The beginning of the ceasefire and the end of the Iran-Iraq war.

If we were to choose just one event as one of the most important events in the history of August 20, we would probably have to go with August 20, 1988. This day marked the beginning of the ceasefire between Iran and Iraq and effectively ended the eight-year war. The war, which had begun on September 22, 1980, ended after nearly eight years with the acceptance of UN Security Council Resolution 598 and the agreement of both sides to a ceasefire.

According to the UN plan, the ceasefire was implemented on the fronts from the early morning of August 20, 1988. This end had a very complex meaning for Iran. The war had begun with slogans about resistance, liberating territories, and continuing the struggle until victory. But in the final years, its human and economic cost had become extremely heavy. Eventually, the Islamic Republic accepted Resolution 598, and Khomeini described its acceptance as a very bitter decision. But the end of the war did not mean the end of violence.

In that same summer of 1988, the mass execution of political prisoners had begun in Iran's prisons. There is serious disagreement over the number of victims, but the occurrence of these executions has been documented by numerous sources. These executions intensified after the Mujahedin-e-Khalq organization's "Forough-e Javidan" operation in late July and early August.

For this reason, August 20, 1988, has a strange historical contradiction: outside the prisons, the war was ending; inside the prisons, one of the darkest chapters in the political history of the Islamic Republic was unfolding. This is perhaps one of the most important features of Iran's history: the end of one crisis does not always mean the end of violence.