This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Roozbeh (talk | contribs) at 18:46, 16 July 2004. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 18:46, 16 July 2004 by Roozbeh (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Mohammad Khatami (محمد خاتمی in Persian) (born October, 1943 in Ardakan) is the fifth and current President of Iran. He was elected president on May 23, 1997. He was re-elected in 2001 for a second term.
He won largely due to the female and youth vote, who voted for him because he promised to improve the status of women and respond to the demands of the young generation in Iran.
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 have 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.
Before serving as a president, Khatami has been the a representative to 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 High Council of Cultural Revolution.
Khatami has a bachelor's degree in Western Philosophy from Isfahan University, but he left the academic education while he was 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 Center at Hamburg, where he stayed until the Iranian revolution.
The United Nations titled the year 2001 as the United Nation's Year of Dialogue of Civilizations, as per Khatami's suggestion.
Besides his native language Persian, he speaks Arabic, English and German. He is married to Zohreh Sadeghi and has two daughers and a son: Leila (born 1975), Narges (born 1981), and Emad (born 1989).
External links
- Biography (Iranian presidency website)