Turkey Video Special: Prime Minister Erdogan's 50 Minutes on US Television (29 June)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a lengthy interview with Charlie Rose on the US Public Broadcasting Service. The video is in five parts, starting at the 6:30 mark of Part 1. The transcript is available on the Charlie Rose website:

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Turkey Inside Line: Israel’s Unmanned Planes, Iran’s Uranium, Trouble with the EU, and More

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RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: We had in Turkey some problems in the beginning of the millennium and also in the 1990s, too. When we came to government, we were very much aware of the difficulty and challenges, and we took certain steps. And in the seven and a half years in government, we have been standing firmly on our feet in this financial sector and the economy in general.

Turkey is not a country where everyone and anyone can establish a bank as they please, for example. They have to have a good basis to establish a bank, for example, because otherwise if we were to allow things as they were in the past, we would be having more problems, crises as we had in the past.

So we worked very hard and we never reverted to populism. We were a very determined in the way that we worked in the economic front. And despite all of the difficulties around the world, Turkey has been working to repay the loan from the IMF. We were very determined in reducing our debt to the IMF, and we reduced it from $23.5 billion to $7 billion.
And we had $26.5 billion in reserves and our central banks whereas now
we have $72.5 billion in reserve in the central bank. So those are -- this
is the kind of development that has taken place.

And throughout the process we have not had any banks taken over by the
government. In the past, 21 banks had to be taken over the government in
previous crises. So we did not have that problem. And our private sector,
our business people have also learn to stand on their own feet.

We had some problems in 2008-2009, but in the first quarter of this
year, we started maintaining a level of growth which we had achieved in the
last quarter of last year. And according to IMF estimates, Turkey is
expected to grow about six percent this year, which goes to show that
Turkey has been quite successful, indeed.

CHARLIE ROSE: It also suggests to many people that the changing
economic picture and the changing political picture have given you an
opportunity to play a larger role. So the question is, what does Turkey
want to do?

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: Well, I have to say that we do not see the
economy as our only area of concentration. Democracy has been very
important for us, too. We tried to carry on with developments in both
fields.

In any case, you can’t really fully succeed if you don’t take both
hand in hand. Democracy, democratic development and economic development
have to go hand in hand, because if you do one, then the other one will be
successful. If not, then there will be problems.

And during our tenure in government, we have seen a lot of development
in fundamental rights and freedoms. We really achieved a lot in that
regard.

And there are two basic concept which is we always paid attention to.
One was stability and the other one was security, because if you don’t have
security in a country, if you don’t have stability in a country, then no
investments will come to that country. And when you have no investments,
you cannot create employment. When you have no employment, you cannot
produce. And when you have no production then you cannot be successful
overall.

So we focus on peace, stability, prosperity and we have been working
to achieve these three, and this is what we have been doing. And we carry
the same determination looking into the future.

And the state, the government has moved out of the economic field of
activity and this has been transferred to the private sector. We’ve been
very successful in that.

There are still some sectors where the state is still involved, but we
are slowly taking the state out of these sectors. So the state will play a
monitoring, guiding role only. It will not be an actor in the various
sectors.

This has been important in trying to achieve peace, prosperity,
welfare in Turkey, and that was our goal. And we’re about to achieve this
goal. There’s some problems, but we’re trying to overcome them.

CHARLIE ROSE: You have a higher growth rate than some of the other
countries who are already in the European Union, as you well know. Some
have suggested you no longer have the same passion to become part of the
European Union, that your eyes are looking in another direction.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: Well, let me be very clear and specific here.
We have not been able to overcome the prejudice that the European Union has
vis-a-vis Turkey. Some EU member states -- I say some, because there are
also countries where members of EU who are friends of Turkey. But then
there are also other members who really cannot fit in Turkey in their own
minds.

We on the other hand have been doing our homework and we have been
successful in doing our homework. But some countries are blocking some
chapters in the accession talks from being open. They’re not being very
honest. These countries are not being very honest and open.

But we are very determined and we continue along this path. Turkey
applied to the European Union in 1959. We are in year 2010, 51 years have
passed. And this has not been the case for any country. And if you look
at the body of legislation that the EU has, there have been things that
have been asked of Turkey which does not exist in that body of legislation,
and they are trying to invent rules as the game is being played.

And this is what we have to overcome. And there are certain issues,
problems here. But in the steps that we take with regard to the opinion,
we have not had a change of heart or mind. We are as determined as we
were.

