Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - February 27, 2000 - Composition of New Parliamentary Representatives

Consultations on the Direction of the Executives of Construction Party

Composition of New Parliamentary Representatives

Report by Gharavi on his Trip to Turkey

Report by Larijani on the Press Meeting

Mr. Hossein Marashi, [Deputy Secretary-General of the Executives of Construction Party], came and provided explanations about the factional composition of the new parliamentary representatives. He consulted about the direction the Executives of Construction Party should take and mentioned that he has recently been invited to Mr. [Seyed Mohammad] Khatami's, [the President], advisory meetings.

Mr. [Meqdad] Najaf Nejad, the representative from Babolsar, came and said that some of the new representatives are aligned with traditional values and are interested in supporting you. He consulted about how to form alliances in the upcoming Parliament.

Mr. [Mohsen] Gharavi, [Head of the Center for Promotion of Prayer], came and reported on his trip to Turkey and his meetings with officials from the Directorate of Religious Affairs. He mentioned that Turkey has 60,000 mosques and 180,000 staff members, with all the imams on government payroll. Charitable organizations can use tax exemptions for mosque construction, and there are schools and universities to train religious scholars. The clergy only wear religious attire inside the mosque. They have established classes in Qom to train imams, which have been well-received.

In the afternoon, Mr. Ali Larijani, [Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting], came and gave a report on a meeting related to the press. I had an interview with the magazine [Islamic Government], published by the Assembly of Experts. Mr. [Masih] Mohajeri, [Managing Director of the Jomhouri Eslami newspaper], also came and reiterated what Mr. Larijani had mentioned.