AN IRANIAN ACTIVIST'S ADVICE ON REACHING THE

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM IR TU
SUBJECT: AN IRANIAN ACTIVIST'S ADVICE ON REACHING THE
IRANIAN PEOPLE

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Classified By: Sandra Oudkirk, Deputy Principal Officer; U.S. Consulate
General Istanbul REASON: 1.4 (d)

1.(C//NF) Summary: Istanbul "Iran watcher" met with visiting
Iranian artist/human rights activist Parastou Forouhar
September 17 to discuss the current climate in Iran and USG
efforts to reach out to the Iranian people. Forouhar
welcomed the USG,s decision to train more diplomats in FARSI
and post them near Iran; urged Washington to give highest
priority to confronting the regime on human rights rather
than the nuclear program; said Iranian activists need more
Internet-related support; and speculated that younger
politically-active Iranians were watching Turkey,s AKP party
as a possible future model for Iran. End Summary.


Dinner with an Iranian dissident
--------------


2. (C/NF) Istanbul Iran watcher met with Ms. Forouhar in
Istanbul for a wide-ranging dinner discussion about Iran.
(Post thanks Embassy Berlin,s Iran watcher for forwarding
the contact.) Forouhar is a well-known artist and activist
whose renown comes in part from her efforts to press the
regime in 1998-99 to investigate the brutal murder by regime
thugs of her parents in November 1998. She has been living
in Germany since 1991 but travels back to Iran every year to
maintain links with Iranian artists and human rights
activists and to commemorate the anniversary of her parents,
deaths. Forouhar is staying in Istanbul until October, then
plans to visit Iran for several months if the regime allows,
before returning to her family in Germany.

More people-to-people exchanges needed
--------------


3. (C/NF) Forouhar offered enthusiastic support for State,s
efforts to develop a cadre of FARSI speaking diplomats and
post them regionally for the purpose of better understanding
developments inside Iran. She noted that word of the USG,s
interest in learning more about daily life in Iran from
Iranians themselves, as well as the recent increase in IVLP
programs for Iranians, had given an emotional boost to many
of her activist colleagues. "These programs are your best
advertisement that you care about the Iranian people. But we
need ten times as many people-to-people exchanges. Instead
of ten programs every year, fund fifty."


4. (C/NF) Forouhar urged that the USG not shy away from
controversial IVLP programs, encouraging more programs for on
human rights (especially women,s rights) activists. "Let
them decide if they are willing to take the risk and come.
Many still will." She said that decisions like the one by
the Open Society Institute (OSI) to cease its human
rights-related programs in favor of safer programs out of
concern for program partners only reinforces to the regime
that its clamp-down tactics are working. Forouhar also
suggested IVLP programs to invite the younger generation of
(non-IRGC-affiliated) journalists, judges, politicians,
police, and other GOI-controlled professions. "They are the
ones you need to reach out to." She speculated that the
regime would try to stop them but felt that even just an
invitation to participate would be a useful signal, and
despite the risks some might even accept.


5. (C/NF) Regarding training and assistance for Iranian
civil society and human rights groups, Forouhar urged that we
focus on Internet capacity-building that will help NGOs,
individuals, and web-logs inside Iran stay online. She said
the Internet, and to a lesser degree satellite television,
serves as a lifeline for her colleagues inside Iran. She
described the constant efforts by the regime to filter sites
and block the information flow, and the constant
counter-efforts by Iranians to stay online, one step ahead of
the regime. Any helpful training or software that can
protect Internet users from such filtering would be of
critical value.

Whisper about the nuclear program, yell about human rights
-------------- --------------


6. (C/NF) Queried about Iranian popular reactions to USG
pressure on the regime, Forouhar suggested that the Iranian
people do not care about the nuclear program, but they also
bristle when the only statements they hear from Washington,
London, and Paris harp about stopping Iran from developing
this technology. "If you and the UN believe it is important

ISTANBUL 00000855 002.4 OF 003


to stop this program, go ahead but do it more quietly." What
the Iranian people need to hear is Washington, London, and
the UN "yelling at Iran" over its brutal human rights record.
Forouhar said that only such an effort would prove to
Iranians that the international community cares about their
lives and living conditions.