CHARLIE ROSE: You want to be part of Europe and you will meet with
President Sarkozy, you’ll meet with Chancellor Merkel and you’ll say "We
want to be part of Europe, don’t believe anything that suggests otherwise."

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: Well, when we speak of being part of Europe,
what do Mr. Sarkozy and Mrs. Merkel mean? Is it geographically,
economically, or any other way?

If we look at this from a geographic point of view, Turkey is part of
Europe and Turkey is part of Asia as well, geographically speaking. Now
culturally, if that is the interpretation, then I think there’s no question
that Turkey is a part of Europe. Turkey’s taken many steps, and, for
example, at the moment there are five million Turks living in EU member
states. Turkey is a member of NATO.

And Turkey is taking upon itself a great burden, too, in many ways, in
the various institutions that it’s a part of. So it’s very strange,
comical, in fact, to speak of it like this.

CHARLIE ROSE: Secretary Gates said if, in fact, Turkey is looking in
a new place, it’s because they were not given an opportunity to participate
in the European Union and they were -- changed their minds because of that.
You just say "Secretary Gates, it’s not true. Nothing has changed because
of my effort to join the European Union."

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: I’ll give you a very interesting answer. When
this statement was made by Mr. Gates, Mr. Barroso was also making
statement. And Mr. Barroso was saying -- while Mr. Gates was saying what
you just said -- that it was the United States, it was the policy approach
of the United States which has made Turkey shift its position.

Look, let me tell you this Turkey cannot be described by what the EU
has said or by what Mr. Gates has said. Nobody should worry. Turkey is
very much aware of its historical responsibility, its geographical
location, and looks to the future in that way.

How does the U.S. look and see the world? The U.S. or the Americans
come to central Asia, they make investments there, they go to the gulf or
to the Islamic countries and talk to all these countries. Is this normal?
It’s normal. It’s usual.

Western countries, they go to all these countries, they make
investments there, they have export/imports with all these countries all
over the world. So why would anyone think it unusual when Turkey does
this?

You can see some western products, German, French products in Iran or
U.S. products or Russian products. This is considered normal. So why is
it not so not normal or unusual when it’s Turkey? In the same in the
Islamic world, in the Arab world, the same thing is true there.

So when other countries do it or has investments with those countries
it’s very usual. When Turkey does it, why is it considered unusual? We
have relationships with Europe. We have western countries which have made
investments in Turkey. So why would one consider them as being out of the
ordinary?

I think we have to be very frank there is no question of any shift in
our axis. Turkey continues to proceed along the path it has been on, and
this is a very normal process. We say that the river flows and follows its
bed. And this determination and aim of Turkey has always been to achieve
modern contemporary standards.

And there’s no shift whatsoever as far as that object is concerned.
We talk to the north, east, west, south, we talk to everyone around the
world because we’re a country of the world.

CHARLIE ROSE: The other argument is that there’s a new northern tier
-- you’ve heard this before -- and Turkey is the leader of it, or plays an
important role, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: This is a very wrong approach. There are many
international organizations, arrangements that we are a part of. As I said
earlier, we’re a member of NATO. We’re a member of the OECD we are an
accession country to the European Union. We are part of the Black Sea
Economic Cooperation. We are a member of the OIC, the Organization of
Islamic conversation.

So we have many relations, and we are not engaged in any sort of
effort to try to create another set of a different kind of relations. But
I don’t understand why people would be so envious of Turkey developing such
relations because, after all, these countries which you list are
neighboring countries to Turkey, and nothing could be more natural than
Turkey to establish relations with neighboring countries.

In the past we had what was called an RCD. This was the case of
countries in that area working together. The RCD is not as active as it
was in the past, but what is being done as far as that should not be
disturbing anyone.

For example, we reached an agreement in the Caucasus which included
Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, so five countries. In
the same way we have relations with countries in the Mediterranean and the
Middle East, and quite naturally so because of Turkey’s location. We are
engaged in cooperation with these countries.

So there is nothing beyond that. And no one should be worrying about
this.

CHARLIE ROSE: I don’t think they’re worrying about it. I think
they’re just recognizing the changing power reality of the world, which is
happening across the world. China and India is much stronger. Turkey is
much stronger.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: Well, I think we have to say that we should
consider which angle we take -- political, economic, cultural.

If you look at the situation from all these angles, we see change in
all of them. Politically speaking, if we are looking for from a political
angle, we can say that, of course, there are many international
organizations where Turkey is a member.

