Remember 'that' France ...?

"France should keep this love of freedom of expression and the diversity of cultures and peoples".
-Reza

Born in Iran and granted French citizenship, Reza set up both his Webistan agency and the non-governmental organisation, Aïna, which works in Afghanistan, in Paris.

In the 1970s Reza was sentenced to three years in prison for political activism against the regime of the Shah. "There was only one book in my cell, left there by chance. It was How to Learn French," he says, smiling.

When he came out of prison the revolution had begun. He reported on the repression of the Kurds by the new regime, published in particular in the French magazine, Paris Match. In 1981 he was wounded while covering the Iran-Iraq war, and treated at a hospital in Paris.

Learning that the Iranian secret police were looking for him, he settled in France, the country which "recognised the quality of my work" he says with feeling. "France should keep this love of freedom of expression and the diversity of cultures and peoples".

I was researching the famous Turkish photographer, Göksin Sipahioglu, and found this interesting site .

Göksin Sipahioglu is a Turk who has lived in Paris for almost forty years. He founded one of the biggest photographic agencies in the world, Sipa Press in 1973.

From the time he first started out as a journalist and photographer in Turkey, Göksin Sipahioglu knew that in Paris he would find the media to publish his reports. He was not mistaken.

In 1965, sent as a correspondent to the French capital by the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet, he decided to stay.

"Paris was a centre for the international press. From here I could easily leave to cover stories anywhere at all and then come back and sell them to newspapers all over the world. That wasn’t possible anywhere else!" he explains.