CYPRUS, NICOSIA - The 3-day Conference "Iran in the 21st Century: Continuity and Change" was kicked off June 18 at Nicosia's Hilton Hotel with welcoming remarks by Hossein Alikhani, president of the Center for World Dialogue.

Organized by the Center for World Dialogue, in cooperation with the Gulf 2000 Project (Columbia University) and the Middle East Institute (Washington D.C.), the conference aimed at creating dialogue and understanding among experts and scholars on Iran, enabling them to study the problems and future strategies for Iran on the threshold of the 21st century.

In his welcoming remarks, Alikhani said the conference aimed at facilitating exchanges of views to reach the objective of mutual understanding and dialogues as set forth by President Khatami. Alikhani did not, however, conceal his bitter complaint of some people who declined to accept his invitation to take part in the conference.

He said, "The Center for World Dialogue has no commitment to the power-wielders, nor does it have any submission to any government. The pursuit of genuine dialogue has been our unflinching policy since 1994."

"A group that cannot tolerate Iran's modern-day developments refrained from taking part in our conference and declined to accept the organizers’ invitation on empty grounds," Alikhani said.

"One claimed that the Center is linked to President Khatami; another raised doubt of espionage on the ground of presence or absence of certain people in the conference; still another claimed that the conference is a platform for resumption of U.S. relations with Iran for future benefits of the organizers," he noted.

"Such claims have been ample. Regrettably, these people did not realize that resumption of ties with the United States falls within the jurisdiction of the governments. And if we convene such conferences, it is because of our humanitarian and national rights to muster efforts to overcome the present-day pessimism and negative publicity against Iran," he pointed out.

Some of those invited to the conference were right wingers who unanimously refused to take part in the event. Among them was Ahmad Tavakkoli, managing director of the right-wing Farda daily who had to close down his paper last year for financial reasons.

Tavakkoli published comments in Tehran's right-wing papers, severely blasting the Cyprus conference and said, "The Conference Iran in the 21st Century: Continuity and Change is a plot hatched to diminish sensitivity toward people whose hands are stained with the blood of Iranian youth."

Tavakkoli made such incisive criticism of the conference because of the participation of people such as Gary Sick, former U.S. national security adviser and current executive director of Gulf 2000 Project, and Richard Murphy, former assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, in the event.

Tavakkoli described the conference as a means to facilitate the resumption of ties as cherished by the United States and some Western-inspired people at home. The conference was held irrespective of the absence of those invited from the right wing.

The Iranian delegation was mainly comprised of pro-Khatami journalists such as Abbas Abdi from the leftist Salaam daily and one of the students who occupied the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Last year, Abdi met and talked with Barry Rosen, who spent 444 days as hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

This meeting between the hostage and hostage taker created much ballyhoo in Iran's political circles. The right-wing press called the meeting a move on the part of Abdi to demonstrate that he was ashamed of his past revolutionary stances.

This comment came while Abdi, in the meeting with Rosen, did not voice the slightest regret or shame over his past stances. The Abdi-Rosen meeting was also arranged by the President of the Center for World Dialogue Hossein Alikhani.

Another participant at the recent conference was Mashallah Shamsulvaezeen, former editor of the closed Jameah and Tous dailies and present editor of the independent Neshat daily.

Shamsulvaezeen spent some time in Tehran's Evin prison last year because of the dauntless stances taken and presented in his papers. Other members of the Iranian delegation who delivered speeches are named below:

• Ali-Reza Alavi-Tabar, member of the Editorial Board of the leftist Sobhe Emrooz daily
• Ali Hekmat, editor of pro-Khatami Khordad daily
• Emadideen Baqi, Khordad columnist
• Shahla Sherkat, managing director of the independent Zanan monthly
• Ezzatullah Sahabi, managing director of the critical Iran Farda monthly
• Azam Taleqani, managing director of the Payam Hajar weekly
• Ibrahim Yazdi, secretary general of the Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI)
• Hojjatoleslam Fazel Meybodi, prominent leftist cleric
• Ali Salehabadi and Qasem Sholeh Sa'di, former leftist Majlis (Parliament) deputies
• Dr. Hussein Bashirieh and Dr. Ahmad Naqibzadeh, critical and independent professors of the University of Tehran

In addition to stimulating speeches and discussions, the conference ended each day with Iranian gourmet food, an initiative of the Iranian Airlines (Iran Air) and the president of the Center for World Dialogue, accompanied by Iranian orchestra which played Iranian tunes to the delight of all conference participants and guests.

Alikhani is a highly reputable and prestigious businessman working in the field of oil. His avidity to hold numerous political conferences indicates that the world of trade and commerce has not overshadowed politics for him. He has so far held four conferences: Political Islam and the West, Children's Rights and Wrongs, Abdi-Rosen Meeting; and Islam, Christianity and Judaism: Divinity in a Political World.

Through a historical comparison, Alikhani might be somehow comparable to Hasan Shamshiri, a well-off Iranian in the 1940s, who spent huge sums to assist the then Prime Minister Mosaddeq in the nationalization of oil.

Other comparable personalities might be Mahmood Manian, Mohammad Shanehchi, and Ahmad-Ali Babaee, all prominent and well-to-do Iranian businessmen who spent astronomical sums to assist Imam Khomeini and the revolutionaries, even though they were later sidelined.