Economically speaking, Turkey has an important place in the
competitive global economy. And we aim to continue to develop our economic
activity.

And I should say that we need to work with many countries around the
world in order to increase our competitiveness and to do -- and so we have
to do business in different countries. We look at Latin American
countries, tens of thousands of miles away and we’re trying to do business
with other parts of the world.

For example, Turkey has been a neighbor with Russia for many years but
we didn’t have much economic relations to speak of with Russia. But we
reached a trade volume of $35 billion in 2008, and we had last year $23.5
billion of trade with the Russians despite the economic crisis.

And our trade with the U.S. is quite low now but even when it was at
its highest, it stood around $10 billion, but $10. But then $20 billion or
$30 billion, this is a very small amount. We have to go much beyond that.
We’re trying to do the same with China, and we will do it, we will work
with all the far eastern countries as well.

And I don’t understand how or why people interpret this effort in a
different way, because no matter what culture, where people come from, we
visit these places with our business people. The African continent, South
America, Latin America, we travel to all of these locations, to the Far
East.

We will be going to all these countries. We have to do that because
otherwise we cannot increase our exports. At its best, Turkey’s exports
stands at $132 billion. Of course, when we came the government it was $36
billion. It has grown but we have to keep going. If we cannot grow it,
then we will have problems.

When we have business, our exports, our employment will not be a
problem. We had at one point our unemployment reach 16 percent. It’s
going down now. It’s now down to 13 percent. Our goal is to reduce the
unemployment rate to 10 percent.

If you look at European countries we see the unemployment rate going
up while in Turkey it’s going down, and that’s the result of the work which
I just explained to you.

On the other hand, we’re moving from a more agricultural society to a
more industrialized society, so there’s a lot of challenge there. We are
moving from a labor-intensive economy to a technology-intensive economy.
And of course in a technology intensive economy you won’t find as many
employment opportunities as you would find in the labor intensive society.
So we have to work very hard.

CHARLIE ROSE: Granted, you have this economic power. There are those
who will say that Turkey has taken over the mantle of being the best friend
of Palestinians in the region.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: I think that this interpretation alone is not
exactly right. We are friends with all the countries in the region. We
have no problems with any of the countries in the region. We are a friend
to Israel as well in this region.

Just two days ago there was a meeting, a summit in Turkey of the
southeast European countries. So Turkey is in contact with many countries.
In the Middle East we’re friends with Israel as well.

But more recently because of the position Israel has taken and also
because they attacked in international waters three ships where there were
Turkish citizens from the air and from the sea, this has creates a
difficulty because there’s no explanation to this situation, to this
incident. It cannot be explained by international law.

This is state terror. It would be impossible to define it in any
international legal terms. In one of the ships, there were volunteers, and
the other two ships had toys, food, medicine, construction material, et
cetera, humanitarian aid.

And the attack came from the sea and from the air, and there were
plastic bullets used, guns used. Nine people died, eight of them Turkish,
one a U.S. citizen. The American citizen, the U.S. administration should
take ownership of this situation because there was an American citizen
involved.

We as the Turkish government do the same because the families have a
right to ask their government what has happened. That’s what they do.
They ask us, why? Why what has happened, happened? What about my husband
or my son? And the same thing is true for all countries. And we will act
within international law, taking into consideration the medical reports.

Now, in Palestine is America working to achieve peace? Yes. The
other countries, the quartet, they’re all working. Why was the quartet
established? To achieve peace. And we are a country of that region. And
what could be more natural than Turkey, a regional country, working to
achieve peace?

CHARLIE ROSE: Turkey has been a friend of Israel, has had a very good
relationship with Israel. It helped try to bridge a relationship with
Syria, between Israel and Syria. What’s the status of that relationship
today?

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: At the moment the problem in Israel is the
coalition government. The coalition government is the biggest barrier to
peace.

Secondly, with regard to the problems between Syria and Israel, Syria
is also waiting to see what Israel will want to do, because Syria is ready
to start with those talks again. It’s what Israel is going to say --

CHARLIE ROSE: And you’re prepared to be involved in those talks
again?

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: If the parties ask us to be involved we would
be, yes, prepared to work for peace. And we’ve said this before. But, of
course, the parties must be interested.

CHARLIE ROSE: So if Syria is prepared to talk to Israel through you
and if Israel is prepared to talk to Syria through you, you’re prepared to
do it, unlike when you broke it off because of the Gaza invasion?

