World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (March 19-21, 2011)

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has warned Iran to stop meddling in Bahrain and other Arab states in the Persian Gulf, but also called on the kingdom’s leaders not to use force against anti-government protesters. Bahrain’s Sunni minority monarchy is facing growing opposition from the Shiite-majority population and has called in security forces from neighboring Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to deal with escalating protests.

On Sunday the same information agency published an article headlined “Iran dissident leader resigns after being released from jail.” It says that an ailing Iranian dissident resigned as the leader of a liberal political party on Sunday, hours after being released from prison. Yazdi, a former foreign minister, has been repeatedly jailed over vague charges of plotting against the ruling clerical establishment.

“In Chechnya, apprehensions over a roughshod leader” is the title of an article published by the Washington Post on Sunday. Heavy criticism of the Russian authorities’ policy in that region is presented in the article. The author says that the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, acts like a king in his own fiefdom. Corruption and violation of human rights are common things. The author concludes that, in return for subduing rebellious people, Putin and Medvedev would never replace Kadyrov.

The Los Angeles Times published an article about attacks against the forces of embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi that have been launched by Western countries. It says that the Iranians, who have traditionally been the first to denounce American-led war efforts around the world, have been relatively cautious in their criticism of raids on Gadaffi's military, after Iranian leaders, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, strongly denounced Gadaffi's crackdown against his own people.

The New York Times reports that the US president Barack Obama on Sunday all but invited the young population of Iran to throw off the government there, in a Web address transmitted to the region, adding, “I am with you.” In a video statement to mark Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, President Obama said the democracy movements that began in Tunis and Egypt were preceded two years ago by anti-government demonstrations in Iran, and he recalled how those were violently put down by the regime.

Meanwhile, the Iranian information agency Press TV reports that in a telephone conversation on Sunday with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called for the immediate withdrawal of foreign forces from Bahrain. He emphasised the imperative of adopting a prudent position on current developments in Bahrain. The Turkish foreign minister, for his part, said consultations between regional countries would represent an effective and important effort in settling regional issues in a rational way as well as meeting popular demands.

“Thousands celebrate Nevruz spring festival in Istanbul” is the headline of an article published by the Turkish information agency Hurriyet. Thousands gathered in Kazlıçeşme in Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu district on Sunday to celebrate Nevruz, a festival that marks the beginning of spring, with Kurdish songs and the dance known as the halay. Speakers addressing the crowd spoke in both Turkish and Kurdish, as police kept a close eye on revellers. Celebrations ahead of the March 21 Nevruz holiday, the official new year in Iran and a spring rite in many parts of the Middle East and in Turkic republics, were also held in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır and the eastern province of Erzurum.