World press on new French president's stance on Iran and constitutional reform in Turkey (May 10, 2012)

The New York Times published an article devoted to new French President François Hollande's position on the Iranian problem.  The main question is whether France under Hollande will continue to stand up as a driver of sanctions and a bulwark of disbelief concerning Iran’s intentions to renounce its nuclear program. "This week I spoke to a man who had just talked to Hollande about Iran. My friend’s unequivocal impression was that the Socialist president will be closer to Obama’s (less firm - VK) line than Sarkozy’s," the author of the article, John Vinokur, says. According to him, such an attitude was not at all confirmed in the first interview with Hollande on Iran by Jean-Marie Colombani, a former editor of Le Monde. In it, Hollande said he had no criticism of Sarkozy’s “firm position” on Iranian proliferation. Indeed, he said he would “confirm it with the same force and willpower,” and that sanctions “must be reinforced for as long as necessary,” Vinokur underlines. "Whatever Hollande’s final position becomes, it will be impossible for the French, so clear for so long on Iran, to fog over a change of policy with a spray of ambiguity that would fundamentally alter — or 'soften', as the Tehran Emrooz editorial called it — the way the world approaches Iran’s nuclear threat," the author concludes.

Hurriyet published an article by Mehmet Ali Birand, headlined 'I am against the presidential system, but ready to discuss it.' In this article Birand expresses concern about possible constitutional reform in Turkey. According to to the author, the presidential political system has some advantages. The greatest one is that it establishes a presidential-parliament diarchy. In such a system this compromise an essential role, Birand believes. " In our political culture, there is no tradition of compromise, like there is in France or the United States. Compromise, for us, equals making concessions. And that would lock the system up. We should get used to coalitions. Democracy demands living in coalitions," he says. However, all things considered, Birand doesn't support the idea of a presidential republic. The parliamentary system still seems the best one to secure democracy and individual rights, he says.