifts. Such actions certainly ruin the face of Iranian breeders in the international community.
Arman Torkzaban has been spending a lot of time on Facebook and other websites that deal with Persian salukis and has weblogs on this matter. There he tries to attract international help falsely claiming that he has been vaccinating 800 Salukis!!! in rural areas of Iran, thus creating a following for himself. In addition has he been defaming people that are established in the breeding of Salukis. Each kennel that he has broken up with becomes the target of his falsifications, but now the kennels are gathering for legal action. This includes both Iranian and International kennels and breeders.
We are consisted of the Mahmudiye, Kurdistan, Persica, Joopar and Arge -e- Sahra kennels. We believe it is important to put a hold on this kind of activity, so people in and out of Iran and the international community may be aware of the wrongdoings of Mr. Torkzaban and the danger these present to the Persian saluki. Please do not fall for the likes of Arman Torkzaban.
It is important to stress that none of us work with Mr. Torkzaban in any way.
Margaret Hutemann-Tamp, Mahmudiye Kennel, Tehran, Iran
Ali Golshan, Mahmudiye Kennel, Tehran, Iran
Ali Seifi, Joopar Kennel, Kerman, Iran
Sharif Tavanaee, Kurdistan Kennel, Sanandaj, Iran
Jamil tavanaee, Kurdistan Kennel, Sanandaj, Iran
Abbas Noorbakhsh, Persica Kennel, Shiraz, Iran
Alireza Keshani, chairman of ACI, Germany
Amir Javani, Arg-E-Sahra Kennel, Isfahan, Iran
