Western press on Putin’s popularity and Erdogan’s policy

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Michael Birnbaum, The Washington Post's Moscow bureau chief, writes in his article titled “Despite economy, Putin rides wave of popularity”, that , despite the fact that Kremlin advisers, diplomats and analysts say that no stability is in sight, Mr. Putin’s approval ratings are at record highs. “Putin has also won major victories, foremost among them the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, an achievement he said would be inscribed in the annals of Russian history alongside the exploits of Catherine the Great,”  Michael Birnbaum quotes the Russian president.

 

“In a swaggering, year-end news conference last week, Putin showed little sign of distress. The West would have found another way to attack Russia, even without Crimea, he said. He promised the economy would be better than ever in two years,” the Washington Post describes the words of Vladimir Putin.

 

The New York Times, in its turn, published an article titled “Trying to Save Russia’s Punch Line of a Car”, telling the story about the problems and their solutions of the major Russian industrial company AvtoVAZ.

 

Translating the words of Vladimir Putin, the New York Times writes “Western sanctions mean Russia has to go it alone. So resurrecting Avtovaz is a parable for changes needed by all Russian manufacturing. It is not quite 'as Avtovaz goes, so goes the nation,' but it's close.” Despite this, the article is about the successful work of Bo Inge Andersson for the Avtovaz corporation. “After Mr. Andersson arrived last January, Togliatti, the most famous Russian car town, lauded his hands-on approach” He pioneered novel concepts like customer service. He hired a company to scan social media for negative comments and the new customer service department responded. Mr. Andersson monitors the criticism, but said that the government, including President Putin in person, endorsed his plan. The town fathers, the official union and some workers support him as well. Production charts indicate that quality has improved, but remains uneven. The article says that Mr. Andersson’s real last battle might be changing Russian perceptions.

Turkey also appears in today's press. The New York times writes about “Brave New Turkey”, saying that Freedom House, the democracy watchdog, earlier this year downgraded the Turkish press from being “partly free” to “not free.” Now it may have to create a new category: “not free at all.”

 

A decade ago, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Turkey’s prime minister, was the most likely candidate to lead the Islamic world. He had managed to keep Turkey out of the 2003 Iraq War, was grooming it for membership in the European Union, and was getting on with economic reform. Ordinary Turks were feeling prosperous, proud and hopeful.

 

Today Mr. Erdogan is the president, and his style is in-your-face confrontational. He is revered by enough people to get his party re-elected, but many others loathe him (remember the protests in Gezi Park).

 

But Mr. Erdogan is playing rough with his opponents at home at the cost of Turkey’s reputation abroad. His ambitions to project power in the Islamic world have already been thwarted: He had banked that Mohamed Morsi would retain power in Egypt, and before Syria erupted into civil war he had pinned his hopes on coming to an understanding with President Bashar al-Assad.

 

Now the Turkish government risks being ostracized in Brussels as well. The European Commission declared that the wave of arrests on December 14 was contrary to “the European values and standards Turkey aspires to be part of,” and some are calling for the European Union to suspend entirely the already stalled negotiations over Turkey’s membership.

 

As long as the economy expands, the wheels continue to turn., writes the New York Times. "It’s just that the next decade presents challenges much more complex than the last. Under A.K.P. rule, average per capita income rose from about $3,500 in 2002 to about $11,000, but that figure has been largely static for several years.

 

“To get to the next level, Turkey needs wholesale reform; it needs to reward not just party loyalty but initiative and innovation. And it can’t do that by banning Twitter and raiding newspapers,” the New York Times sums up.