World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (August 12, 2011)

The Washington Post published an article headlined "In
Nagorno-Karabakh, peace elusive 20 years after Soviet fall." The
author of the article is trying to exhibit the current situation
surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and its historical
background. According to him, a new war between Azerbaijan and Armenia
is possible, as the new generation never lived in the Soviet Union and
didn't get used to living among other people. He also says that such a
war would be a disaster for the whole region. "The two sides are much
more heavily armed than they were in 1991, especially Azerbaijan,"
says the author, adding - "It might be very difficult for Iran, Turkey
and Russia to remain uninvolved."

In the article "For black Britons, this is not the 80s revisited. It's
worse", published by The Guardian, Joseph Harker, speaking about the
recent riots in Britain, expresses the idea that in case of riots, a
crackdown never solves the problem. He says that both Iran and Syria
failed to suppress the social unrest with a help of violence. In these
countries, harsh measures taken by the governments only led to
escalation of the conflict.

The Moscow Times published an article entitled "Prokhorov Touts Euro,
Visa-Free Travel to Europe." The author of the article, Alexander
Bratersky, comments on the recent statement by Mikhail Prokhorov,
billionaire leader of the Russian Right Cause political party, saying
that Russia should join the Schengen zone and adopt the euro as the
country's currency. According to the author, such ambitious goals show
that Prokhorov, as a leader of an originally pro-Kremlin party, may
challenge the ruling tandem and play his own game.

Hurriyet Daily News published an article by Murat Yetkin headlined
"Opposition as a democratic asset." The author is surprised at Prime
Minister Erdogan's reaction to Kemal Kilicdaroglu's criticism. When
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican
People’s Party, criticized the government for its policy on Syria,
Erdogan said that to criticize his ruling Justice and Development
Party government, especially while Davutoğlu was carrying out talks
with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, was irresponsible
and unacceptable. In fact, it's quite natural for an opposition party
to criticize the ruling one, the author underlines. "There are
governments everywhere, including the most authoritarian regimes, but
there are opposition parties who can speak freely only in democracies.
If Turkey is to set an example of democracy in its region, the
presence of the opposition is an inseparable part of that package,"
Yetkin says.