The Los Angeles Times published an article concerning relations between Iran and China, which are currently at a high point, and the territorial issues in the Persian Gulf. According to the author, Iran
views China as its key strategic partner and shield against harsh international scrutiny when it comes to its nuclear program. However, it didn't take long for Iranians to raise hackles of protest after organizers of the 16th Asian Games held in Guangzhou, China, referred to the Persian Gulf, the stretch of water separating Iran from the Arabian Peninsula, as the "Arabian Gulf."
Hurriyet published an article touching upon NATO's new Strategy. NATO's next summit in Lisbon, scheduled for Nov. 19-21, will highlight five pertinent topics: the adoption of a new Strategic Concept,
operations in Afghanistan, missile defense, Iran's nuclear program and NATO-Russian relations. According to the author of the material, who is a foreign policy analyst at Center for Strategic Studies in Baku, the latest two issues will draw close attention to the South Caucasus countries. Recent developments over the Iranian nuclear program, the fragile situation between the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, some regress in the NATO-Russian relationship and its influence on the South Caucasian context, will make this summit more compelling for the South Caucasus' strategic position, and its importance to escalate. The author concludes that unresolved regional conflicts and their braking
impact on the security of Southern Caucasus, creates a challenge to both the EU and NATO. For the security of the South Caucasus, political actions are needed to be seen by the EU and soft military
actions by NATO.
Another article, published by the same news agency and entitled 'Week of the Progress Report' is devoted to the possibility of Turkey's entry into NATO. The European Commission's Progress Report was released Tuesday. Published annually since 1998, the report assesses whether or not Turkey is fulfilling its requirements and taking positive steps toward becoming a full member of the European Union. The author suggests that the membership perspective of Turkey has begun to vanish. In the period 2005-2008, the government slowly lost its early enthusiasm. On the EU's side, Turkey's prospective accession has become a main topic of political, economic and religious debate to the extent of questioning the future of Europe. Mutual unwillingness dried out EU-Turkey relations and brought them to the point of stagnation. However, the negative perception of Turkey in the EU is
being transformed through economy and culture. Another expert article discusses the same Progress Report, emphasizing the issue of expression freedom. The author states that the report concludes that Turkish law does not sufficiently guarantee freedom of expression in line with the European Court of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights case law, and that is a serious image issue for Turkey.
Hurriyet also offers an article concerning financial issues of Turkish banks. The article entitled 'Capital punishment on the banks' states that Banks sharply criticized the Central Bank of Turkey's, or CBT's, decision on Friday to hike the lira required reserve ratio 0.5 percent to 6 percent. The CBT expects an impact of about 2.1 billion liras on liquidity when the new ratio will be in effect Nov. 26. The author concludes that overnight rates could go up or down. Such uncertainty and the accompanying volatility is perhaps the best way of taming in hot money and credit growth.