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: As long as the parties involved ask and request

The Latest from Iran (20 June): Remembering the Protests and the Dead

2000 GMT: Soroush and Khamenei. The website of Abdulkarim Soroush, one of Iran's most prominent intellectuals --- now living in exile --- has published the English translation of Soroush's letter to the Supreme Leader, "Flagging Oratory (and Mind?)".

1950 GMT: Limiting the Remembrance. Pictures and video show a heavy security presence in Tehran's Vanak Square:

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NEW Iran Document: Karroubi Takes on the Supreme Leader (20 June)
NEW Iran Special: Legal Analysis of Post-Election Violations of Rights (Shadi Sadr)
NEW Iran Video, One Year On: The “Neda” Documentaries
Iran: Working Together? The Women’s Movement & The Greens (Kakaee)
Iran Analysis: Why the 2009 Election is Not Legitimate (Ansari)
The Latest from Iran (19 June): How Does Mahmoud Respond?

1645 GMT: The Karroubi Statement. We've posted lengthy extracts in a separate entry --- with its apparent challenge to the powers of the Supreme Leader, is this a significant step forward for the cleric?

1620 GMT: The Threat to the Reformists. The Islamic Iran Participation Front, responding to the declaration of the Tehran Prosecutor General that the party would be banned and might be broken up, said  Abbas Jafari Doulatabi's remarks were "private and without legal value".

1610 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has reportedly declared that he would like to retire, but were he to step down from positions such as head of the Expediency Council, there would be "grave political consequences".

1445 GMT: Today's Hijab Discussion. Member of Parliament Reza Akrami has declared that the President "should ask himself why he protests" against enforcement of the law on hijab.

Ahmadinejad spokesman Ali Akbar Javanfekr did a bit of "don't look at us", saying that the Government is not responsible for the crackdown on "bad hijab" because the security forces are not controlled by the Minister of the Interior.

1250 GMT: One Year Ago. Setareh Sabety reminds us of the words she posted, on the morning of 25 Khordaad (20 June) 2009:

I pray, even though an atheist, I pray that today this all important day, courage and justice is triumphant and that there will be no blood shed. I pray that no mother has to hear bad news, no woman is martyred and no young man beaten or arrested. I pray that these people whom I love, who are risking their lives with incredible courage for me and you, are not harmed and that their silent, persistent message of the basic need for freedom and democracy wins the day.

1245 GMT: The Reformist Challenge. The message from member of Parliament Mohammad Reza Tabesh to the Government is  direct and to the point: "Stop these radical behaviours."

1200 GMT: Cyber-Shutdown. Parleman News reports Persianblog, Iranicloob, and Blogfa have now been filtered.

1155 GMT: We've posted a special feature, Shadi Sadr's legal analysis of the post-election violation of rights by Iranian authorities.

1055 GMT: Documenting "Neda". Iranian state television has broadcast the "real" story of the killing of Neda Agha Soltan, "Crossroades". It features Abbas Javid Kargar, the Basij militiaman accused of the murder, who claims he was unarmed on that day and played no role in her death.

So who did it? The documentary implies that the "terrorist" Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MKO) was responsible.

Arash Hejazi, the doctor who tried to save Neda's life, has posted his response to the documentary's claims.

And we've re-posted two other documentaries on "Neda" and post-election events, the BBC/PBS/Tehran Bureau production, "An Iranian Martyr", and HBO's "For Neda".

1045 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Peyke Iran claims that activists and students have been detained in Hormozogan Province.

RAHANA reports that eight students have been arrested in Shiraz on charges of "propaganda against the Prophet".

0925 GMT: Political Prisoners and the Labour Front.

The International Transport Workers Federation has denounced the further arrests of members of Sandikaye Kargarane Sherkate Vahed, the Tehran bus workers’ union in Iran.

Saeed Torabian and Reza Shahbi were arrested in June by Iranian security forces and are being held at an unknown location. They join Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, both in prison since 2007, in detention.

In a letter to President Ahmadinejad, ITWF General Secretary David Cockroft said: “We once again reiterate that the carrying out of normal trade union duties is not an arrestable offence and should never be the grounds for the detention of Saeed Torabian, of Mansour Osanloo, or anyone else. We therefore request that you once again intervene in this process, remedy this situation, and also assure the good health and safety of Mansour Osanloo, who remains unjustly imprisoned.”

Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that workers at the Zhaveh reservoir dam in the Kurdish Kamyaran region have gone on strike over non-payment of seven months of back wages, workers yearly bonuses, overtime wages, and dues.

