Mohammad Khatami

"Khatami" redirects here. For other persons with this surname, see Khatami (surname).

Sayyid Mohammad Khatami سيد محمد خاتمى
5th President of Iran
In office 2 August 1997 – 3 August 2005
Vice President	Hassan Habibi Mohammad Reza Aref
Preceded by	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Succeeded by	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance
In office 12 September 1982 – 24 May 1992
President	Ali Khamenei Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Prime Minister	Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Preceded by	Majid Moadikhah
Succeeded by	Ali Larijani
Member of Parliament of Iran
In office 3 May 1980 – 24 August 1982
Constituency	Yazd
Personal details
Born	14 October 1943 (1943-10-14) (age 68) Ardakan, Iran
Nationality	Iranian
Political party	Association of Combatant Clerics
Spouse(s)	Zohreh Sadeghi(m. 1974)
Children	Leila Khatami(b. 1975) Narges Khatami(b. 1980) Emad Khatami(b. 1988)
Residence	Tehran, Iran
Alma mater	Isfahan University Tehran University
Religion	Usuli Twelver Shi'a Islam
Signature
Website	Mohammad Khatami

Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī (Persian: سید محمد خاتمی, pronounced [sejˈjed mohæmˈmæde xɒːtæˈmiː]; born October 14, 1943) is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s. He is currently one of the leaders of the Iranian Green Movement, and an outspoken critic of the President Ahmadinejad's government.^[1][2][3][4]

Hitherto little known, Khatami attracted global attention during his first election to the presidency when he captured almost 70% of the vote.^[5] Khatami had run on a platform of liberalization and reform. During his two terms as president, Khatami advocated freedom of expression, tolerance and civil society, constructive diplomatic relations with other states including those in the Asia and European Union, and an economic policy that supported a free market and foreign investment.

Khatami is known for his proposal of Dialogue Among Civilizations. The United Nations proclaimed the year 2001 as the United Nations' Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations, on Khatami's suggestion.^[6][7]

On February 8, 2009, Khatami announced that he would run in the 2009 presidential election.^[8] On March 16, he announced he was withdrawing from the race in favor of his long-time friend and adviser, former Prime Minister of Iran, Mir-Hossein Mousavi.^[9]

In October 2009, the award committee of the Global Dialogue Prize declared Dariush Shayegan and Mohammad Khatami as joint winners of the inaugural award, "for their work in developing and promoting the concept of a 'dialogue among cultures and civilizations' as new paradigm of cultural subjectivity and as new paradigm of international relations." The Global Dialogue Prize is one of the world's most significant recognitions for research in the Humanities, honoring "excellence in research and research communication on the conditions and content of a global intercultural dialogue on values".^[10]. In January 2010 Mohammad Khatami stated that "he was not in the position to accept the award", and the prize was given to Dariush Shayegan alone.^[11]

Personal life

Khatami was born on October 14, 1943, in the small town of Ardakan, in Yazd Province. He married Zohreh Sadeghi, daughter of a famous professor of religious law, and niece of Imam Musa al-Sadr, in 1974 (at the age of 31). They have two daughters and one son: Leila (born 1975), Narges (born 1982), and Emad (born 1988).

Khatami's father, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khatami, was a high ranking cleric and the Khateeb (the one who delivers the sermon for Friday prayers) in the city of Yazd in the early years of the Iranian Revolution.

Khatami's brother, Dr. Mohammad Reza Khatami, was elected as Tehran's first member of parliament in the 6th term of Majlis, during which he served as deputy speaker of the parliament. He also served as the secretary-general of Islamic Iran Participation Front (Iran's largest reformist party) for several years. Mohammad Reza is married to Zahra Eshraghi, granddaughter of Ayatollah Khomeini (founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran) who is a feminist human rights activist.

Khatami's other brother, Ali Khatami, a businessman with a master's degree in Industrial Engineering from Brooklyn,^[12] served as the President's Chief of Staff during President Khatami's second term in office, where he kept an unusually low profile.

Khatami's eldest sister, Fatemeh Khatami, was elected as the first representative of the people of Ardakan (Khatami's hometown) in 1999 city council elections.

