This was President Ahmadinejad's second letter to the heads
of western states, considering an earlier one he wrote to the US President,
George W. Bush.
Unlike his first letter to Bush, President Ahmadinejad in
his letter to Merkel, has touched on his country's nuclear issue, where he
has stressed that Iran's decision for the acquisition of the nuclear
technology is irrevocable.
What follows is the full text of President Ahmadinejad's
letter to the German Chancellor.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Her Excellency Angela Merkel
The Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
Excellency,
Please accept my warmest greetings.
If it had not been for Germany being a great contributor
to progress in science, philosophy, literature, arts and politics;
If it had not been for a more important and positive
influence of Germany in international relations and promotion of peace;
Moreover, if it had not been for the persistence of a
strong will by certain global powers and special groups to constantly
portray Germany as defeated and indebted country of World War II in order
to continue their extortions;
And if it had not been for the presence of Your Excellency
at the top of the executive branch of your country as an experienced
stateswoman with bitter and sweet experiences in two dissimilar societies
with different political systems and traditions,
And at the same time, if it had not been for the
advantages that are limited to women, such as stronger human sentiments
and certain manifestations of the divine compassion and kindness,
specially in the position of a mother and being at the service of the
people, and the common responsibility of all people with faith in God to
defend human dignity and worth and to prevent violations of their rights
and their humiliation, and proceeding from this conviction that we are all
created by the Almighty and He has bestowed upon us all dignity and no one
has any special privileges over the other, and under no circumstances
could a society be deprived of its rights, barred from pursuit of progress
and perfection or be controlled or humiliated;
Finally, if it had not been for the oppression, however
different, of our nations, our shared responsibility to promote justice as
the most basic foundation for promotion of peace and human equality, I
would not have found the motive to write this letter.
Honorable Chancellor
Rulers come and go, but people with culture and history
and their attachments and desires will keep on staying. Opportunities in
front of those in position of high power are transient, even if they may
be vast and broad. These opportunities are very auspicious and can play a
key role in the negative and positive transformations and developments of
a nation.
Those in position of high power do not normally have many
opportunities, but are accountable before the Almighty and people due to
their high responsibility. We know this, and you know it as well.
Some of these developments can have regional, continental
and global ramifications and can hardly be overlooked.
For sometime I have been thinking why some nations that
their history shows they have indeed had an important and prominent share
and role in material and spiritual progress of mankind in various arenas
of science, arts, philosophy, literature and politics and were makers of
civilization are not allowed to be proud as a nation of their historical
accomplishments and play their deserved and constructive role on the
global arena. They try to keep the black cloud of humiliation and shame
hanging over their heads. And even more regrettably, some of the leaders
of such a nation regard this situation befitting them and their nation and
try to justify it. This is really an astonishing phenomenon in today's
world. The propaganda machinery after World War II has been so colossal
that has caused some people to believe that they are the guilty party by
historical accounts and must pay the penalty fort the wrongs committed by
their forefathers for successive generations and for indefinite period of
time.
Excellency
World War II came to an end with all its material and
moral losses and its 60 million casualties. The death of human beings is
tragic and sad. In all divine religions and before all awakened conscience
and pure nature of mankind and the sense of right and wrong, the life,
property and honor of people, regardless of their religious persuasion and
ethnic background, must be respected at all times and all places.
Sixty years have passed since the end of the war. But,
regrettably the entire world and some nations in particular are still
facing its consequences. Even now the conduct of some bullying powers and
power-seeking and aggressive groups is the conduct of victors with the
vanquished.
The extortion and blackmail continue, and people are not
allowed to think about or even question the source of this extortion,
otherwise they face imprisonment. When will this situation end? Sixty
years, one hundred years or one thousand years, when? I am sorry to remind
you that today the perpetual claimants against the great people of Germany
are the bullying powers and the Zionists that founded the Al-Qods
Occupying Regime with the force of bayonets in the Middle East.
The Honorable Chancellor
I have no intention of arguing about the Holocaust. But,
does it not stand to reason that some victorious countries of World War II
intended to create an alibi on the basis of which they could continue
keeping the defeated nations of World War II indebted to them. Their
purpose has been to weaken their morale and their inspiration in order to
obstruct their progress and power. In addition to the people of Germany,
the peoples of the Middle East have also borne the brunt of the Holocaust.
