thr 044                                                               


Iran-Press /POL/                                                      


   Daily admonishes Italian PM for making anti-Islamic remarks       


Tehran, Sept 27, IRNA -- A Tehran-based daily has reproached Italian  


Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for alleging that respect for human  


rights did not exist in Islamic countries.                            


    The English-language Kayhan International denounced the           


statements, saying that "a prudent and seasoned politician would      


have thought twice before saying something that is not true."         


   "We should be conscious of the superiority of our civilization,    


which consists of a value system that has given people widespread     


prosperity in those countries that embrace it, and guarantees respect 


for human rights and religion. This respect certainly does not exist  


in the Islamic countries," Berlusconi was cited as saying in Berlin   


on Wednesday.                                                         


    Kayhan International likened the statements to those made by the  


U.S. President George W. Bush who called for "a crusade" against      


terrorism after the September 11 terror attack on American trade and  


defense centers, drawing widespread Muslims' ire from around the      


world.                                                                


    "As a matter of fact crusade wars undertaken by European          


Christians between the 11th and 13th centuries to conquer Palestine   


from the Muslims can be easily cited as a sheer display of            


disrespect for human rights and religion on the part of the           


Europeans," the paper said.                                           


    Kayhan dubbed as boastful the Italian prime minister's remarks on 


"respect of democracy" in Italy and the European countries, reminding 


of several incidents which proved otherwise.                          


    "Berlusconi has also forgotten about the massacres that took      


place in several parts of Europe in the past centuries because of     


disrespect to the religious beliefs of Protestant minorities by the   


Catholic Church," it said.                                            


    "The Italian premier would not have talked about the superiority  


of his civilization if he had remembered some outstanding topics of   


his country's contemporary history such as the vice of fascism that   


took shape in Italy in 1922," the paper added.                        


    "Berlusconi most probably is not proud that his country is the    


birthplace of the internationally notorious and much feared criminal  


organization: Mafia.                                                  


    "Notwithstanding the free indulgence of the Western countries in  


slave trade in the past and present-day criminal and immoral          


activities such as pederasty, trafficking in children and women...    


two world wars were fought in the 'civilized' continent of Europe.    


    "And coming back to Berlusconi's mother country it is worth       


noting that in the late 1970s Italy was plagued by various            


terrorist groups. One of these terrorist factions kidnapped and       


murdered the former premier Aldo Moro in 1978," it said.              


BH/RR                                                                 


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::irna    16:50