Mohammad Khatami is not related to Ahmad Khatami, a hardline cleric and Provisional Friday Prayer Leader of Tehran.^[13][14]

Khatami received a B.A. in Western philosophy from Isfahan University, but left academia while studying for a Master's degree in Educational Sciences at Tehran University and went to Qom to complete his previous studies in Islamic sciences. He studied there for seven years and completed the courses to the highest level, Ijtihad. After that, he went to Germany to chair the Islamic Centre in Hamburg, where he stayed until the Iranian revolution.

Before serving as president, Khatami had been a representative in the parliament from 1980 to 1982, supervisor of the Kayhan Institute, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance (1982–1986), and then for a second term from 1989 to May 24, 1992 (when he resigned), the head of the National Library of Iran from 1992 to 1997, and a member of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution.

He is also a member and chairman of the Central Council of the Association of Combatant Clerics.

Besides his native language Persian, Khatami speaks Arabic, English and German. ^[15]

Presidency

Main article: Mohammad Khatami's reforms

Khatami in world economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2004

Running on a reform agenda, Khatami was elected president on May 23, 1997 in what many have described as a remarkable election. Voter turnout was nearly 80%. Despite limited television airtime, most of which went to conservative Speaker of Parliament and favored candidate Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, Khatami received 70 percent of the vote. "Even in Qom, the center of theological training in Iran and a conservative stronghold, 70% of voters cast their ballots for Khatami."^[16] He was re-elected on June 8, 2001 for a second term and stepped down on August 3, 2005 after serving his maximum two consecutive terms according to the Islamic Republic's constitution.

Khatami supporters have been described as a "coalition of strange bedfellows, including traditional leftists, ... business leaders who wanted the state to open up the economy and allow more foreign investment" and "women and younger voters."^[16]

The day of his election, the 2nd of Khordad, 1376, in the Iranian calendar, is regarded as the starting date of "reforms" in Iran. His followers are therefore usually known as the "2nd of Khordad Movement".

Khatami is regarded as Iran's first reformist president, since the focus of his campaign was on the rule of law, democracy and the inclusion of all Iranians in the political decision-making process. However, his policies of reform led to repeated clashes with the hardline and conservative Islamists in the Iranian government, who control powerful governmental organizations like the Guardian Council, whose members are appointed by the Supreme Leader. Khatami lost most of those clashes, and by the end of his presidency many of his followers had grown disillusioned with him.

As President, according to the Iranian political system, Khatami was outranked by the Supreme Leader. Thus, Khatami had no legal authority over key state institutions: the armed forces, the police, the army, the revolutionary guards, the state radio and television, the prisons, etc. (See Politics of Iran).

Khatami presented the so called "twin bills" to the parliament during his term in office, these two pieces of proposed legislation would have introduced small but key changes to the national election laws of Iran and also presented a clear definition of the president's power to prevent constitutional violations by state institutions. Khatami himself described the "twin bills" as the key to the progress of reforms in Iran. The bills were approved by the parliament but were eventually vetoed by the Guardian Council.

CABINET
OFFICE	NAME	TERM
President	Mohammad Khatami	1997–2005
First Vice President	Hassan Habibi	1997–2001
	Mohammad Reza Aref	2001–2005
Foreign Affairs	Kamal Kharrazi	1997–2005
Agricultural	Issa Kalantari	1997–2000
	Mahmoud Hojjati	2000–2005
Commerce	Mohammad Shariatmadar	1997–2005
ICT	Mohammad Reza Aref	1997–2000
	Ahmad Motamedi	2000–2005
Cooperatives	Morteza Haaji	1997–2001
	Ali Soufi	2001–2005
Culture	Attaollah Mohajerani	1997–2000
	Ahmad Masjed-Jamei	2000–2005
Defense	Ali Shamkhani	1997–2005
Economy	Hossein Namazi	1997–2001
	Tahmasb Mazaheri	2001–2004
	Safdar Hosseini	2004–2005
Education	Hossein Mozzafar	1997–2001
	Morteza Haaji	2001–2005
Power	Habibolah Bitaraf	1997–2005
Health	Mohammad Farhadi	1997–2001
	Masoud Pezeshkian	2001–2005
HUD	Ali Abdolalizadeh	1997–2005
Industrial	Gholamreza Shafei	1997–2001
	Eshaq Jahangiri	2001–2005
Intelligence	Ghorbanali Dorri Najafabadi	1997–1998
	Ali Younesi	1998–2005
Interior	Abdollah Nouri	1997–1998
	Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari	1998–2005
Justice	Mohammad Ismaeil Shooshtari	1997–2005
Labour	Hossein Kamali	1997–2001
	Safdar Hosseini	2001–2004
	Nasser Khaleghi	2004–2005
Petroleum	Bijan Namdar Zangeneh	1997–2005
Roads	Mahmoud Hojatti	1997–2000
	Rahman Dadman	2000
	Ahmad Khorram	2000–2004
	Mohammad Rahmati	2004–2005
Science	Mostafa Moeen	1997–2003
	Jafar Towfighi	2003–2005
Welfare	Mohammad Hossein Sharifzadegan	2004–2005

