Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 15, 1997

I did not sleep after the morning prayer. I had little sleep at night. I read for the summit program and to revise my speech and meetings. At eight in the morning, Mr. Mahathir Mohamad, [Prime Minister of Malaysia] came to meet. We had breakfast together. The talks were short and about the development of cooperation. At nine o'clock we went to meet Mr. Suharto, [President of Indonesia]. They all stay in the same hotel. The conversation was formal and friendly.

Then we went to the nearby palace for the meeting. At the meeting, Mr. Demirel and Mr. Erbakan from Türkiye and all other leaders gave speeches; A total of two hours were spent on lectures, with similar themes. Only I attacked America in my speech; Because of the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which provoked some criticism in Islamic and Arab countries, I suggested to other delegations that a statement be made in this regard by the summit; they did not accept I expected Arbakan to accept; He did not accept either. He is very cautious and afraid.

We signed and exchanged documents and reporters took photos. Then we went to the palace gate on the shore of the Bosphorus. They took photos and videos in the crowd. After the prayer, we went to the ship for a feast. With Mr. Arbakan, we went on the water for two or three hours and had lunch on the move. On both sides of me were Erbakan and [Kamal] Janzouri, the Prime Minister of Egypt. We had friendly talks with Janzuri. He was very happy. He asked my opinion about Egypt's compromise with Israel. I said it was to the benefit of Egypt and Israel and to the detriment of Islam and the Arabs. He called for the renewal of relations. I said we agree with intra-embassy relations. Imam's decision and ruling is an obstacle to renewing the embassy.

In the evening, we went to meet Mr. Demirel. We were talking about PKK issues and the claim of their escape from Iraq to Iran, so we decided to form a joint research group. Then I did an interview with Haft TV channel of Türkiye. We went to the airport by helicopter. At twelve o'clock at night, we entered Tehran without an official welcome. I slept at one in the morning. We had both prayer and dinner on the plane.