By raising the necessity of settling the survivors of the Holocaust in the
land of Palestine, they have created a permanent threat in the Middle East
in order to rob the people of the region of the opportunities to achieve
progress. The collective conscience of the world is indignant over the
daily atrocities by the Zionist occupiers, destruction of homes and farms,
killing of children, assassinations and bombardments.
Excellency, you have seen that the Zionist government does
not even tolerate a government elected by the Palestinian people, and over
and over again has demonstrated that it recognizes no limit in attacking
the neighboring countries.
The question is why did the victors of the war, especially
England that had apparently such a strong sense of responsibility toward
the survivors of the Holocaust not allow them to settle in their
territory. Why did they force them to migrate to other people's land by
launching a wave of anti-Semitism? Using the excuse for the settlement of
the survivors of the Holocaust, they encouraged the Jews worldwide to
migrate and today a large part of the inhabitants of the occupied
territories are non-European Jews. If tyranny and killing is condemned in
one part of the world, can we acquiesce and go along with tyranny,
killing, occupation and assassinations in another part of the world simply
in order to redress the past wrongs?
Excellency
We need to ask ourselves that for what purposes the
millions of dollars that the Zionists receive from the treasury of some
Western countries are spent for. Are they used for the promotion of peace
and the well-being of the people? Or are they used for waging war against
Palestinians and the neighboring countries. Are the nuclear arsenals of
Israel intended to be used in defense of the survivors of the Holocaust or
as a permanent thereat against nations of the region and as an instrument
of coercion, and possibly to defend the interests of certain circles of
power in the Western countries.
Regrettably, the influence of the Zionists in the economy,
media and some centers of political power has endangered interests of the
European nations and has robbed them of many opportunities. The main alibi
for this approach is the extortion they exact from the Holocaust.
One can imagine what standing some European countries
could have had and what global role they could have played, if it had not
been for this sixty-year old imposition.
I believe we both share the view that the flourishing of
nations and their role are directly related to freedom and sense of pride.
Fortunately, with all the pressures and limitations, the
great nation of Germany has been able to take great strides toward
advancement and has become a major economic powerhouse in Europe that also
seeks to play a more effective role in international interactions. But
just imagine where Germany would be today in terms of its eminence among
the freedom-loving nations, Muslims of the world and peoples of Europe, if
such a situation did not exist and the governments in power in Germany had
said no to the extortions by the Zionists and had not supported the
greatest enemy of mankind.
It is sad to admit that Europe has lost a lot of its clout
in global interactions and has not been able to face and overcome major
challenges by relying on itself. This is, of course, understandable. The
big powers outside of the continent intend to prove that Europe cannot
rely on itself and do anything without their help and intervention.
Our people have also suffered from the interventions by
some of the victors of the war after World War II. For many years they
interfered in our internal affairs and did not want to see our nation
conquer the pinnacles of progress and perfection. They had their eyes on
our natural wealth, above all on our energy resources. To secure their own
interests, they overthrew the legally constituted government of the time,
installed a dictatorial regime and supported it to the end. Later, they
supported Saddam in the war imposed on our people and observed no
humanitarian boundary in their support for the Iraqi dictator. Our nation
has experienced the pain and anguish from the interferences of those who
are now crying out for human rights. There are still many suffering from
the wounds and injuries of this war.
Many of these aggressions have taken place by those who
regard themselves the victors of the World War II. They allow themselves
to do whatever they wish, and unfortunately, after the end of the Cold
War, the arrogance and expansionist ambitions of these powers have
escalated.
We believe that still a major part of the peoples of the
world and even international organizations are under the influence of the
behavior and the conduct of the victors of the World War II.
I explained the position of the people and government of
the Islamic Republic of Iran at the United Nations General Assembly. Is
the present state of affairs such as the rules governing the work of the
Security Council, especially the right to veto, fair?
Do you not think that the time has come to change these
rules in cooperation with independent governments? These rules are by no
means acceptable to the collective conscience of nations and are contrary
to the sense of reason and human nature. At least, if we want to be
fairer, some other countries of the world should be allowed to benefit
from the right to veto.