Economic policy

Khatami's economic policies followed the previous government's commitment to industrialization. At a macro-economic level, Khatami continued the liberal policies that Rafsanjani had embarked on in the state's first five year economic development plan (1990–1995). On April 10, 2005 Khatami cited economic development, large-scale operations of the private sector in the country's economic arena and the six percent economic growth as among the achievements of his government. He allocated $5 billion to the private sector for promoting the economy, adding that the value of contracts signed in this regard has reached $10 billion.

A year into his first term as president of Iran, Khatami acknowledged Iran's economic challenges, stating that the economy was, "chronically ill ... and it will continue to be so unless there is fundamental restructuring."

For much of his first term, Khatami saw through the implementation of Iran's second five-year development plan. On 15 September 1999, Khatami presented a new five-year plan to the Majlis. Aimed at the period from 2000–2004, the plan called for economic reconstruction in a broader context of social and political development. The specific economic reforms included "an ambitious program to privatize several major industries ... the creation of 750,000 new jobs per year, average annual real GDP growth of six percent over the period, reduction in subsidies for basic commodities ... plus a wide range of fiscal and structural reforms." Unemployment remained a major problem, with Khatami's five-year plan lagging behind in job creation. Only 300,000 new jobs were created in the first year of the plan, well short of the 750,000 that the plan called for. The 2004 World Bank report on Iran concludes that "after 24 years marked by internal post-revolutionary strife, international isolation, and deep economic volatility, Iran is slowly emerging from a long period of uncertainty and instability."^[17]

At the macroeconomic level, real GDP rose from 2.4 percent in 1997 to 5.9 percent in 2000. Unemployment was reduced from 16.2 percent of the labor force to less than 14 percent. The consumer price index fell to less than 13 percent from more than 17 percent. Both public and private investments increased in the energy sector, the building industry, and other sectors of the country's industrial base. The country's external debt was cut from $12.1 billion to $7.9 billion, its lowest level since the Iran-Iraq cease-fire. The World Bank granted $232 million for health and sewage projects after a hiatus of about seven years. The government, for the first time since the 1979 wholesale financial nationalization, authorized the establishment of two private banks and one private insurance company. The OECD lowered the risk factor for doing business in Iran to four from six (on a scale of seven).^[18]

The government's own figures put the number of people under the absolute poverty line in 2001 at 15.5 percent of the total population — down from 18 percent in 1997, and those under relative poverty at 25 percent, thus classifying some 40 percent of the people as poor. Private estimates indicate higher figures.^[19]

Among 155 countries in a 2001 world survey, Iran under Khatami was 150th in terms of openness to the global economy. On the United Nations' Human Development scale, Iran ranked 90th out of 162 countries, only slightly better than its previous position at 97 out of 175 countries four years earlier.^[20] The overall risk of doing business in Iran improved only marginally from "D" to "C."^[19][21]

Foreign policy

Vladimir Putin, Former president of Russia meeting Khatami in Sa'd Abad Palace.

During Khatami's presidency, Iran's foreign policy began a process of moving from confrontation to conciliation. In Khatami's notion of foreign policy, there was no "clash of civilizations", he favoured instead a "dialogue among civilizations". Relations with the US remained marred by mutual suspicion and distrust, but during Khatami's two terms, Tehran increasingly made efforts to play a greater role in the Persian Gulf region and beyond.

