German Foreign Minister Committed To Restoring Relations With Iran
BERLIN, Feb 9 (News Agencies) - German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Friday after meeting his Iranian counterpart, that he was committed to rebuilding bilateral relations despite deep differences over human rights issues.
Fischer said his meeting with Kamal Kharazi in Berlin Thursday evening had been constructive and that Germany will continue to pursue the "difficult path of further development" of relations between the two countries.
The meeting was part of efforts to patch up the often strained ties between Berlin and Tehran which were most recently upset when an Iranian court last month handed down heavy prison terms for 10 Iranians who attended a conference in Berlin last April on reform of the Islamic state.
Fischer said the development was particularly frustrating due to the improvement in cooperation between Germany and Iran following a visit by Iranian President Mohammed Khatami last July.
Diplomatic sources said Friday that both countries had a vested interest in shoring up relations and that Germany could not afford to isolate Iran.
"It will not be easy, but the alternative would mean a deterioration of relations," a diplomat said.
A foreign ministry spokesman, Andreas Michaelis, said Thursday's talks had covered topics ranging from human rights - including the Berlin conference case - to the situation in the Middle East and trade issues.
Several hundred Iranian demonstrators protested against the Kharazi visit Thursday and Friday, accusing the Iranian government of continuous human rights violations.
A paint bomb struck one of the cars in the foreign minister's convoy Friday and a suspect was arrested, a police spokeswoman said.
Kharazi met later with the speaker of the lower house of the German parliament, Wolfgang Thierse, who plans to visit Tehran from February 18th to 22nd, and members of the parliamentary committee on foreign relations.
Thierse told Kharazi during the talks that the Iranian court rulings were "a significant irritant" in bilateral relations, a government spokesman said.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder formally accepted an invitation to visit Tehran when he met Thursday with Kharazi, but said the trip could only take place when conditions were met for a successful visit.
