Date: 01 Mar 2000
Time: 07:31:21
Remote Name: 156.29.145.175
03/01/2000 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2000.
BERLIN, March 1 (Reuters) - Germany could become Iran 's "bridge to the west" because of the reformers' election success in Iran last month, prominent reformist politician Mohammad Reza Khatami said on Wednesday.
Khatami, leader of the Iran 's biggest reformist party and brother of President Mohammad Khatami, said he expected next week's visit to Iran by Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer would lead to closer cultural and economic links.
In an interview with the weekly news magazine Stern, Khatami said that as a result of the reformers' election victory in Iran , "Our recent problems can be overcome. Germans could again play an important role in our country."
Pro-reform candidates backing President Khatami took most of the seats in the February 18 elections and the West has been quick to applaud the reformists' win.
"We finally have a parliament that reflects the will of the people and tries to offer stability," said Khatami, who was the top vote-getter in the capital Tehran and leads the Islamic Iran Participation Front.
Relations between Germany and the Islamic republic have warmed considerably since the release from jail last year of German businessman Helmut Hofer, who once faced execution for having illicit sex with a Moslem woman.
Khatami said that the younger generation in Iran no longer wished to be ruled by the old guard.
He said the exchange of information through western television programmes should be liberalised, though people should be told of possible negative influences.
"At the end of the day, everyone has to decide for themselves what they watch. No one can be allowed to interfere in the private sphere," Khatami said.