As President, Khatami met with many influential figures including Pope John Paul II, Koichiro Matsuura, Jacques Chirac, Johannes Rau, Vladimir Putin, Abdulaziz Bouteflika and Hugo Chávez. In 2003 Khatami refused to meet militant Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.^[22]

After the 2003 earthquake in Bam, the Iranian government rebuffed Israel's offer of assistance. On April 8, 2005, Khatami sat near Iranian-born Israeli President Moshe Katsav during the funeral of Pope John Paul II because of alphabetical order. Later, Katsav claimed that he shook hands and spoke with Khatami. Katsav himself is in origin an Iranian Jew, and from a part of Iran close to Khatami's home; he stated that they had spoken about their home province. That would make this incident the first official political contact between Iran and Israel since diplomatic ties were severed in 1979.^[23][24] However, after he returned to Iran, Khatami was subject to harsh criticism from conservatives for having 'recognised' Israel by speaking to its president. Subsequently, the country's state-run media reported that Khatami strongly denied shaking hands and chatting with Katsav.^[25]

In 2003, Iran approached the United States with proposals to negotiate all outstanding issues including the nuclear issue and a two-state settlement for Israel and the Palestinians.^[26]

Currency crisis

During 1995-2005, Khatami's administration successfully reduced the rate of fall in the value of the Iranian Rial bettering even the record of Mousavi. Nevertheless, the currency continued to fall from 2,046 to 9,005 to the US dollar during his term as president.

Khatami and Iran's 2004 parliamentary election

In February 2004 Parliament elections, the Guardian Council banned thousands ^[27] of candidates, including most of the reformist members of the parliament and all the candidates of the Islamic Iran Participation Front party from running. This led to a win by the conservatives of at least 70% of the seats. Approximately 60% of the eligible voting population participated in the elections.

Khatami recalled his strong opposition against holding an election his government saw as unfair and not free. He also narrated the story of his visit to the Supreme Leader, Khamenei, together with the Parliament's spokesman (considered the head of the legislature) and a list of conditions they had handed him before they could hold the elections. The list, he said, was then passed on to the Guardian Council, the legal supervisor and major obstacle to holding free and competitive elections in recent years. The members of the Guardian Council are appointed directly by the Supreme Leader and were considered to be applying his will. "But", Khatami said, "the Guardian Council kept neither the Supreme Leader's nor its own word [...] and we were faced with a situation in which we had to choose between holding the election or risking huge unrest [...] and so damaging the regime." At this point, student protesters repeatedly chanted the slogan "Jannati is the nation's enemy", referring to the chairman of the Guardian Council. Khatami replied, "If you are the representative of the nation, then we are the nation's enemy." However, after a clarification by students stating that "Jannati, not Khatami," he took advantage of the opportunity to claim a high degree of freedom in Iran.^[28]

When the Guardian Council announced the final list of candidates on January 30, 125 Reformist members of parliament declared that they would boycott the election and resign their seats, and the Reformist interior minister declared that the election would not be held on the scheduled date, February 20. However, Khatami then announced that the election would be held on time, and he rejected the resignations of his cabinet ministers and provincial governors. These actions paved the way for the election to be held and signaled a split between the radical and moderate wings of the Reformist movement.^[29]

Cultural and political image

Dialogue Among Civilizations

Following earlier works by renowned philosopher Dariush Shayegan, President Khatami introduced the theory of Dialogue Among Civilizations as a response to Samuel Huntington's theory of Clash of Civilizations. After introducing the concept of his theory in several international societies (most importantly the U.N.) the theory gained a lot of international support. Consequently the United Nations proclaimed the year 2001 as the United Nations' Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations, as per Khatami's suggestion.^[6][7] Pleading for the moralization of politics, Khatami argued that "The political translation of dialogue among civilizations would consist in arguing that culture, morality and art must prevail on politics." President Khatami's call for a dialogue among civilizations elicited a published reply from an American author, Anthony J. Dennis, who served as the originator, contributor and editor of an historic and unprecedented collection of letters addressing all facets of Islamic-Western and U.S.-Iranian relations entitled LETTERS TO KHATAMI: A Reply To The Iranian President's Call For A Dialogue Among Civilizations which was published in the U.S. by Wyndham Hall Press in July, 2001 ^[30]. To date, this book is the only published reply Khatami has ever received from the West.

