Monthly Archives: January 2009

By Abbas Djavadi – “It seems Ahmadinejad should better be the president of Palestine or Lebanon and not of Iran,” reads an SMS message from Koorosh in the southern Iranian city of Kerman. A phone message from Ahmad in Teheran … Continue reading →

By Abbas Djavadi – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has found himself sandwiched between the demands of an influential neighbor, Iran, and the presence of a large occupation force of mostly U.S. soldiers, assured Iranian leaders during a recent … Continue reading →

By Abbas Djavadi – Few in Turkey would deny that Armenians were killed in 1915 during the course of World War I. Opinions vary, however, on how the deportations and killings of Armenians came about; and whether the killings can … Continue reading →

(By Abbas Djavadi and Bruce Pannier) Nowrooz is the new year holiday in Iran, Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of India and among the Kurds. The word itself literally means “new day” in Persian, and the festival marks the … Continue reading →

By Abbas Djavadi – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to arrive in Ankara on September 1, where bilateral discussions will focus on the presence in the Black Sea of U.S. warships transporting humanitarian aid to Georgia. The deputy … Continue reading →

  By Abbas Djavadi – Some were hoping that, with these elections, Azerbaijani politics would open up. However, preliminary results show that nothing like that is expected any time soon. The majority of seats in the new legislature will go … Continue reading →

By Abbas Djavadi – On November 15, Germany’s Green Party elected a new co-chairperson: Cem Ozdemir, a 42-year-old EU parliamentarian and the son of Turkish immigrants. The Green Party, formerly part of the coalition governments with the Social Democrats (SPD) … Continue reading →

By Abbas Djavadi – Turkish central command denied reports on 22 March that more than 1,000 Turkish troops had entered northern Iraq.   But Turkish officials appear determined to legitimize the presence of their troops in the region. In a … Continue reading →

By Abbas Djavadi – The Turkish parliament’s approval yesterday of a motion to allow the U.S. military to use its airspace in the Iraq war — and to permit Turkish soldiers to enter northern Iraq — has not fully succeeded … Continue reading →

By Abbas Djavadi – As the trial of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan enters its third day, the Turkish press and public continues to expect that Ocalan will be found guilty and given the death penalty. The trial, … Continue reading →