<P> In its early years, the revolutionary regime was especially criticized for its human rights record . In the first 28 months of the Islamic Republic, between February 1979 and June 1981, revolutionary courts executed 497 political opponents as "counterrevolutionaries", and "sowers of corruption on earth" (Mofsed - e-filarz). In the next four years from June 1981 until June 1985, the courts sentenced more than 8000 opponents to death . After a relative lull, thousands of political prisoners were executed in 1988 . Like other revolutions before it, the Iranian Revolution took a higher toll on those who had participated in the revolution than those in the regime it overthrew . </P> <P> Two major changes in the ideological underpinnings of the Islamic Republic occurred toward the end of Khomeini's reign . In January 1988, he issued an edict declaring that the Islamic "Government is among the most important divine injunctions and has priority over all peripheral divine orders...even prayers, fasting and the Hajj ." In April of the next year he decreed a task force to revise the country's constitution to separate the post of Supreme Leader of Iran from that of Shia marja, (the ` highest source of religious emulation `), since he found none of Marja to be suitable successors as none had given strong support for his policies . The amendments were drafted and approved by the public about one month after Khomeini's death (1989 July 9). They paved the way for Ali Khamenei--a long time lieutenant of Khomeini, but a relatively low ranking cleric--to be Khomeini's successor as Supreme Leader, but to critics they undermined the "intellectual foundations" of the Islamic Republic theocracy, breaking "the charismatic bond between leader and followers ." </P> <P> The first post-war decade in Iran has been described as a time of pragmatism, and an ` economy - first ` policy . According to Shirin Ebadi, "about two years into the postwar period, the Islamic Republic quietly changed course...It was fairly clear by then that the Shia revolution would not be sweeping the region ." </P> <P> Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was elected president shortly after Khomeini's death, and has been described as less revolutionary and "isolationist" than his rivals--"economically liberal, politically authoritarian, and philosophically traditional ." (He served from August 17, 1989, to August 1997 .) While Leader Khamenei and the Council of Guardians generally supported these policies, in the parliament radical deputies initially had control, outnumbered Rafsanjani's "pragmatic - conservative camp" 90 to 160 . </P>

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