Khatami as a scholar

Khatami's main research field is political philosophy. One of Khatami's academic mentors was Javad Tabatabaei, an Iranian political philosopher. Later on Khatami became a University lecturer at Tarbiat Modarres University, where he taught political philosophy. Khatami also published a book on political philosophy in 1999. The ground he covers is the same as that covered by Javad Tabatabaei: the Platonizing adaptation of Greek political philosophy by Farabi (d. 950), its synthesis of the "eternal wisdom" of Persian statecraft by Abu'l-Hasan Amiri (d. 991) and Mushkuya Razi (d. 1030), the juristic theories of al-Mawardi and Ghazali, and Nizam al-Mulk's treatise on statecraft. He ends with a discussion of the revival of political philosophy in Safavid Isfahan in the second half of the 17th century.

Further, Khatami shares with Tabatabaei the idea of the "decline" of Muslim political thought beginning at the very outset, after Farabi.

Khatami Support Moeen in 2005 presidential election

Like Tabatabaei, Khatami brings in the sharply contrasting Aristotelian view of politics to highlight the shortcomings of Muslim political thought. Khatami has also lectured on the decline in Muslim political thought in terms of the transition from political philosophy to royal policy (siyasat-i shahi) and its imputation to the prevalence of "forceful domination" (taghallub) in Islamic history.^[31]

In his "Letter for Tomorrow", he wrote:

“

This government is proud to announce that it heralded the era where the sanctity of power has been turned into the legitimacy of critique and criticism of that power, which is in the trust of the people who have been delegated with power to function as representatives through franchise. So such power, once considered Divine Grace, has now been reduced to an earthly power that can be criticized and evaluated by earthly beings. Instances show that although due to some traces of despotic mode of background we have not even been a fair critique of those in power, however, it is deemed upon the society, and the elite and the intellectuals in particular, not to remain indifferent at the dawn of democracy and allow freedom to be hijacked.

”

Post-presidential career

After his presidency, Khatami founded two NGOs which he currently heads:

• International Institute for Dialogue among Cultures & Civilizations.^[32] In Persian: موسسه بین المللی گفتگوی فرهنگها و تمدنها. This institute is a private (non-governmental) institute that was founded by Mr. Khatami after the end of his presidency and it is not to be confused with a center with a similar name operated by the foreign ministry of Iran. The European branch of Mr. Khatami's institute is headquartered in Geneva and has been registered as Foundation for Dialogue among Civilizations.^[33]

• Baran Foundation.^[34] BARAN meaning "rain" is an acronym in Persian for "Foundation for Freedom, Growth and Development of Iran" (Persian: بنیاد آزادی، رشد و آبادانی ایران - باران). This is also a private (non-governmental) institute founded by Khatami after the end of his presidency (registration announced on 9 September 2005) and a group of his former colleagues during his presidency. This institute is focused on domestic rather than international activities.

Notable events in Khatami's career after his presidency include:

• On September 2, 2005, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appoints Mohammad Khatami as a member of the Alliance of Civilizations.
• On September 28, 2005, Khatami retires, after 29 years of service in the government.^[35]
• On November 14, 2005, Mohammad Khatami urges all religious leaders to fight for the abolishment of atomic and chemical weapons.^[36][37]
• On January 30, 2006, Mohammad Khatami officially inaugurates the office of "International Center of Dialogue Among Civilizations". An NGO with offices in Iran and Europe that he will be heading, after his retirement from the government.^[38]
• On February 15, 2006, during a press interview Mohammad Khatami announces the formal registration of the European office of his Institute for Dialogue among Civilizations in Geneva.
• On February 28, 2006, while attending a conference of the Alliance of Civilizations at Doha, Qatar, he states that "The Holocaust is a historical fact." However, he adds that Israel has "made a bad use of this historic fact with the persecution of the Palestinian people."^[39]
• On September 7, 2006, during a visit to Washington, Mohammad Khatami calls for dialogue between the United States and Iran.^[40]
• January 24–28, 2007, Mohammad Khatami attended the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, U.S. Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney and U.S. Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell were among those attending.^[41] Khatami and Senator John Kerry have expressed similar opinions and shared words with each other in the World Economic Forum in Davos.^[42][43]

The Man with the Chocolate Robe

Khatami in a Conference about Iraq, Uniting for Stability.

