WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- A senior ranking U.S. State Department official has said that Turkey joining the European Union would undercut al-Qaida's assertions that the West and Islam are unable to coexist.
ABHaber.com reported on May 7 that Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried told an American editorial writers' conference that "the Turks will say democratic norms are consistent with Islam. Turkey also views itself not as an Islamic country but as a secular republic with an Islamic tradition. Now can you imagine the potential upside? If an economically successful, democratic Turkey joined Europe, it would send a powerful message to the world that Islam can embrace democracy."
Fried told his audience that the 2005 enlargement of the European Union, which added 10 new members, has been "a great success, and (Europeans) should recognize this and let the Turks measure up. What you're seeing in Turkey is a democratizing society, and a growing culture of democracy colliding with a lot of the old authoritarian traditions. It's moving in the right direction ... It's the Turks' responsibility. No free ride, no lowering the bar, no moving the goalposts."
As Kazakhstan's oil exports surge, more and more energy importing nations are seeking to ingratiate themselves with authorities in Astana.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney visited Kazakhstan on May 5, lauding his "admiration" for Kazakhstan's progress over the past 15 years.
Now South Korea, which currently imports 80 percent of its oil from the Middle East, is seeking to broaden its contact with the rising petro-state.
On May 5 Kazinform news agency reported that the South Korean government has donated three vessels to Kazakhstan for use in protecting the former Soviet republic's proclaimed territorial waters in the Caspian Sea, where 15 years of negotiations have failed to produce a definitive division of the inland sea territorial waters.
Prior to the collapse of soviet communism in 1991, the Caspian was divided between Iran and the USSR. There are now five riparian states -- besides Russia and Iran, the former soviet republics of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan are demanding a national portion of the oil-rich Caspian's offshore waters.
According to the Kazakh government South Korea handed over the three vessels during a ceremony in the Turkish Mediterranean Pendik "in recent days."
The 165-ton-displacement vessels are currently being refitted with assistance from the Turkish navy prior to their transfer to the Kazakhstan's Caspian port Aktau.
Iran and Canada clashed three years ago over the death of naturalized Canadian photojournalist Zara Kazemi, who died in Iranian custody in Teheran's notorious Evin prison.
Now a second case involving a naturalized Canadian of Iranian origin is straining relations between Ottawa and Teheran.
Former Harvard University, University of Toronto and Sorbonne Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo, head of the Tehran-based private non-governmental organization Cultural Research Bureau and a internationally prominent human rights advocate, was arrested in late April when he transited Tehran Airport returning from India for a conference in Brussels. When Jahanbegloo failed to arrive at the Brussels conference on Saturday, his colleagues contacted Canadian officials, who in turn contacted authorities in Teheran.
Iranian officials told their Canadian counterparts that Jahanbegloo is receiving "medical care" but refused Canadian officials an opportunity to visit him.
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said, "This is a case we are providing consular assistance to, and at the request of the family we are not going to provide any additional information. We don't want to endanger his life or his current circumstance."
The Montreal Gazette reported on May 7 that Jahanbegloo called his wife Friday night and reported that he is safe and hasn't been physically harmed.
Like Kazemi, Jahanbegloo is reportedly being held in Evin prison. Many former political prisoners held at Evin have reported being tortured until they confessed to crimes prior to being released.
Toronto lawyer John Terry, who represented Kazemi's family in their disputes with the Iranian government, said, "The government should be asserting its rights under international law to say that this individual is a Canadian citizen and we have a right under international treaties to see him. The government should not hesitate to make that clear because as we've seen in the Kazemi case, things can happen to people when they're held in detention. They will say, presumably, that this is an individual who has been arrested for good reason under Iranian law. He's an Iranian, and don't go interfering in our jurisdiction."
While the Iranian government has not given an official for Jahanbegloo's arrest, several newspapers close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have said that the Canadian academic was involved in an anti-government plot, acting as a "link between monarchists inside and outside the country."
Russian pressure on Sweden has caused Stockholm police to raid the offices housing the KTS servers operating the Chechen Kavkaz-Tsentr Web site. Following the servers' removal, the site was forced to suspend operations.
On Friday, Stockholm's international prosecutor Hakan Roswall ordered the raid, and one of Kavkaz-Tsentr's servers' owners was subsequently questioned by police.
Kavkaz-Tsenter Web site's legal owner is a Finish citizen.
This is the third eviction by Baltic nations against the Web site, which was previously booted from Lithuania, then Finland.
Roswall ordered the shutdown following a request from the Russian authorities.
Finnish objections in autumn 2004 resulted in the Finish owner, Mikael Storsjo, moving the Web site to Sweden.
On May 7 AXcess News quoted Storsjo as saying, "They came to the office and held a short meeting about our relationship to the client. Someone from the National Criminal Investigation Department also took part. The prosecutor then decided to search the premises and to confiscate two servers. I see this as an outrage. I don't agree with what's written on the Web site but I respect their right to free speech."
Rosval said that the Russian embassy specifically complained that the Kavkaz-Tsentr Web site published articles and reader's letters about events in Nalchik in October 2005, "approving murders and violence."
On Oct. 13 last year, gunmen attacked Russian security forces offices, killing at least 136 people.
