Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – February 25, 1997

The participants in the second meeting of public culture councils, composed of governors and Friday imams of the provinces and relevant managers. Mr. [Mustafa] Mirslim, [Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance] and Mr. [Ahmed] Masjid Jamehi, [Chairman of the Council of Public Culture] reported and I spoke about the necessity of specifying matters of public culture, using the science of ethics and formulating the limits of executive duties and preventing interference with the government and organizations.

[Mr. Khodadad Ghobadi], representative, Friday imam, governor and mayor of Euclid and Abadah came and asked for the needs of the cities. [Mr. Bahman Mohammadyari], Talash's representative, came for this purpose; He was one of the personnel of the Ministry of Information who resigned and voted. He said, four other members of parliament, like Evind.

Mrs. [Marzieh] Dabbagh, [Hamadan representative] came. He demanded the implementation of the promises of my trip to Hamedan and also demanded the dismissal of the governor. Considering that he is from his faction, I expressed surprise. [Mr. Mohammad Shahi Arabloo], representative and governor of Hashtroud, came and had many demands for the development of the region.

In the evening, the Economic Council had a meeting with several resolutions. In the evening, Mr. [Mahdi] Karroubi, [Secretary General of the Fighting Clergy Association] and [Mohammed Reza] Tausli came and explained the process of work that led to the nomination of Mr. [Syed Mohammad] Khatami. They are worried about the brokers not cooperating with them; Although they said that due to my membership in the militant clergy [community], they do not expect me to help them, but somehow they wanted me to solve the problem of the [construction] agents [party] in order to form an alliance with them. They think that the obstacle is Mohammad Akhwa. I said, it seems that the brokers are worried about losing the philosophy of primary presence by supporting the left movement. Mr. Khatami did not coordinate with them at the beginning of the work. They also quoted Mr. [Mohammed Reza] Mahdavi Koni's criticism and answers from "Asr Ma" magazine, which in response to his statements, wrote records of his support for Bani Sadr and his disobedience to the Imam.