Rasht, Gilan Province, Sept 30, IRNA -- President Mohammad Khatami said on Monday that Iran opposes any external interference in the affairs of the Caspian Sea.

He said in his address to thousands of people in the northern provincial capital city that the Caspian Sea should be fairly and logically used by all the littoral states.

"Any unilateral and provocative action is unacceptable to Iran. Any decision about the Caspian Sea should be made fairly and in unanimity by all the littoral states," President Khatami said.

Elsewhere in his speech, the president said that Iranian nation has played very effective part in building the global civilization and Gilan province has been a significant hub of Iranian civilization both before and after advent of Islam.

Elaborating on Iranian history, President Khatami said that existrence of dictatorship and puppet regimes in Iran in the past 200 years has caused backwardness despite the bright talents and eligibility of the Iranian nation to move forward.

He said that Iranian nation should rely on their national identity adding that Islam always supports national identity of different nations and contributes to help nations flourish their own cultural identity.

He said that the people of Gilan province are followers of Imam Ali (AS) and Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) infallible household.

President Khatami said that Iranian nation always preserves cultural identity and dignity and seeks freedom, adding that Iran has been on the forefront of forming civil society and constitutional government prior to other eastern nations.

The president referred to the history of the Constitutional Movement in Iran which culminated in 1906 by a signature put by Mozaffar-eddin Shah Qajar on the then constitution of Iran and said that the traditional reactionaries and the pro-western and western-maniac figures drove the Constitional Movement to failure from which the darkest kind of dictatorship emerged in 1921.

... Payvand News - 9/30/02 ... --