World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (September 9, 2011)

The Washington Post published an article by Mark Jenkins headlined ‘Circumstance’ explores repression and lesbian romance in Iran. The article is devoted to the recently released film ‘Circumstance’, directed by Maryam Keshavarz, an American film-maker with Iranian origins. The film deals with a lesbian romance and abuse of religious authority, both taboo subjects in Iran. The movie depicts social problems existing in the country ruled by Islamists and shows how hard nonconformists' lives can be. The political undertone is so evident that the director will probably be banned from entering Iran for the forseeable future, Jenkins says.

The British newspaper The Guardian published an article entitled 'Tony Blair calls for regime change in Iran and Syria.' The article was written after the former British prime minister said that "the Middle East would be very, very badly destabilised if Iran acquired nuclear weapons." Tony Blair called for regime change in Iran and Syria, blaming Tehran for prolonging the conflict in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. The former prime minister is currently the Middle East peace envoy, the author of the article underlines.

The New York Times published an article devoted to Iran's response to the Syrian government's violence. For years Iran and Syria were allies, the author says, but now President Mahmoud Afmadinejad is calling on his Syrian counterpart to end his violent crackdown of an uprising that is challenging his authoritarian rule in Syria. The reason is that Iran is going to increase its influence in the region by supporting the Arab Spring. Its opposition to Mubarak was predictable, but by supporting the Syrian uprising Iran can acquire the reputation of an impartial public champion, the author believes.

Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News published an article headlined 'Dangerous escalation in Turkish-Israeli tensions'. The author of the article, Murat Yetkin, says that tensions between Turkey and Israel are becoming extremely dangerous. The number of unresolved conflicts is increasing dramatically and the author regretfully notes that ''the region is warming up dangerously."