7. (C/NF) In this vein, Forouhar welcomed the recent letter
sent by Iranian pro-democracy activist Akbar Ganji to UNSYG
Ban Ki-Moon describing the systematic human rights abuses of
the regime. Forouhar agrees with Ganji that the regime,s
human rights record should be the UN,s first priority when
it confronts the regime. She acknowledged the challenge of
raising Iran,s human rights record at the UNSC given the
likely opposition of other human rights "abusers" on the
Council to such a focus. But if Iranians saw that the U.S.
or EU was still trying to do so, "it would give them hope,
and it would still put the regime even more on the
defensive."


A Mossadegh renaissance?
--------------


8. (C/NF) Asked about the future of the reformist movement
in Iran, and whether a future pro-democracy leader could
emerge out of this system, Forouhar expounded on Iran,s
historical fixation with heroes. "Iranians love heroes. We
are waiting for Rostam (e.g., Rostam and Sohrab, from the
Persian "Epic of Kings") to protect us, but that is the
problem: everyone is waiting for someone else to be the
hero." She surmised that most Iranian activists feel so
embittered about the lost opportunities and "betrayal" under
former President Khatami that they do not trust any
politician working within the system, and they do not seen
any other pro-democracy activists (e.g., Ganji) as having the
leadership ability necessary to successfully challenge the
system.


9. (C/NF) According to Forouhar, the only Iranian leader
most reformers still gain any inspiration from is former
Prime Minister Mossadegh, overthrown in a US/UK engineered
coup in 1953. She noted that even some in the regime have
begun to use his legacy in their rhetoric, pointing to his
success at nationalizing Iran,s oil resources. "They want
the people to think they are doing the same thing with the
nuclear program." But she cautioned, with a subversive
smile, that this could haunt them. "The more the younger
generation hears about Mossadegh -- noble, secular, western
educated but fiercely nationalistic, the more they will wish
for a leader just like him -- including the secular part."
Anything the USG could do to indirectly encourage a
"Mossadegh renaissance" in Iran would likely end up in
increasing domestic pressure on the "un-Mossadegh" regime.

We,re watching the AKP
--------------


10. (C/NF) Asked her view of the future of Iran,s
theocratic style of government, she predicted that the
"velyat-e faqih" system under which the Supreme Leader claims
a mandate from God was likely to change, maybe as soon as
Khamenei passes away. "Almost the entire population, even
some younger mullahs, think this is a corruption."
Acknowledging that devotion to (Shia) Islam is an essential
aspect of Iranian national character, she underscored that
many Iranians were watching closely what happens in Turkey,
with the moderate Islamic "Justice and Development" Party
(AKP) now controlling the Presidency, Prime Ministry, and
Parliament. Fourhar explained that if the AKP continues to
have economic success, and can show how to govern effectively
as an Islamist party (albeit Sunni) in a secular system, this
may have a profound impact on Iranians. She suggested the
USG encourage the AKP to reach out to younger politically
active Iranians and bring them to Turkey on IVLP-type
programs.

Comment
--------------


11. (C/NF) The chain-smoking, forty-five year-old Forouhar
was a lively and relaxed interlocutor, and claimed she felt
no risk in meeting with a USG official even as she is
preparing to return to Iran. Her views tend to track with
what one would expect from a fierce opponent of the regime
and a strong secularist, with some interesting exceptions
(e.g., her interest in the AKP model). Although a German

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resident since 1991, her stature as a fearless and vocal
advocate for familes of victims of the regime appears to have
allowed her to enjoy close contacts with many human rights
activists still in Iran. During the conversation, the Iran
watcher explained both the policy and funding constraints
that may preclude the USG from pursuing at least some of her
advice on reaching the Iranian people. But we pass back her
comments in detail as potentially reflecting the views of at
least some activists in Iran and underscoring the close
attention they are paying to USG "Iran watching" efforts and
our democracy- and human-rights-related programs. End
comment.
WIENER