Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 14, 1997

Mr. Abdullah Nouri came. He is complaining about the statements made by the leadership towards him regarding his interview, and also because of the leadership's action in preventing the awarding of the badge to Mr. Karbaschi and referring the violations of the Tehran municipality to the court. In the interview, he said that he withdrew from the candidacy of the speaker of the parliament in favor of Mr. Natiq [Nouri] by order of the leadership. He said that they are planning to activate the experts for the elections. Mr. [Ali] Larijani, [Head of Broadcasting Organization] came. Permission was obtained to publish a day in my life from Sedav-Sima. He asked me to solve the problem of the license to establish a broadcasting office in Türkiye.

The Expediency Council held a meeting regarding the dispute between the Majlis and the Guardian Council regarding the plan to ban smoking in public gatherings. We voted in favor of the Guardian Council. We approved a part of the [internal assembly] regulations.

In the evening, I went to the airport [Mehrabad]. At four o'clock in the afternoon, with an official interview and escort, we flew to Istanbul to participate in the D8 Summit, which was established by the initiative of Mr. [Najmuddin] Erbakan, [Prime Minister of Turkey]. Efat and Fati, Mahdi and Engineer [Akbar] Turkan, [Minister of Roads and Transport], were with him. It was a three hour flight. At the Istanbul airport, Dr. Velayati and a Turkish minister welcomed him. We flew by helicopter to Tillen on the Bosphorus coast. Turkey had agreed that there would be no welcome or farewell ceremony for any of the leaders. Because we are used to receptions and ceremonies.

At the hotel, Mr. Arbakan came to meet. His talks were about the dangers for Türkiye's security. He mentioned the accusations that the Turkish military and intelligence are making against Iran regarding the support of the [Kurdistan Workers' Party] PKK and asked for an explanation; Mostly to defend himself against the opponents who accuse him of not paying attention to the PKK terrorism issue.

I also gave a sharp answer and said, these are the same people who accuse you of fundamentalism and want to dissolve the Welfare Party, and compensate for their inability by blaming Iran and moving the issue abroad. Although he was heartily happy with my speech, he wanted a group to be formed for research. I accepted

Then, together with all the leaders and guests, we boarded the boat and toured the Bosphorus area. I greeted Mr. [Muhammad] Suharto, President of Indonesia, Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt, Mrs. Sheikh Hasina Wajid, Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan and Minister of Defense of Nigeria.

Maghrib, we reached the old palace of Biler Bay on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus. Mr. [Suleiman] Demirel, [President of Türkiye] and his wife, welcomed at the entrance of the palace. at the dinner table Mr. Demirel and Erbakan were on both sides of me. In between eating dinner, Arbakan and I went to pray and came back. I had many conversations with both of them.

They said that they will withdraw from northern Iraq in two months. Erbakan said, he will hand over the headship of the government to Ms. [Tansou] Chiller soon. It was not clear to them how it could be introduced to the parliament; They have legal problems, and they have no hope that the situation will improve with early elections, and they have no other choice.

They have a severe political crisis and there is a possibility of a military coup and both are upset at the hands of the military, but they keep their cool. They also have an economic and security crisis. It was not a suitable place for chastity to sit; Chastity got angry and did not eat dinner. I found out after dinner. Until the end of the trip, Efet was upset; He is right. I slept late with exhaustion.