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| Iran |
| Iran Reformists: Open up or face same fate as Saddam |
| 2003-05-07 |
| EFL Reformist Iranian MPs made a bold appeal Wednesday to the Islamic republic's powerful and entrenched conservative camp to give way to reforms and normalise relations with the outside world — or else risk the same fate as Saddam Hussein. An open letter, signed by 153 deputies in the 290-seat Majlis and read out in the chamber, warned that Iran was in "a critical situation" and the establishment risked losing the support of people who had overwhelmingly voted for reform. And in calling for normalised foreign relations, the letter did not exclude ties with the United States — touching on a taboo topic that is steadily becoming the subject of mounting internal debate. "The majority of Iranians are waiting for reforms, but have reached the conclusion that their votes are meaningless," the MPs wrote, citing the low turnout in February's municipal elections that saw backers of embattled moderate President Mohammad Khatami suffer an unprecedented defeat. "Following the installation of American forces in Afghanistan and the occupation of Iraq, the threat has arrived at our borders," the letter stated, alluding to Iran's place in US President George W. Bush's "axis of evil". Calling on Iran's clerical establishment to "attract confidence at home and abroad", the MPs also acknowledged that Iran remained isolated on the international stage. In an apparent reference to relations with the US — severed after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the subsequent embassy hostage crisis — the MPs called for a "more active diplomacy on the international scene, the objective of which is to normalise relations with other countries... Once again we insist on the fact that we bring reforms to reduce the gap between the people and the establishment." For a country to "face foreign threats, the people have to support the establishment ..." "Those who are against reforms should not expect us to remain silent under the pretext that our country is threatened," the MPs wrote, repeating the determination of the reformist-held parliament not to give in to the stiffling of its efforts to open up Iran. Since being first elected president in 1997, Khatami has seen his brand of "Islamic glasnost" consistently blocked by conservative-run institutions, while legislation from parliament - held by reformists since 1999 -- is regularly shot down by unelected oversight bodies, also conservative run. The reform movement has also seen scores of its members targeted by the judiciary - another bastion of the religious right. In turn, conservatives allege that while the reform movement may be popular among the burgeoning youth population, it is undermining the values of the Islamic republic while failing to address core economic woes. While the letter from the MPs took a cautious step in the foreign affairs debate, the reformist party Hambasteghi (Solidarity) issued a separate statement calling for four-way and direct talks between Iran, the US, the United Nations and Iraqi representatives over Iraq's political future. "There was a time," the party said, "when the United States was a country on the other side of the ocean. Unfortunately, now they are our neighbours on all sides. They noticed. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 I don't think Iran has any say in Iraq's poitical future. If I were Hambasteghi I would be asking for direct talks with the US over their own political future...as in: "how soon can you withdraw 4ID from Tehran and let us establish a provisional government?" |
| Posted by: Watcher 2003-05-07 21:10:54 |
| #1 How about 3-way talks? Leave out the UN and one will save a bundle in time and money. And you would not have to worry about getting your pocket picked and your lunch lifted. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-05-07 13:54:56 |