Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 3
By Temkin Jafarov, Saeed Isayev - Trend:
Iran's former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a letter to country's current president Hassan Rouhani, to hold ф debate, Tasnim news agency reported on Dec. 3.
"I've heard what has been said about Iran's former government, and those are unfair and baseless accusations," Ahmadinejad wrote in his letter to Rouhani.
"For country's sake I kept it silent, however the people, political and economic experts wanted me to speak out. Thus, I am offering to hold a friendly debate to settle the differences," Ahmadinejad's letter said.
It should be noted that Iranian president Hassan Rouhani presented a report on the first 100 days of its administration in a live TV interview on November 26.
Country's previous administration, led by president Ahmadinejad, was heavily criticized for leaving heavy debts behind, as well as wasting large amount of petrodollars.
Ahmadinejad in his letter noted that "considering the current situation in the country, I feel the need to have friendship and unity".
"I thank my former colleagues who did tremendous amount of hard work during the 8 years of the administration, and they helped a lot of people. Hadn't they done that, the country's would've been under irreparable damage," the letter said.
Rouhani's advisor Akbar Torkan expressed his views on Ahmadinejad's initiative regarding the debate, and said that Iranian administration welcomes the idea.
"We welcome the debate, but only if Ahmadinejad speaks the truth," Torkan said, according to Mehr news agency.
"Ahmadinejad and president Rouhani are currently not on the same level to have debates, but we welcome the fact that Ahmadinejad is willing to speak about the issues related to the previous government."