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Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 September 2000 Issue No. 499 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 September 2000 Issue No. 499
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region Interview International Economy Opinion Culture Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Step to the left, step to the right
By Azadeh MoaveniIranian President Mohamed Khatami's visit to the United Nations Millennium Summit was, on the whole, an extremely sombre affair. There were no receptions, no sideline fêtes and no memorable speeches. The only leader with whom Khatami had an amiable handshake was Algerian President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika. Algeria severed relations with Iran in 1993, accusing the Islamic Republic of backing armed extremist groups fighting to overthrow the government since 1992. After their meeting in New York, Khatami and Bouteflika announced the restoration of diplomatic relations, resuming an old friendship in which coordination over oil policies was a cornerstone. Both countries are key members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Algeria, together with Egypt and other Arab countries, had repeatedly accused Tehran of backing extremists in their countries. But since Khatami came to power three years ago, Iran reportedly changed its policies. Earlier this year, Tehran refused the entry of three Egyptian militants who were deported from Germany which rejected their requests for political asylum.
Egyptian officials have admitted that a significant improvement took place in ties with Tehran recently, and expectations are that the two countries are slowly heading towards restoration of diplomatic ties. The late Ayatollah Khomeini severed ties with Cairo shortly after toppling the late Shah, protesting Egypt's peace agreement with Israel. Iran was also angered by the reception given by late President Anwar El-Sadat to the deposed Shah after he fled from Tehran.
Yet, the real concern for those who followed Khatami's visit to New York was any indication of rapprochement with the country branded in Iran as the "Great Satan," that is, the United States.
After finishing his address to the UN General Assembly, US President Clinton abandoned the tradition of every American president before him (striding out of the hall) and slipped quietly behind a small desk with a small placard that read " United States." Never before had an American leader deigned to position himself on the same level with representatives of other countries on the assembly floor of the United Nations. It is no overstatement that the whole world took note of this move.
When two speeches later the Iranian president was called to the podium, only the rustling of paper broke the palpable silence, as the world's leaders searched for their schedule of speakers -- an order as fiercely contested as treaty rights, and about as sensitive. Khatami, as though blithely unaware that he was scheduled to speak in the afternoon session, had begun orating in his characteristic flowery Persian.
When Khatami finished, Clinton rose from his seat as nonchalantly as he had taken it, and left the room. In the space of half an hour, the leaders of two states still bitterly at odds had managed a civil exchange that was at once profoundly ordinary, but for them, completely unprecedented.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan himself had arranged the dramatic little pas de deux, inviting Khatami to listen to Clinton, and shuffling the order of the addresses at the last minute so Clinton could do the same. Choreographing such a simple event was, like all serious ballet, a complex and highly-sensitive series of steps that upon execution appear natural and easy.
With the help of a long-time UN adviser, Annan contacted the Americans and Iranians at the beginning of the week, coaxing an agreement on both sides to make a gesture, even if this was limited to listening in a civil fashion. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had made the first move the previous day, when she attended Khatami's speech to the "Dialogue of Civilisations" forum which the Iranian leader initiated under the aegis of UNESCO, a UN body to which the US has historically been hostile.
Both Iranian and American government officials confirmed that the audiences by each leader had been arranged, and admitted that despite the seeming banality of the step, it represented progress.
The whole thing was nearly derailed when a leak to the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat stirred trouble for Khatami back in Iran. Any hint of an exchange with the American government has the potential to provoke hard-line forces opposed to any ties with the United States that are made without their backing. Hard-liners are specifically against the forging of ties that do not consolidate their own economic and political power base.
In a press conference later that week, Khatami outlined a major grievance against the United States that stands as a roadblock to improved ties: the American government's responsibility for the 1953 coup that toppled the government of Prime Minister Mohamed Mossadegh. Khatami offered no creative ideas to improve ties after being reminded that Albright last March publicly acknowledged the American role in the coup.
Though Khatami is often assailed by the Western press for inconsistent or "hidebound" responses to the question of US relations, it is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has the final say in matters of foreign policy.
That his own decision is not meaningful, however, is not something Khatami can easily admit in a news conference. And this is why President Khatami rarely gives an audience to Western reporters. Predictably unable to respond to questions with awkward and sensitive answers, it is an exercise, almost, in forcing him to confront his demons: the Jewish spy trial, the unmet expectations of his young supporters, the danger of extremist Islamist vigilante groups, the insecurity of civil rights, the shut-down independent press and his imprisoned colleagues and friends.
"It is not easy for me to give up what I believe in," Khatami prevaricated at the end of his attempt to re-define reform in a manner that might allow for some optimism. Khatami's aides worry the world feels the president has become too conservative.
Perhaps more relevant is whether they are as attuned to public opinion back in Iran. For quarrelling nations, a game of delicate hints can be considered progress, even if this is only slight. But this same emphasis on basic courtesy would also be welcome back in Iran, where people wonder why, if their president does indeed feel their pain, he does not show them he notices it.
Related stories:
Trying times for Khatami 7 - 13 September 2000