0810 GMT: The Clerics Fight Back? Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani has said that the distance between religion and revolutionary principles is the reason for the weakness of Iran's judiciary.

The more intriguing report, however, is in Rah-e-Sabz. The website claims that Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, Mohammad Khatami, and Hassan Khomeini have all been on the telephone with Grand Ayatollah Sanei: these attacks were not a rebellion of unorganised people but a planned assault.

0800 GMT: The Battle Within (cont.). The latest jab of Keyhan, the "hard-line" newspaper, at the Government is a query about Ahmadinejad's chief aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai: why did he, in one of his many offices, give money to a rich artist?

0720 GMT: The Battle Within. The opposition's commemorations and the execution of "terrorists" has not entirely taken the headline heat off the President. Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, has told Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he cannot interfere in the affairs of other regime institutions.

0630 GMT: Remembering 25 Khordaad. Zahra Rahnavard has issued a statement reflecting on the protests of 20 June 2009:

"Today the Green Movement owes its place to the resistance of women, who along with their spouses and children, and as a group of leaders on the front lines have had a unique presence. The movement should realize that achieving freedom and democracy without the presence of noble women and without considering and implementation of the demands to eliminate discrimination and violence that women have always asked will not be possible.”

0625 GMT: Karroubi on the Vote and the Supreme Leader. Saham News, the website of Mehdi Karroubi, has published the cleric's  latest statement. Karroubi opens:

One year after the 10th Presidential election, considering what they did with your votes and the blood that was shed for regaining your rights, once again firmly and honestly, I declare that I am standing on my promise with you to the end of this path and I am ready to debate with anyone who would represent the ruling powers.
The vote that they stole from you and the right that was brutally denied from you is a shame that cannot be covered in anyway. Such that after one year despite all the pressure and intimidations not only your rightful demands have not been forgotten but also this seek for change has penetrated in various layers of the society based on an extensive social network and this social extent is not something that can be eliminated by repressions, intimidations, arrests and staged trials.

This declaration of defiance from 12 June 2009 to the present is followed by thoughts about the recent pro-regime attacks on senior clerics, used by Karroubi to consider "the powers of the Supreme Leader". In other words --- if I'm reading this right --- if Ayatollah Khameni is the ultimate defender of the Islamic Republic, why is he not defending its leading religious figures and its people?

0600 GMT: Today is likely to be dominated by remembrance of last year's mass demonstration, eight days after the Presidential election and a day after the Supreme Leader tried to close off debate, and those who died.

For many, Neda Agha Soltan, the 26-year-0ld woman killed by a Basij militia gunshot, became the symbol of tragedy and hope, and outside Iran, her name remains a beacon. (The #4Neda hashtag may be one of the most prominent on Twitter today.)

Inside Iran, however, there will be memorials for all those killed on 20 June and in the days after the election. It is reported that four Tehran universities are holding services, and there is chatter of events across the country.

The Iranian Government, however, has made a late bid to take over the headlines by adding another death: this morning it executed Abdolmalek Rigi, the leader of the Baluch insurgent Jundullah organisation.

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Iran Video, One Year On: The "Neda" Documentaries

On the anniversary of 25 Khordaad, when Neda Agha Soltan and others were killed amidst mass demonstrations, we re-post two documentaries, the BBC/PBS/Tehran Bureau documentary "An Iranian Martyr" and HBO's "For Neda".

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4-iLG6FwRc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Watch Rest of "An Iranian Martyr"....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F48SinuEHIk&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

The Latest from Iran (3 June): Karroubi Video Message

2210 GMT: Made-Up Story of the Day? We close with a supposed "exclusive" (exclusive because no one else is reporting it) from Fars News. The website claims that Mehdi Karroubi was driven from the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini today by a crowd shouting, "Death to the Hypocrite".

Fars' visual support for the story? A picture of Karroubi from last year's Tehran Book Fair.

2115 GMT: Karroubi Watch. Mehdi Karroubi has released a lengthy video message. We've posted the first of six parts below. You can also link to Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6.

We are looking urgently for an English translation.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEn4cHR10rM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

NEW Iran Document: Majid Tavakoli “The Will of My Nation Led to Victory”
Iran Document: Mousavi “Imam Khomeini, Revolution, and the Green Movement” (2 June)
Latest Iran Video: Ahmadinejad in Ilam “Where’s My Crowd?”
The Latest from Iran (2 June): Where’s My Crowd?

