Iranian Student movement beyond party affiliation: Rouhani

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani participated a meeting in Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran to celebrate the national Student Day which marks the murder of three students of University of Tehran on December 7, 1953 after they protested against US president visit to Tehran.

Hassan Rouhani told students that December 7 was the turning point in the history of student movements, calling on them to lead a nonpartisan movement which would be beyond political party affiliations.

He said the Student Day is a day of fighting for independence, freedom and anti-colonialism as well as a move towards patriotism.

President Rouhani underlined the student movement as a continuous process which has always existed and said: “University students have always been pioneer in the Islamic movement, Islamic Revolution, and the Sacred Defense Era.”

He said that since 1963, the universities were active fighting and resisting along with the clergymenagainst cruelty and tyranny.

Emphasizing that the university students shall criticize problems and inefficiencies, Hassan Rouhani said government respects and welcomes constructive and true criticism, adding that “we cannot move toward progress without criticism, which is one side of a coin with research and science as another side.”

“Students must take responsibility as members of community. As members to the society, students are influenced by the social, foreign and domestic environment and the university is a place where they can affect the community and government,” Rouhani added.

Pointing to the achievements of the Islamic Revolution, President Rouhani also noted that in the Islamic Revolution, religious and national sovereignty were considered as great values and democracy was a great principle of the fundamental rights.

He reminded that government would never break its campaign promises and called for cooperation on behalf of the students to solve internal and external problems of the country.

Rouhani pointed to the nuclear negotiations and said today the world believes our arguments are serious and rational. “Today the world has realized that Iran is armed with logic and rationality and all agree that Iran is against violence and extremism,” Rouhani underlined.

President stressed that the government was committed to all its obligations and added “in our path toward meeting national interests, we are not afraid of criticism or impedements.”