The Washington Post covers yesterday's news concerning Turkey. The article “Trial begins for nearly 200 suspected of plotting to overthrow Turkish government” says that the latest instalment of civil-military confrontation in Turkey began Thursday with the opening of a trial of nearly 200 active and retired military officers on charges of plotting to overthrow the conservative Muslim government in 2003. According to the indictment, the plot, dubbed "Sledgehammer," was drawn up in 2003 and would have begun with operatives setting off bombs in two mosques in central Istanbul and making it look as if Greek forces had shot down a Turkish military jet. It also allegedly made a list of journalists who would be jailed and a list of potential appointees to ministerial posts, according to Taraf, the daily newspaper that broke the story in early January. The defendants have denied the allegations, saying that their activities were part of a military training exercise simulating scenarios of domestic strife.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Iranian authorities have released family members of an imprisoned documentary filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad after briefly detaining them. Nourizad is serving a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for spreading propaganda against the government and insulting the country's leaders. Nourizad has been hospitalized because of his failing health. late Thursday the wife, son, two daughters, parents and brothers of filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad were freed hours after they taken into custody. They were picked up after inquiring about Nourizad's reportedly failing health.
The New York Times comments on the annual marathon question and-answer session of Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday. The article says that Mr. Putin offered a bravura defense of the central control that is a hallmark of his leadership. Prime said that an outburst of nationalist violence in Moscow proved that Russia could not allow its law enforcement bodies to weaken, despite the arguments of “our liberal intelligentsia.” The author considers that the marathon event underlined Mr. Putin’s outsize role in Russia, nearly three years after he stepped down from the presidency. His successor and protégé, President Dmitri A. Medvedev, has articulated a tentative reform agenda well received in the West, warning that Russia risks slipping into economic backwardness, corruption and political stagnation.
Hurriyet published an article “Turkey still lagging behind in press freedom, Jagland says.” Council of Europe Secretary, General Thorbjorn Jagland told the Hürriyet that The Council of Europe is deeply concerned with the state of freedom of the press in Turkey. But he admits that Turkey has come a long way in complying with European democratic standards in many other respects, although Turkey has received negative responses from European leaders on its bid to join the European Union. Commenting on the recent student protests in Turkey, Jagland said student demonstrations were a show of health for a democratic society.
Iranian information agency Press TV published an article “West, enemy of democracy in ME.” Secretary General of Iran's High Council for Human Rights Mohammad Javad Larijani has announced that Western states are the number one enemy of democracy in the Middle East. Criticizing the double standard diplomacy of Western states about the human rights, the Iranian official noted that Western governments have discriminatory policies and are trying to impose them on other nations. He made the remarks after British Ambassador to Iran Simon Gass accused Tehran of human rights violations last week. The Iranian official had earlier said that the British government wanted to hide the troubles and shortcomings in their own country by commenting on the human rights situation in other countries.
