26 June 2009

Obama Praises Demonstrators’ “Enduring Pursuit of Justice”

President Obama and Chancellor Merkel, left, both called on Iranian authorities June 26 to respect the rights of their people.

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — President Obama says the bravery of Iranian demonstrators as they face brutality from their government is “a testament to their enduring pursuit of justice,” and he said if the Iranian government wants respect from the international community, it must respect the rights of its people.

“The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous. And despite the government’s efforts to keep the world from bearing witness to that violence, we see it, and we condemn it,” Obama said in remarks at the White House with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on June 26.

The Iranian people will be the ultimate judge of their government’s actions, Obama said, and their rights to assemble and speak freely are “universal aspirations.”

Demonstrations have continued in Iran since the official results of the June 12 presidential election were announced. Iranian authorities have said incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the election by 11 million votes, but his challengers and many Iranians have cited voting irregularities and have not accepted the result. Demonstrators have come under increasingly violent attacks from police and paramilitary forces.

“A government that treats its own citizens with that kind of ruthlessness and violence, and that cannot deal with peaceful protesters who are trying to have their voices heard in a equally peaceful way, I think has moved outside of universal norms, international norms, that are important to uphold,” Obama said.

The president repeated earlier statements that it is up to the Iranian people to make the decisions about who their leaders should be, and said the United States has “gone out of its way not to interfere with the election process in Iran,” despite accusations to the contrary by Iranian officials.

Chancellor Merkel said Iranians must be allowed to demonstrate peacefully, saying the rights of individuals all over the world are “indivisible.” She also said Iranians have “the right to have votes recounted and the election results substantiated.”

In the 21st century, Merkel said, Iranian officials cannot count on the international community turning a blind eye to what is happening.

“We have seen horrifying scenes, looking at how, for example, the security forces there dealt with demonstrators. We will not forget this. And let me say that we shall do everything in order to identify the exact number of victims, who those victims were, how they dealt with those demonstrators,” she said.

Merkel added that the international community needs to work together so “the Iranian nuclear program is stopped, [so] that Iran does not get possession of a nuclear weapon.”

U.S. CLIMATE CHANGE LEGISLATION IS “SEA CHANGE”

The president and Merkel also discussed climate change legislation under debate in the U.S. Congress that would provide a framework for reducing U.S. carbon emissions and promoting renewable energy sources.

Obama said he told Merkel the United States is committed to “stand with Germany and lead in confronting the energy and climate change crisis.”

“Europe in many ways over the last several years has moved more rapidly than the United States on addressing this issue. And I’ve been very blunt and frank with Chancellor Merkel that we are still working through creating the framework where we can help lead the international effort,” he said.

The legislation under debate is “enormous progress” from where the United States has been on the issue of climate change, he said. But Obama said there is more to do, and the United States will be working with Germany and others to clarify U.S. obligations, as well as working with emerging economies to clarify their obligations in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The German chancellor described the U.S. legislation on climate change as “a sea change” and said it shows that the United States is “very serious on climate.”

Merkel said the legislation could help at the global conference on climate change in Copenhagen, scheduled for December.

“We are both convinced that this question of climate change amounts to much more than just numbers and targets. It means that we take a commitment and shoulder a responsibility for those countries in the world that will be far more heavily affected by climate change,” Merkel said.

Germany and the United States “also feel committed to ensuring energy security, for our own countries’ dependence on raw materials, on commodities,” she said, adding that dependence can be “very unpleasant.”

A transcript of remarks by Obama and Merkel is available on America.gov.

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