World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (January 25, 2011)

The Guardian has published an article devoted to the relations between Jewish and Muslim individuals. The author tells his readers about various programs launched in order to bring people from the two faiths together. Such programs are supported by at least 10 prominent universities of the UK. The author quotes Ibrahim Khan, a first-year student at Oxford, who says it is important for students not to conflate the political situation with their own relationships. The author also tells a story of Sara Amin-Nejad, an Iranian-born Muslim studying pharmacy at Manchester University,who has joint a program of Jewish-Muslim friendship.

The New York Times has published an article entitled "Iran Rejects Uranium Deal, Diplomat Says". At the talks between Iran and six major powers in Istanbul over the weekend, Iran said it was "no longer
interested" in a fuel-swap deal proposed by Washington and the others, a senior Western diplomat said Monday, the author reports. American officials briefing reporters also described the response of Mr. Jalili, the head of the Iranian delegation, in vague terms, saying that the proposals remained on the table and that the six powers were prepared to negotiate without preconditions. But the senior Western diplomat, who would speak only anonymously, in keeping with diplomatic protocol, was more explicit, saying that Mr. Jalili told Ms. Ashton, the European negotiator, and the other powers that "Iran was no longer interested in the Tehran reactor" because it had found its own source of uranium and could produce the fuel itself.

The Washington Post has published an article devoted to the recent terrorist attack on Moscow Domodedovo airport. The act of terror has caused the death of at least 35 people including one German and two British. No claim of responsibility has been made for the Monday afternoon blast at Domodedovo, however the author expresses a common belief that it was conducted by Chechen militants, who have claimed many other terrorist acts in Russia, including last year's double suicide bombing of the Moscow subway system that killed 40.

Prominent Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post has recently published an article headlined "Turkel's credibility". Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters in Ankara on Sunday that the Turkel
Commission's first report on the May 31 interception of the Mavi Marmara has "no value or credibility" and was "made to order." However, Mark Lagon, former State Department adviser on efforts to
reform the UN Human Rights Council, has said that while the Turkel report was reliable and demonstrated that Israel had conducted an objective investigation. His opinion is shared by many famous experts. The author concludes that it's hard to believe that all of these respected scholars and experts put their reputations on the line in a grand Zionist conspiracy designed to "whitewash the military".

Turkish news agency Hurriyet has published an article headlined "Prospects for Turkish-Israeli normalization worsen". It was always a foregone conclusion that Turkey would reject any findings by a
unilateral Israeli commission investigating the events surrounding the attack on the Mavi Marmara last year that left nine Turkish activists dead in international waters, the author believes. He also says that it was equally predictable that any unilateral Israeli commission would exonerate both the government and the Israeli Defense Forces for the killings. Therefore the Turkel report that was released by Israel on Sunday contains no surprises, the author concludes. In the same time he admits Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's response was indeed surprising. "Why Erdogan was "astonished" by the report and "regretted" its findings is not clear. Surely he did not expect Israel to say its own soldiers had murdered Turkish citizens in international waters with the support of their government," says the author of the article.