Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 9, 1997

I was reading about the situation and history of Tajikistan at home until twelve o'clock. We went to the airport [Mehrabad]. After a short interview, we flew to Tajikistan with an official escort. Mohsen and Yaser were accompanied by Dr. [Ali Akbar] Velayati, [Minister of Foreign Affairs], [Mohammedreza] Nematzadeh, [Gholamreza] Faruzesh, [Minister of Jihad Development] and [Mohsen] Rafiq Dost, [Chairman of the Foundation for the Vulnerable and Veterans]. On the way, Mr. Velayati gave the report of his trip to Egypt that the issue of reviving relations between Egypt and Iran is significant. Lunch, prayer and rest were done on the way.

We landed at Dushanbe airport at four in the afternoon, Dushanbe time - 3:30 Tehran time. They received a warm welcome. Together with Mr. [Imam Ali] Rahmanof, the president [of Tajikistan], we went to the residence. They received a warm welcome in the streets of Dushanbe. The streets are tree-lined and wide, especially Rudaki Street, which looks like Chaharbagh

It is Isfahan, but it is quiet in terms of cars, shops, etc.

The residence is in a large garden in the north of the city and the airport is in the south. The residence is also called a caravanserai. It remains from the time of the former Soviet Union and has several scattered old buildings where the companions were in the same place. The weather is sunny. They said it had rained for three days. They have a very clean spring season; Especially with the view of the snowy peaks of the surrounding mountains.

After a little rest, I had a private discussion with Mr. Rahmanoff in the presence of Mohsen. We talked about their economic problems and civil war. They are very grateful to us for helping them reconcile with their Islamic opponents. Although they know that we also help the opposition and they demand that we follow up to resolve the remaining differences and complete the peace, and I also said that without peace, it is not possible to build, rebuild and develop.

They are very pessimistic about Mr. [Akbar] Turjanzadeh, but they do not have a bad opinion of Mr. [Syed Abdullah] Nouri and they say that Mr. Turjanzadeh cooperated with the KGB in the past and today he has relations with America. He believes that he was a participant in the recent assassination attempt on his life in Khojand and three times in the past. The issue of arresting and prosecuting the perpetrators of assassinations, who are affiliated with the Turjanzadeh group, has prevented the completion of peace. It took a lot of time from negotiations. I said, by following these people, trust is not created and it is an obstacle to peace, and we should think about general amnesty.

Explaining the recent assassination attempt in Khojand, with a small piece of mortar that hit their feet and they have not taken it out yet, but it is healthy, and explaining the bad economic situation and the decrease in production and the stoppage of large industrial works was another part of the conversation. They expect us to invest here and finish the half-completed dam and power plant of Seng Tudeh, and in return we will take from the production of the large aluminum factory, which is now working at 30% capacity due to the lack of electricity, or from the uranium of the large uranium factory, which is also closed now.

Then we had an official meeting with the companions. The talks were about the fields of cultural, scientific, agricultural, industrial and livestock cooperation. Then we had dinner; Their food is usually Iranian style and the conversation was about the Persian language and the name of the food and...