The Conference Iran in the 21st Century: Continuity and Change could be regarded as the first serious meeting between the political and non-governmental personalities of Iran and the United States following President Khatami’s call for "dialogue among civilizations".

The conference was held in 11 panels as follows:

Panel I: Issues of Modernity and Culture-I

Panel II: Issues of Modernity and Culture-II

Panel III: Politics and Society-I

Panel IV: Politics and Society-II

Panel V: The Media

Panel VI: The Economy-I

Panel VII: The Economy-II

Panel VIII: Iran and the International Community-I

Panel IX: Iran and the International Community-II

Panel X: Iran and the United States

Panel XI: Iran at the Millennium

The interesting point in the conference was the unanimous stances taken by all Iranian personalities taking part in Panels X and XI vis-a-vis the Americans.

Notwithstanding their different political stances at home, the nationalist Ibrahim Yazdi, the leftist Abbas Abdi, and other Iranians unanimously said that Iran-U.S. rapprochement hinges on Washington's official expression of apology to Iran for orchestrating the coup de'tat against the national government of Dr. Mohammad Mosaddeq in the 1940s.

This comment elicited a similar response from the Americans present in the session. They also said the American nation was upset at the 444-day-long hostage crisis.

This went so far that the final keynote speaker Gary Sick said, "The attack on the U.S. Embassy and the subsequent hostage crisis that went on for well over a year was a major factor in the electoral defeat of President Carter. In a sense, Iran had retaliated for the overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddeq by the overthrow of a U.S. president."

Responding to Gary Sick, Baqi said the American diplomats were not hurt at all during the hostage crisis and noted that the move was carried out by a group of students independent of the Iranian government.

This was while Mosaddeq's national government was overthrown by a U.S. orchestrated coup de'tat which kept all Iranians hostage of the White House and its puppet regime in Iran for some 25 years, Baqi remarked.

Richard Murphy, in his speech, said it is futile to just look at the past in Iran-U.S. relations and called on both sides to glance at the future and take practical steps toward rapprochement.

While these stances were presented by both sides at the conference, miles away the press in Tehran were analyzing and surveying the discussions. The right-wing press unanimously called the conference "conspiratorial", given the participation of "U.S. spies"!

Other press assessed the conference in accordance with their own political tendencies and welcomed it. Some other press preferred to totally keep silent and avoided offering any comments.

Another sensational discussion came from Panel IV, Politics and Society-II, in which Tehran University Professor Dr. Hussein Bashirieh claimed that Islam and democracy cannot be reconciled. This point gave way to diverse discussions by the Iranians who were pros and cons of the idea and who tried to reason out their assessment of Bashirieh's claim. The American participants closely and silently listened to the discussions of both Iranian sides.

Also in Panel VI, The Economy-I Dr. Abdoul Rahim Govahi, secretary-general of the Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines, said the Judiciary's attempt to see to windfall wealth has lead to distrust and outflow of capital from Iran.

This comment raised a storm of criticism in Iran, so much so that the President of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines Khamoushi declared that Govahi was not representing the Chamber at the conference and that the Chamber does not approve participation in such "ambiguous" meetings. Of course, Govahi, at the start of his speech, said he was personally responsible for his comments without representing his governmental post and capacity at the conference.

Upon his return to Iran, he published an explanation in the Iranian press to the effect that he meant that economic and judicial security is a precondition for absorbing domestic and foreign capitals and capital investments.

This was not the end, however. A number of conservative MPs on June 22 voiced regret over the support and consolidation of American and Zionist fora and centers by people and bodies claiming to support the Imam and the system. They demanded that Dr. Govahi be sacked from the Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and Mines.

The drive against windfall wealth dates back to May 1997 when the Leader delivered a speech calling for seeing to windfall wealth. Pursuant to this speech, the Judicial Branch launched the court case of the Tehran Municipality officials to meet the Leader's demand.

After around two years, the campaign against windfall wealth led to the prosecution, imprisonment, financial fines, and deprivation of state employment for Tehran's Lord Mayor Ghulam Hussein Karbaschi and a number of his colleagues.

Karbaschi and his supporters, however, claimed that the Judiciary had acted politically and landed the Tehran Municipality officials in the dock, leading to an atmosphere of judicial insecurity for investors in Iran who transferred their capital to foreign countries.

A highly tangible issue at the conference was the fact that some Iranian speakers delivered very shallow speeches and merely recounted Iran's past history, notwithstanding the conference theme which focused on Iran's future prospects.

Also with the election of President Khatami, Iran has faced political and cultural expansion and transparency. Because of this, prominent political and economic personalities who have serious words to impart at international events are well recognized, but some of these figures were not invited to the conference.

In place of them, some speakers who are not famous political or economic figures or who had nothing new to say were invited to speak at the panels. Their shallow and inconclusive speeches, of course, were compensated by Iran's top-notch political and economic personalities who delivered lectures at the conference.

Another point was that due to the separation of Iran and the United States after the Islamic Revolution, the two sides lacked an understanding that is imperative for dialogues.

The American speakers, aware of their lack of direct understanding of Iran and its situation, based their research and comments on Iran's international relations. Iranian speakers also mainly relied on history rather than on the complexities of international ties. Such conferences can first and foremost bridge these historical gaps.

Finally, whether or not the conference has succeeded in reaching its set objectives is a question which should be put to Hossein Alikhani.