Madam Chancellor
You are familiar with the pains and sufferings currently
afflicting our world. Today, the pain and suffering of the people of Iraq
that come from occupation, absence of security and daily acts of terrorism
are tormenting the entire humanity. Relentless interferences of some
bullying powers in the internal affairs of other nations, antagonism
toward the inalienable rights of nations to have access to more advanced
technologies, subjecting nations to permanent threats by relying on
arsenals of chemical and nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction,
opposition to popular governments in Latin America, supporting coup
d'état and dictatorial regimes, absence of due attention to Africa and
taking advantage of the power vacuum there to plunder their wealth are
among the problems facing our world today. In my letter to President Bush,
I spelled out a long list of contemporary global problems.
Where are the roots of these problems? How long can they
continue? Do you not think that the main root lies in the fact that some
of the rulers and powers of today have distanced themselves from the
teachings of the divine prophets, the teachings of Abraham, Moses and
Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) and the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon
him).
These teachings are in all divine religions that you and I
believe:
-
God is the creator of all things and beings. We have
all been created free and He has not allowed us to be the servant of
anyone other than Him.
-
He has commanded us to worship Him and to avoid all
oppressors and tyrants. ˇ He has commanded us to be virtuous, to be
good to and serve the people, and has directed us to be kind to and
defend the oppressed and fight the oppressors.
-
God has given humans dignity and scorns their
humiliation.
-
He has sent his messengers with clear reasons, the
Book and a balance and has called on his servants to promote justice.
Based on these shared principles and foundations of our
faith, we believe:
-
Peace and tranquility can only be established and
endure on the basis of faith in God and justice.
-
Peace and dignity are the rights of all nations.
-
Pursuit of progress and better livelihood combined
with spirituality, compassion and well-being is the right of people.
-
You and we can found a new movement to achieve these
noble human ideals by relying on these principles and the articles of
faith that are common to all divine religions.
Our nations believe and are committed to these pillars of
faith. The history has shown that the people of Iran are not familiar with
aggressing and brutalizing other nations. Nevertheless, we do not allow
being the subject and victim of aggression and brutality. The experience
of the eight-year war clearly demonstrated this fact to the whole world.
I believe we and you have both been the subject of
tyranny. They do not respect your rights and want us also to forego our
rights. Fortunately, I have heard that you also speak your mind openly and
are against engendering tension and wars.
Honorable Chancellor,
The inner instincts and nature of the peoples of the world
have wakened up.
Tendency toward faith in the oneness of God is on the
rise.
People will no longer tolerate to be tyrannized,
humiliated and their rights violated.
The prevailing circumstances today differ from those of
yesterday. Multiple standards and approaches in relations will not endure.
Iran and Germany can play a more important role together
in the international arena by relying on the noble and high values.
This cooperative relationship can also enhance the role of
Europe on the global scene and serve as a model of cooperation between two
governments and nations.
Without doubt, cooperation of two peace-loving, powerful
and cultured nations of Germany and Iran will serve the interests of
Europe as well. Together we must end the present abnormalities in
international relations, the type of order and relations that are based on
the impositions of the victors of the World War II on the defeated
nations. Nations and many governments will be on our side on this path.
We must make the shadow of World War II disappear and help
the international community to promote security, freedom and sense of
tranquility.
The people of Iran and Germany are two great nations that
have contributed to the making of our civilization. They have rich culture
and have been in the forefront of science, literature, arts and
philosophy. Both of our people have a strong faith in God and follow the
teachings of divine prophets. They have also had long-lasting scientific,
cultural and commercial relations and share many valuable mutual
interests.
I have no doubt that with the cooperation of the two
governments and the support of the two great nations we can take great
strides forward in alleviating the problems and abnormalities of our world
today.
Daring and courageous decisions are the key to our success
in overcoming the existing problems, countering the violations of rights
and defending the rights of nations.
To the extent that I know of the people of Germany, they
will come along and join us and want restore their dignity and influence
for the sake of global peace and calm. Our people have the similar spirit.
Together we will be able to prove to some powers that
respecting other nations and their rights is good for them as well. Our
two nations and governments, next to each other, will be able to play a
fundamental role in promoting peace, security, progress, and human dignity
at the scale of two countries and internationally.
In closing, I pray to the Almighty for the success of Your
Excellency and the government and people of Germany.