World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (December 7-8, 2011)

According to Russian media, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin today accused the United States of stirring up controversy over Russia's polls and warned those protesting the result they would be punished if they broke the law. The US criticism "had set the tone for some people inside the country and given a signal," Putin said. "They heard the signal and with the support of the US State Department started active work.
 

After three days of protests against election results that the opposition says were rigged, Putin said the authorities should enter into dialogue with the opposition. But he accused some of its leaders of acting selfishly. Russia's opposition organization ‘Solidarnost’, joined by ‘Yabloko’, has vowed to stage a mass protest in Moscow at the weekend (according to Internet social networks some 37,000 people are ready to attend the event) to contest the results of elections, despite the arrest of around 1,000 people in previous demonstrations, organized by various opposition forces. Some opposition leaders, such as A. Navalniy and I. Yashin as well some 25 activists, remain under arrest for administrative felonies. Protest demonstrations have been held in a number of Russian cities other than Moscow. The authorities, however, say that if the permitted number of demonstration participants (i.e. 300 people) is exceeded, the organizers will be prosecuted. In the meantime, Interior Ministry Troops of the Dzerzhinsky Division are entering Moscow. Officials say it is to ensure citizens’ security on the first anniversary of the Manezhnaya Square ultra-nationalist riots.

The Washington Post published an article touching upon the ongoing conflict between Iran and the West. According to the author, the CIA’s use of surveillance drones over Iran reflects a growing belief within the Obama administration that covert action and carefully choreographed economic pressure may be the only means of coercing Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, current and former U.S. officials say. The administration’s shift toward a more confrontational approach — one that also includes increased arms sales to Iran’s potential rivals in the Middle East, as well as bellicose statements by U.S. officials and key allies — suggests deepening pessimism about the prospects for a dialogue with Iran’s leaders, the officials say. Officially, the Obama administration espouses what White House officials call a “dual-track strategy” of seeking diplomatic engagement with Iran while steadily applying increasing economic and political pressure. On Wednesday, after Iranian authorities blocked access to a Web-based “Virtual Embassy”, where ordinary Iranians could access uncensored information about the United States, the State Department released a statement underscoring the U.S. preference for negotiations. “The United States remains steadfast in our commitment to a dialogue with the Iranian people,” the statement read.

According to the Hurriyet Daily News, as Armenia and Azerbaijan inform the Minsk Group that they were ready 'to meet again in the near future to have direct dialogue’, Ankara attempts to make this an opportunity to ease relations with Armenia. Armenia and Azerbaijan’s joint appeal to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem has pushed Turkey to examine whether it could revive a reconciliation process with Yerevan in due course. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met with his Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey, who earlier mediated between Ankara and Yerevan to draft protocols normalizing ties on the sidelines of the OSCE meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Minsk Group countries have urged the two countries to finalize the Basic Principles for the Peaceful Settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. The two countries have agreed further efforts should be made to work on the details of the procedure applied to investigate ceasefire violations.