Leaving the motherland- I

Because of toughness of life in the country, many have emigrated to the West. Three waves of emigration have occurred here:

If we forget the members of former system of power in Iran and those in Shah's gang who fled the country and took refuge in the States right after the Revolution in Feb 1979, the first group left the country two years after the Revolution when the suppression of political groups (mostly leftists) began in 1981. Fleeing the country to save their lives, they took refuge in Turkey and neighboring countries and finally ended in Europe. The members and supporters of groups backed by former Soviet Union picked the route through the former Soviet republics. After some years in Soviet Union, they joined others in Western Europe when Soviet Union collapsed in 1992. The first wave of emigration mainly consisted political opponents in their 30s and their families. The main objective was just survival. If they stayed in country, most probably they would have faced death as those who didn't make to flee the country.
The second wave occurred after the end of the eight year war against Iraq in 1988. This group mainly consisted the graduates of best universities of the country. Very talented, sharp and success-potential young ones, felt they had no future in their homeland and preferred to leave and seek a better future in the West. This wave is going on steadily so far. Beside the economic reasons, what many sought was a bit of personal freedom. I believe although the life was tough here, if this group had some social freedom they never thought of leaving family and country for an unknown future in a new environment.
When Khatami came to power in 1997, blossoms of hope flourished everywhere. Many thought that there was a hope for a better future. Surprisingly enough, some of those who had emigrated, began to get back to country. They came hesitantly. Some sent their families first to see what was life like in the country they had left two decades before.

To be continued...