On December 22, 2005, a few months after the end of Khatami's presidency, the monthly magazine Chelcheragh, along with a group of young Iranian artists and activists, organized a ceremony in Khatami's honor. The ceremony was held on Yalda night at Tehran's Bahman Farhangsara Hall. The ceremony, titled "A Night with The Man with the Chocolate Robe" by the organizers, was widely attended by teenagers and younger adults. One of the presenters and organizers of the ceremony was Pegah Ahangarani, a popular young Iranian actress. The event did not get a lot of advance publicity, but it drew a huge amount of attention afterwards. In addition to formal reports on the event by the BBC, IRNA, and other major news agencies, googling the term "مردی با عبای شکلاتی" ("The Man with the Chocolate Robe" in Persian) shows thousands of results of mainly young Iranians' blogs mentioning the event. It was arguably the first time in the history of Iran that an event in such fashion was held in honor of a head of government. Some weblog reports of the evening described the general atmosphere of the event as "similar to a concert!", and some reported that "Khatami was treated like a pop star" among the youth and teenagers in attendance during the ceremony. Many bloggers also accused him of falling short of his promises of a safer, more democratic Iran.

• [8] Mohammad Ali Abtahi's weblog report of the evening
• [9] A blogger's report: Tears at the night with The Man with the Chocolate Robe
• [10] BBC News: The Man with the Chocolate Robe
• [11] Photo reports of the ceremony

2008 International Conference on Religion in Modern World

In October 2008, Khatami organized an international conference on the position of religion in the modern world. Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, former French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, former Swiss President Joseph Deiss, former Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio, former Irish President Mary Robinson, former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga and former UNESCO director general Federico Mayor as well as several other scholars were among the invited speakers of the conference.^[44]

The event was followed by a celebration of the historical city of Yazd, one of the most famous cities in Persian history and Khatami's birthplace. Khatami also announced that he is about to launch a television program to promote intercultural dialogue.

2009 Presidential election

Main article: Mohammad Khatami presidential campaign, 2009

Khatami contemplated running in the 2009 Iranian presidential election.^[45] In December 2008, 194 alumni of Sharif University of Tech wrote a letter to him and asked him to run against Ahmadinejad "to save the nation".^[46] On February 8, 2009 he announced his candidacy at a meeting of pro-reform politicians.^[47] On March 16, 2009, Khatami officially announced he will drop out of the Presidential race in order to endorse another reformist candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi who Khatami claims will stand a better chance against Iran's conservative establishment to offer true change and reform.^[48][49]

Green movement

Khatami in 2010

In December 2010, following the crushing of post-election protest, Khatami has been described as working as a political "insider," drawing up a "list of preconditions" to present to the government "for the reformists' participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections," that would be seen as reasonable by the Iranian public but intollerable by the government. This was seen by some (Ata'ollah Mohajerani) as "astute" and proving "the system could not take even basic steps required for living up to its own democratic principles" (Azadeh Moaveni) In response to the conditions, Kayhan newspaper of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has condemned Khatami as "a spy and traitor" and called for his execution.^[50]

Controversy and criticism

Main article: Controversies surrounding President Mohammad Khatami

Khatami's two terms as president were regarded, by some people,^[who?] as unsuccessful or not fully successful in achieving their goals of making Iran freer and more democratic,^[51] and he has been criticized by conservatives, reformers, and opposition groups for various policies and viewpoints.

In a 47-page "letter for the future", Khatami said his government had stood for noble principles but had made mistakes and faced obstruction by hardline elements in the clerical establishment.^[51]

Primary sources

Publications

Khatami has written a number of books in Persian, Arabic and English:

Books in Persian

• Fear of the Wave (بیم موج)
• From the World of the Polis to the Polis of the World (از دنیای شهر تا شهر دنیا)
• Faith and Thought Trapped by Despotism (آیین و اندیشه در دام خودکامگی)
• Democracy (مردم سالاری)
• Dialogue Among Civilizations (گفتگوی تمدنها)
• A Letter for Tomorrow (نامه ای برای فردا)
• Islam, The Clergy, and The Islamic Revolution (اسلام، روحانیت و انقلاب اسلامی)
• Political Development, Economic Development, and Security (توسعه سیاسی، توسعه اقتصادی و امنیت)
• Women and the Youth (زنان و جوانان)
• Political Parties and the Councils (احزاب و شوراها)
• Reviver of the Truth of Religion [title roughly translated from Persian] (احیاگر حقیقت دین)

Books in English

• Islam, Liberty and Development^[52] ISBN 978-1883058838

Books in Arabic

• A Study of Religion, Islam and Time [title roughly translated from Arabic] (مطالعات في الدين والإسلام والعصر)
• City of Politics [title roughly translated from Arabic] (مدينة السياسة)

A full list of his publications is available at his official personal web site (see below).

Awards/Honors

• Gold medal from University of Athens
• The special medal of Spain's Congress of Deputies and Senate, Key to Madrid
• Honorary PhD, Moscow State Institute of International Relations
• Honorary doctorate in Philosophy from University of Moscow
• Honorary PhD degree, Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Honorary doctorate degree by the Delhi University
• Honorary doctorate from National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan
• Degree of honor in political sciences, Lebanese University
• Pakistan's highest civilian honour
• Plaque of honor and medal of distinction by the International Federation for Parent Education
• Honorary doctorate from Al-Neelain University
• Honorary doctorate of Law from University of St Andrews.

See also

• 2nd of Khordad Movement
• Mohammad Khatami presidential campaign, 2009
• Iranian presidential election, 1997
• Iranian presidential election, 2001
• Iranian presidential election, 2009
• Liberal movements within Islam
• Modern Islamic philosophy

