KHATAMI CONFIRMS HIS ISOLATION
By an IPS Correspondent
TEHRAN 24 Aug. (IPS) Iranian powerless President Mohammad Khatami confirmed
Saturday his growing isolation by stating that the reforms he promised are being
implemented despite "some obstacles", which he did not identify.
Speaking to journalists at Grand ayatollah Roohollah Khomeini’s grandiose mausoleum on the start of the "Government week", Mr. Khatami, while reiterating his and the government’s allegiance to the leader of the Islamic Revolution, said, "despite some shortcomings in economic, cultural and political fields, the government has done great jobs".
However, he did not elaborate on the "great works" he has achieved in the five years he is in power, except for more than 85 publications being closed, a dozen of influential journalists, lawyers, lawmakers, intellectuals and dissidents, including clerics imprisoned, millions of jobless, hundreds of bankrupt factories shut, the brutal repression on the students and staggering rise of corruption and prostitution and thousands of brains fleeing the country.
Observers also noted that contrary to his usual criticism of the conservatives he would blame for the failure of his promised reforms, he contented with a mild admission to "shortcomings", without identifying them or saying who is responsible.
The president said that his government would go ahead with its reform program, adding that the economic reform launched by the government has heralded "bright prospects", according to the official news agency IRNA.
Mr. Khatami’s remarks, vague, inarticulate, almost senseless, coming at a time that the country is ripe with rumours about an "emergency state", or a "coup" to be proclaimed by Ayatollah Aki Khameneh'i, confirms his growing alienation from the realities on the ground and his gradual separation form the reform movement in the one hand and his allegiance to the conservatives on the other.
He described the media as the tribunes for the people to speak out their views and that they should undertake supervisory role over the government system, but at the same time he cautioned the press against deceiving people by exaggerating feuds and conflicts, stopping short of emphasising or even naming the increased tensions between the ruling conservatives and reformists.
Government Spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, speaking Saturday at a gathering of provincial public relations official, said that some people are trying to show that Khatami's government is "inept".
Though he did not named those who try to portrait the government of Mr. Khatami as "inept", analysts said he was referring to the reformers who, in growing number, are deserting the President.
"On hearing the President, one gets the impression that the country is at peace, that reforms are going ahead without major obstacle, that respect for the law is supreme, human rights are honoured and the Islamic civil society, or the city of the learned and elite, has been established", one journalist present at the ceremonies told IPS after the event.
Analysts noted that until recently, Mr. Khatami would openly, albeit indirectly, would blame the ruling conservatives for preventing him to implement the reforms he promised during the 1997 electoral campaign, admitting that the hard liners would create "one major obstacle every nine days".
Mr. Khatami’s silence on the recent events has clearly angered most of the reformers supporting him, to the point that some have suggested him to resign and the reformists get out of the establishment.
"Our country has enormous opportunities one the one hand, and is exposed to different external and internal threats, on the other, the embattled President told journalists, adding: "We should work hard to seize the opportunities for the progress of the country".
But observers said because of the antagonistic policies adopted by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, especially in regard to the United States, not only Washington has placed the Islamic Republic among "evil states", but also has abandoned the President that until recently was described by Western media and government as "moderate".
Beginning from Saturday, the Government Week" marks the anniversary of the 1981 terrorist bomb blast at prime minister's office, in which both the then president Mohammad Ali Raja’i and Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar were killed. ENDS KHATAMI ISOLATION 24802