World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (October 8-11, 2011)

The Washington Post reported Monday that not far from one of Iran’s most secretive nuclear sites, villagers proudly declare a willingness to sacrifice their lives to defend their country’s nuclear program from attack by the West. “I lost four family members to defend Iran against Saddam. I’m ready to sacrifice my blood and the blood of my other children to defend nuclear facilities against foreign threats now,” said 73-year-old Kazem Koohi in his walnut orchard on the outskirts of Fordo, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of the holy city of Qom. Statements such as these are often lost in the international showdowns with Iran. Despite huge internal political strife — and disagreements about how to handle Western pressure — many Iranians view the nuclear program as a point of agreement and a source of national honor.

The same agency reported today that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chinese leaders opened two days of meetings Tuesday aimed at boosting relations amid strains over declining military sales and stalled talks over energy deals. Putin said after meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao that political relations between the countries were good, but hinted that tough negotiations over a massive natural gas deal still had a distance to go. Besides a struggle to increase trade and agree on sales of Russian gas to fuel China’s booming economy, Moscow is also unhappy with China’s copying of Russian fighter jets and other military hardware and recently announced the arrest of a Chinese man accused of seeking to buy military secrets.

The Los Angeles Times published the article headlined “Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan poses challenge for Obama.” It says that in the space of a few weeks this summer, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed President Obama's approach to Mideast peacemaking, threatened to block U.S. business from drilling for oil and gas in the Mediterranean, and warned he might mobilize Turkish warships to protect activists sailing to Gaza against America's chief regional ally, Israel. Yet when Obama met Erdogan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting last month, he once again gave him more face time than any other world leader. Erdogan, Obama declared as the two headed to a 105-minute meeting, "has shown great leadership."

“Vacuum Is Feared as U.S. Quits Iraq, but Iran’s Deep Influence May Not Fill It” is an article published by the New York Times. It says that as the United States draws down its forces in Iraq, fears abound that Iran will simply move into the vacuum and extend its already substantial political influence more deeply through the soft powers of culture and commerce. But here, in this region that is a center of Shiite Islam,  some officials say that Iran wore out its welcome long ago. Iran has emerged empowered in Iraq over the last eight years, and it has a sympathetic Shiite-dominated government to show for it, as well as close ties to the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr. But for what so far are rather obscure reasons — perhaps the struggling Iranian economy and mistrust toward Iranians that has been nurtured for centuries — it has been unable to extend its reach.

The Turkish information agency Hurriyet published the article subtitled “Turkey PM urges Sarkozy for 'honesty' in politics.” It says that Turkey's prime minister on Tuesday rebuffed French President Nicolas Sarkozy's call for Ankara to recognise the World War I-era killing of Armenians as genocide, urging "honesty" in politics. Speaking in Turkish parliament, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised Sarkozy for using different languages when he spoke in Turkey, France and Armenia. Sarkozy crossed swords with Turkey during a visit to the Armenian capital Yerevan last week when he urged Ankara to recognise, within a "very brief" period, the 1915 massacres at the hands of the Ottoman Empire as genocide.