World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (June 17, 2011)

The Washington Post published an article headlined “A victory for Turkish democracy.” It says that there are multiple reasons to applaud the elections held last weekend, in which Mr. Erdogan and his mildly Islamist Justice and Development (AK) Party won a third term in office. The vote was free and fair, a quality not to be taken for granted in a majority Muslim country where the military long dominated political affairs. The prime minister’s supporters say that the new Turkish presidency will be comparable to that of France or the United States. But another possible model is Russia. Like Vladi¬mir Putin, Mr. Erdogan has used dubious tax audits and criminal cases to dispose of critical journalists, nearly 60 of whom are now in prison. He expanded the Supreme Court and is filling it as well as lower courts with judges loyal to his party. In foreign policy he has drifted away from Turkey’s Western orientation, opposing sanctions against Iran and courting confrontation with Israel.¬

“Iran's Reform Movement” is an article published by the New York Times. It says that, despite calls from the Green Movement for silent protests to mark the second anniversary of Iran’s so-called stolen election, there were no mass demonstrations on Sunday. Shops in central Tehran were closed early and security forces deployed in large numbers to prevent demonstrators from gathering. Clubs and electric batons were reportedly used to disperse protesters; some arrests were made. The recent ratcheting-up of tensions over Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions has also strengthened the Iranian leadership and weakened the pro-democracy movement. Iran’s democracy activists and civil-society groups are the ones that suffer.

The Turkish information agency Hurriyet reported that Iran plans to send a live monkey into space in the summer, the country’s top space official said after the launch of the Rassad-1 satellite, the second satellite Iran has put into orbit. In February, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled a space capsule designed to carry a live monkey into space, along with four new prototypes of home-built satellites the country hopes to launch before March 2012. Iran, which first put a satellite called the Omid into orbit in 2009, has outlined an ambitious space program amid Western concerns.

The Iranian information agency Press TV published an article headlined “Iran, Russia to enhance mutual ties.” It says that in a meeting between Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Amir Mansour Borqaee and Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexei Borodavkin, the officials called for accelerating the implementation of bilateral economic and political agreements. The Iranian and Russian officials also discussed the implementation of accords agreed on Wednesday\ between the presidents of the two countries, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Dmitry Medvedev. The two presidents met on the sidelines of the 10th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Kazakh capital of Astana. Ahmadinejad and Medvedev urged strengthening bilateral ties in different economic, political and cultural sectors.