1800 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi says that, following the Supreme Leader's pardon of 81 detainees, a number of prisoners have been released. Still no names of those freed.


1650 GMT: Propaganda Corner. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran claims that Fars News has published a fabricated letter of resignation by Morteza Semyari, the secretary of the Cultural Commission of the student organisation Daftar-Tahkim-Vahdat.

1645 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The sentence of 3 1/2 years in prison and lashes for journalist and filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad was confirmed earlier this week. The response of Nourizad, who has been imprisoned in part because of letters to the Supreme Leader?

He has written another letter to Ayatollah Khamenei before the Supreme Leader leads Tehran Friday Prayers this week: “The damage and harm that we (the religious government of Iran) have caused Islam and religious beliefs of the people is beyond the damage and harm throughout history."

1520 GMT: Reports are coming in that Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard met representatives of Iranian women's organisations today.

1515 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. An admission.... As I tried to read the various political contender set up position for the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death --- with both the Supreme Leader and Mir Hossein Mousavi "claiming" Khomeini --- I read summaries of a statement by former President Hashemi Rafsanjani but did not post them.

I did not post the original from the Iranian Labor News Agency or the abridgements from outlets like Radio Zamaneh because the language seemed, well vague: "Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of Iran’s Assembly of Experts urged those faithful to the Islamic Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini not to let “the Revolution to fall in the hands of strangers.” Rafsanjani called on the public not to let the Islamic Revolution to be derailed from its “original and true” path because, once deviations in the Islamic Republic occur, “it will be very difficult or impossible to overcome them”.

So has Rafsanjani issued a veiled warning to the Government, cautioned the opposition not to be too strident, or taken a seat on a tall fence? Answers on a postcard or in our comments section....

0900 GMT: Film Corner. Jafar Panahi, the acclaimed film director released last week after more than three months in prison, has said, "Sometimes I feel that the mere thought of writing a film can be a crime here, just the idea that to do so may be penalized. It may even be enough to go to jail....Now I have to make films in my dreams, sometimes in my head."

0855 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. RAHANA claims several students and activists were released last evening.

Khabar Online reports that Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi is meeting families of detainees on a weekly basis, apparently in an effort to get prisoners to repent.

Kodoom updates on detained teachers.

0835 GMT: Economic Battles. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has criticised President Ahmadinejad for not implementating the law on privatisation correctly.

The Supreme Audit Court has presented examples of deviations in oil revenues, with $1 billion missing in 2007.

0830 GMT: A Green IRIB? The pro-Government Raja News, in a surprising admission and/or an attack on possible subversives within Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, declares that Mir Hossein Mousavi was favoured over President Ahmadinejad by employees of IRIB by a 7:1 margin.

0820 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Rooz Online reports on detained activists in Iranian Azerbaijan.

0810 GMT: Home Box Office in the US has released a new documentary on the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, "For Neda".

(Documentaries from November 2009 by the BBC and by the US Public Broadcasting Service are available elsewhere on EA.)

0700 GMT: The Supreme Leader''s Latest Move. Dave Siav0shi at Iran News Now posts a sharp assessment of yesterday's announcement of pre-election pardons, "The Shrewd Calculus Behind Khamenei’s Release of 81 Political Prisoners".

The names of those pardoned are still unknown.

0635 GMT: We have finally tracked down an English translation of Sunday's letter from detained student activist Majid Tavakoli, "The Will of My Nation Led to Victory", and posted it in a separate entry.

0610 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kamran Asa, the brother of the slain protester Kianoush Asa, has been re-arrested.

Kamran Asa was first jailed on 16 December and detained for two months.

0550 GMT: One more day before the pace of the politics --- and, possibly, the public contest over the Government and the regime --- quickens.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the death in 1989 of Ayatollah Khomeini and all sides are staking out their positions. Both the Supreme Leader and the President appear at Friday Prayers, and Mir Hossein Mousavi has released his statement --- posted in a separate entry --- to claim the legacy of Khomeini and Revolution for the opposition.

And where there is political manoeuvring, there are also the steps to limit debate. Rooz Online has a summary of "the third round of mass arrest of journalists and political activists". It notes the detentions of journalists Azam Veisameh and Mahboubeh Khansari and claims that security agents failed in their attempt to arrest several reformist activists and one political prisoner’s wife.

The pro-Government Raja News has claimed that Veisameh and Khansari “communicated with foreign media” and discussed “information about certain issues”.