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This month’s anniversaries

1 Jun 1928 birth of Vladimír Souček, Czech Assyriologist and Hittitologist
2 Jun 1923 birth of Ivan Hrbek, Czech Arabist, Islamologist and Africanist, translator of the Koran into Czech
3 Jun 1910 birth of Wilfred Patrick Thesiger, British explorer of Arab countries and Africa
3 Jun 1963 death of Nâzım Hikmet, Turkish novelist, poet and playwright
3 Jun 1989 death of ayatollah Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran
4 Jun 1915 birth of Modibo Keita (Kéïta), first President of Mali (1960–1968)
6 Jun 1916 birth of Hamani Diori, first President of Niger (1960–1974)
7 Jun 1952 birth of Ferit Orhan Pamuk, Turkish novelist and playwright, recipient of Nobel Prize in Literature 2006
8 Jun 1930 birth of Robert John Aumann, Israeli-American mathematician, recipient of Nobel Prize in Economics 2005
9 Jun 1917 birth of Fulbert Youlou, first president of the Republic of the Congo [Brazzaville] (1960–1963)
9 Jun 1990 death of Vladimír Souček, Czech Assyriologist and Hittitologist
9 Jun 2007 death of Ousmane Sembène, prominent Senegalese film maker and writer, nicknamed „father of African film“
13 Jun 1892 birth of Bertram Thomas, first European who crossed Rub al-Khali desert
15 Jun 1918 birth of François (since 1973 N’Garta) Tombalbaye, first president of Chad (1960–1975)
17 Jun 1953 birth of Mohamed Mustafa el Baradei, Egyptian diplomat and politician, recipient of Nobel Peace Prize 2005
18 Jun 1953 declaration of Egyptian Republic
19 Jun 1917 birth of Zbyněk Žába, Czech Egyptologist
19 Jun 1917 birth of Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo, leader of anticolonial struggle in Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe)
19 Jun 1961 independence of Kuwait (from the United Kingdom)
20 Jun 1960 independence of Mali (from France, as part of Mali Federation)
20 Jun 1960 independence of Senegal (from France, as part of Mali Federation)
20 Jun 2000 death of Svetozár Pantůček, Czech Arabist
21 Jun 1037 death of Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdallah ibn al-Hasan ibn Sina (Avicenna), Persian polymath, nicknamed „father of modern medicine“
21 Jun 1947 birth of Shirin Ebadi, Iranian lawyer and human rights activist, recipient of Nobel Peace Prize 2003
22 Jun 1939 birth of Ada E. Yonath, Israeli crystallographer, recipient of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009
25 Jun 1975 independence of Mozambique (from Portugal)
26 Jun 1960 independence of Madagascar (from France)
27 Jun 1977 independence of former British Somaliland (from the United Kingdom)
27 Jun 1977 independence of Djibouti (from France)
29 Jun 1842 birth of Josef Wünsch, Czech explorer, who discovered the sources of Tigris (1883)
29 Jun 1976 independence of Seychelles (from the United Kingdom)
30 Jun 1868 birth of Alois Musil, Czech Orientalist, ethnographer and explorer
30 Jun 1960 independence of Congo, present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo (from Belgium)