Mr. Joschka Fisher,
Minister of Foreign
Affairs
Werderscher Markt 1,
10117 Berlin
Dear Mr. Fischer, July 2003
I would like to
take the historic occasion of the June 17. 1953, the day of people’s uprising against the
totalitarian SED regime in East Germany, which went into history as the day of
the German Unity, the day that Mr. Johannes Rau, the President of Federal
Republic called as a milestone in German history to draw your attention on the
last week events in our country, Iran.
As you know for
several days in Iran, the students have been demonstrating against the
totalitarian theocratic regime of Mullah. The centre of these demonstrations is
in Teheran University, where thousands of students protest widely against a
regime, that has been suppressing, torturing and executing the people of Iran
in the past 25 years, the regime ignores civil and human rights and has
persecuted thousands of who have different political views.
Dear Mr. Minister
of foreign affairs, you know as well as we do, the reasons that these students
demonstrating for and against. For the achievement of human rights and
implementation of a liberally democratic order in our country, i.e. those
virtues, which have become normal since the fall of the Nazi regime in the
Federal Republic of Germany and for which one appreciates today the rising of
the people on 17 June 1953, 50 years after – justly and honours the victims of
the SED dictatorship on this historical day.
Dear Minister of
foreign affairs , as you know, Mrs. Aung San Sun
We Iranian
cordially ask you, why the red-green coalition of Federal Government and
Foreign Ministry of Germany, which is your domain, take no notice of recent
events in Iran as in the case of Burma? Not only have you not raised your voice
against the events of the latest days, i.e. the brutally suppression of
demonstration of Iranian students, but you remained surprisingly silent.
You know that we do
not have free media and press in Iran, and there is no possibility to report on
these events. For months dozens of
critical journalists have been sitting in the prisons in Iran. In the recent days hundreds of demonstrating
students were arrested and abused. Again
and again
Dear Mr. Minister
of foreign affairs, the article 1 of the German Constitution says: “The human dignity cannot be violated."
I assume that this article applies not only to the Germans, but this article
has a universal humanistic and moral meaning, which obligates us all to raise
our voice everywhere over the globe, where the human dignity violated, ignored
or hurt.
Dear Mr. Minister
of foreign affair, at the occasion of 40th anniversary of the general
declaration of the human rights at the United Nations, the Federal Chancellor
at that time, Dr.
We think, you would
also respect these words and would feel the obligation of the German foreign
policy to follow the words with acts, everywhere where people are suppressed
and subjugated.
If we consider the
foreign policy of the Federal Republic of Germany towards the
totalitarian, racist and religiously governed countries in Eastern
Europe, Latin America, Africa and particularly in South Africa in last two
decades, we can unmistakably recognize that the attitude of Germany’s foreign policy toward Iran is
different, the policy that should be accompanied by reliable and objective
criticism of the similar regimes, is lacking toward the regime in Iran which
recently was justifiably called by an Iranian journalist as the republic of the
“knife-battlers”. Even after the indictment of the Mykonus process in
Berlin, in which the so-called religious leaders of the Islamic Republic, Mr.
If we may take
South Africa as an example, Germany made a normalization of political and
economic relations dependent upon the gradual dismantling of the racist and
political repressalien towards the black population. We cordially ask you why
in the case of Iran this admirable policy is applied differently? Of course we
are aware of the fact that the economic interests of the Federal Republic of
Germany probably not only under the
Mr. Minister you yourself, in a speech at the UN
Commission of
You requested at
that time China to put an end to the pursuit of political oppositional, to set
free those who are imprisoned for political or religious reasons, to stop the
suppression of the Tibetan culture and to guarantee for freedom of
religions. Likewise you criticized the
violations of human rights of the Russian security forces in Chechnya and you
demanded an examining committee to see to all encroachments.
Now, Mr. Fischer,
we may ask the question, why couldn’t you bring yourself to have one word over
the permanent violations of human rights in Iran?
The relations
between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Mullah’s regime in Iran under
the
Since the existence
of red-green coalition from 1998, hardly anything changed in the policy toward
the ruling powers of Iran. unfortunately something has been added to the
mentioned primary existing economical interests, i.e. the silent tolerance of
the acts of power abuse of the regime with hope that sometime and somehow, a
hope carrier of the west, like Mr.
This so-called hope
carrier, who had promised the Iranians political - social changes by creation
of civil society in 1996 in his first candidacy for presidency, failed in such
a way in the meantime that at the student demonstrations in last weeks his
resignation is required and is no longer taken seriously by masses of
population.
One should not
overlook that during the past seven years of the presidency of Mr.
Up to now Mr.
Dear Minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Fischer,
the journalist Stefan Weidner writes in Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung of 5th
of June 2003, issue 129, page 42, under the heading of “In The
Each interested politician, who is concerned with the situation in Iran, should read this article and get informed about the true political situation in Iran. I would like to quote some passages from this article and hope that you might rethink and reconsider your past appeasement politics towards the Mullah dictators in Iran.
