“We have come from different parts of the world today to commemorate and pay tribute to the victims of a heinous crime against humanity which happened a year ago. If I look at these people, we were a small delegation of the European Parliament. I can recognize several faces, people whom I met, and who now have been slaughtered. But I think it’s also a message of hope because these people knew for what they are taking the risk to die and they were ready to die for all of us, for everyone one of us, for the rule of law, for human relations, for freedom from fear and violence.
And so they are living. At the same time there are many people and world leaders who are physically alive but morally dead. We should revive them. I wish that President Obama, Chancellor Merkel, President Hollande, Prime Minister Ramsey and High Representative Ashton would have taken the trouble to visit Ashraf or Liberty. And then it would have been much easier to solve the situation as was proposed by our American friends. Just some planes to take them away, to rescue their lives. It’s still possible.
What is most important: we need to keep together. In the American Congress there is a bipartisan support for Iranian freedom fighters. In the European Parliament there is a multi-level support by different parties and today I have with me two new members of the European Parliament, Julie Ward and Judith Curtidalin who have come to join us. They are Friends of A Free Iran and I know that thanks to modern technology and thanks to solidarity we are connected live with millions of people in Iran, we are connected to the people in Camp Liberty. They are not alone. The message today from us is that we need to live up to our values which we have declared but often neglected in practice. We need to stick together the fate of Iran and the Middle East is going to be the fate of all of us. We can’t isolate ourselves anymore. It’s the fate of all of us, whether this region will have rule of law and freedom, or dictatorships will continue.
So, it’s better to put pressure on the Iranian government and not to believe their delaying tactics that they could change. The only solution today also is the change of regime in Iran. This is a key to solving the situation in the whole of Middle East and we’ll stand with you together, all of us, until Iran will be free and until we can all meet in Tehran, freed from mullahs’ dictatorship.”