References and notes

1. ^ http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/struggle-iran
2. ^ http://www.payvand.com/news/11/feb/1190.html
3. ^ http://www.insideiran.org/media-analysis/khatami-prevented-from-leaving-iran-for-japan/
4. ^ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2011/01/karroubi-challenges-hardliners-to-put-green-movement-leaders-on-trial.html
5. ^ BBC News, 6 June, 2001 Profile: Mohammad Khatami
6. ^ ^{a b} [1]^{[dead link]}
7. ^ ^{a b} [2]^{[dead link]}
8. ^ "Iran's Khatami to run for office". BBC News. February 8, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7877740.stm. Retrieved April 5, 2010. 
9. ^ "Former Iranian president exits election race". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0316/breaking23.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-16. 
10. ^ Iran’s Khatami awarded 2009 “Global Dialogue Prize”
11. ^ The (copyrighted) webpages of the Global Dialogue Prize offer a brief scholarly presentation of Khatami's contributions to the concept of dialogue as paradigm of international relations, as well as a bibliography.
12. ^ Sciolino, Elaine (2001). Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran. Simon and Schuster. pp. 79–80. ISBN 0743217799. 
13. ^ Iranian Cleric: Fatwa Against Rushdie is 'Still Alive'
14. ^ US policies on Iran defeated - Ahmad Khatami July 20, 2007, IRNA
15. ^ "Profile: Mohammad Khatami". BBC News. June 6, 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1373476.stm. 
16. ^ ^{a b} 1997 Presidential Election
17. ^ SJIR: Khatami and the Search for Reform in Iran
18. ^ [Tahavolat, 98-138; Economic Trends, no. 23 (Tehran: Central Bank, 2000-2001); and Iran: Interim Assistance Strategy (Washington: The World Bank, April 2001).]
19. ^ ^{a b} Project MUSE
20. ^ UNDP, Human Development Report 2001 (New York: UNDP, 2001).
21. ^ Iran Economics (Tehran), July/August 2001.
22. ^ Hoover Institution - Hoover Digest - Order Out of Chaos
23. ^ [3]^{[dead link]}
24. ^ [4]^{[dead link]}
25. ^ Updated 79 minutes ago. "Iranian president denies Israeli handshake - World news - msnbc.com". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7443548/. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
26. ^ Wahshington Post "Road Map"
27. ^ "Iran reformists' protest continues". CNN. 2006-01-12. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/01/12/iran.walkout/. Retrieved 2007-01-01. 
28. ^ FToI: What did Khatami really say?
29. ^ Strategic Insights - Iranian Politics After the 2004 Parliamentary Election
30. ^ Anthony J. Dennis, LETTERS TO KHATAMI: A Reply To The Iranian President's Call For A Dialogue Among Civilizations (Wyndham Hall Press, 2001, ISBN #1556053339).
31. ^ [5]^{[dead link]}
32. ^ "International Institute for Dialogue Among Cultures and Civilizations - Home". Dialogue.ir. 2008-09-01. http://dialogue.ir/. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
33. ^ "Welcome To fdc Website - Home Page" (in (Persian)). Dialoguefoundation.org. http://www.dialoguefoundation.org. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
34. ^ "Baran". Baran. http://baran.org.ir/. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
35. ^ http://www.iran-daily.com/1384/2388/html/^{[dead link]}
36. ^ http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-islam-conference,0,6909423.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines^{[dead link]}
37. ^ [6]^{[dead link]}
38. ^ http://www.iran-daily.com/1384/2488/html/^{[dead link]}
39. ^ [7]^{[dead link]}
40. ^ "Iran's Khatami calls for US talks". BBC News. 2006-09-08. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5326424.stm. Retrieved 2006-09-08. 
41. ^ JTW News - Khatami to attend World Economic Forum in Davos
42. ^ Khatami & Kerry: A Common Denominator
43. ^ Kerry confirmed Khatami's remarks in his address (ISNA)
44. ^ "World Dignitaries Open International Conference On Religion". Bernama. 2008-10-14. http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=364343. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
45. ^ Erdbrink, Thomas (December 16, 2008). "Iran's Khatami Mulls Run for Presidency". The Washington Post: p. A15. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/15/AR2008121502724.html?hpid=sec-world. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
46. ^ http://www.roozonline.com/archives/2008/12/post_10568.php
47. ^ Hafezi, Parisa (2009-02-08). "Iran's Khatami to run in June presidential election". Reuters. http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE51716Z20090208. Retrieved 2009-02-08. 
48. ^ "Former president khatami won't run for the next presidential election race". Former President Khatami's website. 2009-03-16. http://www.khatami.ir/fa/news/875.html. Retrieved 2009-03-16. 
49. ^ "Iran's Khatami won't run for president, state news agency says". CNN. 2009-03-16. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/16/iran.khatami/index.html#cnnSTCText. Retrieved 2009-03-16. 
50. ^ The Smiling Cleric's Revolution, BY AZADEH MOAVENI | FEBRUARY 16, 2011
51. ^ ^{a b} The Guardian, Tuesday May 4 2004, Khatami blames clerics for failure
52. ^ Amazon.com: Islam, Liberty and Development: Mohammad Khatami,Muhammad Khatami: Books

External links

• REALITE-EU Mohammed Khatami: Former Iranian President (1997-2005)
• (Persian) Official website of Mohammad Khatami
• Official website of Khatami's International Institute for Dialogue among Cultures & Civilizations
• Official website of Khatami's BARAN NGO Institute in Iran
• Khatami and the Search for Reform in Iran (Review article; Stanford University)
• Human rights abuses during Khatami presidency
• (I.R.I.B.) Bio.--
• Biography in Encyclopedia Britannica
• UNESCO: Dialogue among civilizations speech by HE Mr. Mohammad Khatami
• (Persian) Biography
• Khatami; from the presidency of Islamic Center in Hamburg to the presidency of Islamic Republic of Iran
• CNN: Transcript of Interview with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami
• Iran's ex-leader sees new Islam
• Iranian Economy in Six Snapshots
• Address of H.E Seyed Mohammad Khatami at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) Sept 2, 2006
• Khatami 'from material that makes for great leaders'
• [12]
• Address of Mohammad Khatami at Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum, Davos, 21 January 2004, Chaired by Klaus Schwab, 26 min 37 sec, YouTube

Political offices
Preceded by Majid Moadikhah	Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance 1982-1992	Succeeded by Ali Larijani
Preceded by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani	President of Iran 1997-2005	Succeeded by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Persondata
Name	Khatami, Mohammad
Alternative names
Short description	Iranian politician, former President of Iran
Date of birth	October 13, 1943
Place of birth	Ardakan, Iran
Date of death
Place of death