Mr. Stefan Weidner
writes and I quote: “a large gap exists between the government and the
population, between the rulers and the ruled in Iran, as in Arab world.
The irony of
history devours everything in its suction.
The today's regime in the Teheran has with the Islam of the
revolutionaries of 1979 so little to do, as former existing socialism with the
visions of Marx and Engel’s. Despite this fact Europeans keep firm in their
majority to the concept of “Critical Dialogue” with officials in Iran.
You might present
yourself as cannon fodder for the rhetoric of a totalitarian regime, which has
initially proved itself unreformable against all hopes. It was quite a prestige for the Islamic
regime to be a partner for a political discussion with an European country. A
small career despotic system like Islamic regime to be an equal partner, if not
the special manager of a dialogue with civilizations and as the legal
representative of Islam, that is what
president
“The dialogue of
the cultures is dead ", stated also Udo Steinbach, the director of
While today in
farthest parts of Arab world a relative freedom of press prevails, although the
intellectual discourse is swallowed by the oligarchic sump without
consequences, in Iran any intellectual activity is considered dangerous, same
as former Eastern Bloc such activity, is interpreted as an act which questions the ideology of the system.
All together thinking in Iran is a damned act and would be accordingly pursued,
in some cases of course tolerated, out of strange carelessness. Among the degrading methods of the Islamic
system is usually never to define clearly the exact extent of the tolerance. The
Temptation to think that the present regime could be reformed from inside, had
been entertained by many Iranians including serious philosophers such as Sorush
and Shabestari. By now, these intellectuals have reached the same conclusion
that people of Iran had reached long ago: No reform is possible from within the
system. But still in Europe there are some who still think otherwise and in
order to have dialogue with the present officials make the trip to that land.
But the discourse with Iranians is under Damocles sword and therefore, should
not be considered as genuine. The dialogue with officials and others who can
not express their honest feelings; have distorted the opinion of Europeans and
thus has been hailed as a success.
Still another
discussion offer like the last year journey of Juergen
Could it be a
totalitarian state? Could one count it to the axis of evils? Many Germans keep firm -full of hope - to the
dialogue with a totalitarian regime, which hates its own people and disgrace
the Americans, who declare war on this regime. One can read genuine criticism
of Iranian systems, in the newspapers of late 90s, these newspapers have now
been disappeared from newsstands and
their publishers were arrested or tagged with professional
disqualification.
The American
government after the bomb attack on Saudi Arabian, suspended its sceptical
dialogue with Iran. Once again there
appears, that is America is a step ahead of Europeans and demonstrates
political decisiveness.
Whether one likes
to hear it in this country or not: a
clear majority of Iranians, with whom one comes into discussion as a foreigner,
wish the fall of the regime and quite few of them are ready to accept even an
American attack on Iran for this cause.
In the Frankfurter
Allgemeinen Zeitung, the issue of 22. June 2003, the journalist Ahmad Taheri
writes under the heading:” The Republic
of the knife-battlers” "I quotes:
“there were In the Islamic republic in the past years many
demonstrations against the dominant clerics, amazingly something new to the
recent unrests however is their radicalism.
For the first time one hears on the capital streets the call; “death to
Ajatolah
This outrage did
not come unexpectedly. In an open
letter, signed by more than 200 intellectuals, university professors,
politicians, journalists and theologians,
Six years ago the
Iranians were fully certain that with their votes a liberal clergy, Mohammed
Dear Mr. Minister
of foreign affairs, I know that this open letter has become very long and I
know that a German proverb says: “ In the shortness lies the roots ", but
the goal of this letter is to make you e.g. the red-green Federal Government
reconsider the opportunistic appeasing policy towards Iran, a policy which
subordinated in the past primarily to the specifically economic interests of
your country. We suggest you to reconsider this policy and raise your voice as
loud against the violations of human rights and the brutal acts of a
totalitarian theocratic regime, as in Burma, China, Chechnya, Yugoslavia and
elsewhere in the world. You are morally
obliged to do so according to the human right declaration of UN.
The days of this
regime are surely numbered and it would be good for the German policy to think
of the days beyond this regime with the freely selected representatives of the
Iranian people in power. I hope that this open letter has made you rethink
about the actual situation in Iran and has also motivated you to rise as
defender of suppressed and the subjugated people in your policy toward the
ruling powers of Iran.
with best thanks
and cordial greeting.
Dr. med.
Speaker and member
of the executive committee of the solidarity movement of Iranians for liberty
and democracy
p.s:
This open letter is being sent to the political institutions, Federal
President, President of the German parliament, leaders of the parliamentary
groups in the German parliament, party leaders, Prime Minister of Federal
Republic, churches, trade unions, human right organizations, media and
politically interested institutions