Press review on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (January 20, 2012)

The Washington Post reported that the top general of the U.S. military began an intense string of closed talks with Israeli leaders Friday, amid apparent disagreements between the two countries over how to handle Iran’s nuclear program. The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, and Israeli leaders are keeping silent about the exact content of their talks. Dempsey is expected to urge Israel not to rush to attack Iran at a time when the U.S. is trying to rally additional global support to pressure Tehran through sanctions. At the start of a meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Friday, Dempsey said the U.S. and Israel “have many interests in common in the region in this very dynamic time, and the more we can continue to engage each other, the better off we’ll all be.” “There is never a dull moment,” Barak replied, in comments released by the Israeli defense minister’s office.

The Los Angeles Times reported that calling the espionage episode "embarrassing," a former British government official has admitted that a fake rock discovered by the Russian security service in a Moscow park in 2006 concealed a communications device planted by British spies. The multi-part documentary, "Putin, Russia and the West," scheduled to begin airing Thursday, includes Powell saying, "The spy rock was embarrassing." Russian TV video of men handling the rock was widely broadcast at the time, along with video showing it being taken apart to reveal the delicate communications mechanism inside. Russian leader Vladimir Putin then ordered a crackdown on several foreign-funded organizations, saying they were a front for Western government intervention in Russia's internal affairs. A Russian-British diplomatic row followed.

The New York Times published the article headlined “Thousands in Turkey Protest Verdict in Journalist’s Murder.” It says that Tens of thousands of people marched in central Istanbul on Thursday to mark the fifth anniversary of the murder of the prominent journalist Hrant Dink, and to protest a Turkish criminal court’s refusal this week to investigate whether the killing had resulted from a conspiracy by an illegal network. Mourners left red carnations and signs reading “This case won’t end here” at the spot where Mr. Dink, an ethnic Armenian, was shot to death on Jan. 19, 2007, outside the offices of Agos, a biweekly newspaper in Turkish and Armenian that he edited. Mr. Dink, 52, was a leading spokesman for Armenians in Turkey and an advocate for peace and minorities’ rights. He campaigned relentlessly for official recognition of the killings of more than one million Armenians by the Ottoman Army in 1915.

The Turkish information agency Hurriyet reported that In order to resume nuclear negotiations between P5+1 and Iran, parties must abolish obstacles in front of negotiations as soon as possible, a Turkish official said. Iran said it was time to resume nuclear negotiations but objected to the Western powers’ conditions.  “It’s time to resume negotiation, if the other side will act honestly,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said yesterday. However, Western powers should enter talks without conditions, otherwise “it is a sign that they do not approve of the negotiations,” he said, referring to expectation for a reply on the written proposals of P5+1, which the West conditioned to embark on negotiations. As Salehi said on January 18th that Iran was in touch with world powers to reopen talks, Washington and the EU quickly denied this, saying they were still waiting for Iran to show it wanted serious negotiations.