Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
Ukraine Moves To Stabilize Financial System
Ukraine has secured a big loan from the IMF in order to stabilize its finances amid the global crisis. To qualify for the loan, parties in parliament agreed to set aside their differences and pass stabilization laws proposed by President Viktor Yushchenko. Thanks to this,... MORE
The Shadowy Side of Gazprom’s Expanding Central European Gas Hub
OMV, the Austrian oil and gas group, and Russia’s Gazprom, along with the Vienna Stock Exchange and Centrex Europe Energy and Gas AG (CEEGAG) have agreed to cooperate in developing the Central European Gas Hub (CEGH) located in Baumgarten, Austria, Kommersant daily reported on November... MORE
Firat Resignation May Indicate a Hardening of AKP Kurdish Policy
On November 7, after the Central Executive Board (MYK) meeting of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), it was announced that Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat had resigned from his position as a deputy chairman of the (AKP). Firat is known for being a relative of... MORE
Council of Europe Convinces Ter-Petrosian To Hold Independent Investigation of Violence in Yerevan
Bowing to Western pressure, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has formed a supposedly independent body to investigate the deadly clashes in Yerevan that were sparked by his controversial victory in last February’s presidential election. The new inquiry could undermine the Armenian government’s justification for the use... MORE
Another Disaster in the Russian Navy
On November 8 Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev ordered Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov to instigate a full and thorough investigation into a fire on board a nuclear-powered submarine, the latest accident to afflict the Russian navy. Russian officials refused to identify the submarine, but a source... MORE
Turkey Develops Special Relationship with Azerbaijan
On November 5 and 6, after his reelection last month, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev visited Turkey, where he discussed the developments in the Caucasus, relations with Armenia, and deepening cooperation between the two countries.On November 5 he attended a dinner given by his host President... MORE
Azerbaijan’s President Synchronizes Watches with Turkey
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited Turkey on November 5 and 6 as his first official trip abroad since reelection, underscoring the two countries’ special relationship. While traditional, that relationship has evolved substantially during Ilham Aliyev’s presidency and is no longer asymmetrical. As he remarked during... MORE
Yushchenko Uses Security Service Against Former Orange Allies
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) is targeting the president’s former Orange ally, the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc (BYuT), as part of a strategy to undermine Tymoshenko’s popularity ahead of the January 2010 presidential elections. The campaign uses methods similar to those used by former President Leonid... MORE
Medvedev’s Speech Marked by Anti-Americanism and Comfort for the Bureaucracy
The presentation of President Dmitry Medvedev’s address to the Federal Assembly was grand and fascinating beyond the standards set by his predecessor Vladimir Putin, who humbly listened from the audience since, in contrast to the Soviet tradition, there was no presidium of dignitaries. Medvedev chose... MORE
Obama Presidency: a New Era in Turkish-American Relations?
Many Turks joined the worldwide rejoicing over the Democrats’ victory and Barack Obama’s election as the next president of the United States. The Turkish public is sympathetic to Obama’s call for change as they find parallels in his story to Turkey’s experience with the reformist... MORE