Western press on recent events in Iran, Turkey and Russia

The Washington Post has published an article about the traditional personal address of the Russian president to the citizens of his country entitled "Putin calls annexation of Crimea a historic landmark". At this time, Putin’s comment in his pre-recorded annual address on Wednesday already has been broadcast in Russia’s far eastern regions, where the holiday was celebrated hours ahead of Moscow, given the time difference. The Kremlin also published several dozen New Year’s messages that Putin has sent to heads of state and international organizations, including one to President Barack Obama.

Also in the article entitled "Russians optimistic for 2015 despite it all" The Washington Post reports that Russians say they’re looking forward to a 2015 that will be as smooth as the ice, despite the country’s economic and political difficulties. The ruble has sunk, tensions with the West are up, but the troubles seem to have produced a surge in national pride. “Russians are a nation of optimists,” said Ivan Kasyanov, a skater at the vast skating rink in Moscow’s Gorky Park. “The worse things get, the better we develop.”

The Guardian published an article headlined "Russia buys 40bn rubles of shares in Gazprombank", saying that the Russian government has bought shares in Gazprombank, the latest support for a banking sector suffering from western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and a sharp economic slowdown. Gazprombank said the government had bought 39.95bn rubles (£435m) of its preference shares on Tuesday, using money the bank had returned to the country’s National Wealth Fund (NWF).

"Man arrested after attack on Erdogan’s office" is an article published by The Washington Post. Turkish police say they subdued a man Thursday after he threw grenades and fired a weapon at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Istanbul office.
Istanbul Police Chief Selami Altinok told the state-run Anadolu Agency that officers destroyed two unexploded grenades. The man was also armed with a small weapon and an assault rifle. He was arrested after the incident in front of the offices at the Dolmabahce Palace in downtown Istanbul. The Ottoman palace was once the residence of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Police did not say if Erdogan was present at the time.

Another article in The Washington Post is dedicated to Iran and called "Iran denies report that US offered prisoner swap". Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham says there has been no formal request to trade U.S.-held prisoners for Amir Hekmati, 31, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen born in Arizona, who was arrested in August 2011. The U.S. has also flatly denied the report and reiterated its call for Hekmati’s release on humanitarian grounds.


"Iran in Iraq and Syria: Death of a general" is the title of an article published today by The Economist. The article debates two recent important events in Tehran and reviews Iran's Foreign policy.

Unlike the American-led international coalition formed to combat Islamic State (IS) following the radical Sunni Islamist group’s summer surge towards Baghdad, which has limited its role to air strikes, and unlike Russia or the Arab countries that have armed opposing sides in Syria, Iran has physically inserted itself in the intertwined conflicts. It has dispatched not just fuel and weapons but hundreds of “advisers” from its elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as well as thousands of fighters from the Shia militias that Iran has fostered, armed, trained and funded in Lebanon and Iraq.

Two events in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on December 29th underscored the depth of its commitment. In the morning politicians and top military brass paid funeral honors to Hamid Taqavi. Felled by a sniper in the Iraqi city of Samarra, the IRGC brigadier-general, a hero of the 1980-89 Iran-Iraq war, was the most senior Iranian officer killed so far fighting in Iraq. Shortly afterwards the defense minister, Hossein Dehghan, formally received his Iraqi counterpart, Khaled al-Obeidi. At a subsequent press conference Mr Dehghan pledged Iran’s aid in joint efforts to “cleanse” Iraq of terrorism.