The riots in Urumqi, the capital of China's northwestern Xinjiang region populated by ethnic Turkic Uighurs, have resulted in the deaths of at least 156 people, mostly Uighurs, and hundreds wounded to the shock of the Turkish public. Uighur associations accuse the Chinese government of... MORE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko may return to the idea of disbanding parliament and call snap elections. The opposition Party of Regions (PRU), which has the largest caucus in parliament, has disrupted parliament's work following its leader Viktor Yanukovych's failure to form a grand coalition with... MORE

Following a recent telephone conversation between the head of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, and the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the commission urged all E.U. member states to immediately begin filling gas storage facilities because they believe that a new Russian-Ukrainian gas war... MORE

On July 1, the Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSIK) took important decisions on new investments for the modernization of the Turkish military through greater domestic participation. Defying expectations, however, the SSIK postponed a decision on the multi-billion dollar general-purpose helicopter tender, for which an intense... MORE

Along with the crisis and lame-duck situation of state institutions, Moldova's multi-party system has also revealed its deficient substance. The Communist Party, anachronistic as such, has proven far stronger than all the other parties in terms of mass appeal and internal discipline. The party is... MORE

On July 8 Moldova officially enters the campaign for repeat parliamentary elections, barely three months after holding regular quadrennial elections. The repeat elections are scheduled for July 29, to be followed by the election of a new head of state in the new parliament. The... MORE

The June 22 attack on Ingushetia's president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, which left him badly wounded, has sparked a discussion in Russia over what to do next in the North Caucasus as a whole and in Ingushetia in particular. Moscow's initial reaction to the attack on president... MORE

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a significant military transit agreement with Barack Obama during the summit in Moscow on July 6. The agreement was forged in the context of reaching an understanding to commit both countries to nuclear arms reductions of up to one third,... MORE

Ankara has reportedly finally given the green light to the Nabucco project, and the intergovernmental agreement might be signed on July 13. When the news broke on the Russian deal with Azerbaijan (EDM, July 2), the Turkish media initially suggested it represented a lethal blow... MORE

During his four-year reign the Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has behaved unpredictably both in domestic and international policy. Domestically, the president alienated most of his former supporters by gradually stripping them of power. Internationally, Bakiyev has maneuvered around the issue of the Manas airbase, where... MORE