Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
ISLAMISTS AND SECULARISTS VYING FOR TURKEY’S PAST AS WELL AS ITS FUTURE
On July 31 Turkish President Abdullah Gul formally ratified the appointment of Professor Ali Birinci (born in 1947) as head of the state-run Turkish Historical Association (TTK) to replace the incumbent Professor Yusuf Halacoglu (born 1949), who had held the position from 1993 until his... MORE
BERLIN CONSULTATIONS ON ABKHAZIA DERAILED
Moscow and Sukhumi have thwarted the proposed consultations in Berlin that could have launched a negotiating process toward resolution of the conflict in Abkhazia. The German government had offered to host the consultations on July 30-31, acting informally as mediator between Tbilisi and Sukhumi. The... MORE
RUSSIA PURSUES ENERGY PARTNERSHIP WITH CHINA
The Kremlin has dispatched Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin to China in order to boost bilateral energy ties. Sechin reportedly reassured Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that Russia was ready to work with China to fulfill bilateral agreements, and develop energy cooperation. Sechin also delivered a... MORE
CENTRAL ASIA’S WATER PROBLEMS SOAR DURING LONG SUMMER
One of Eurasia’s most intractable legacies dating from the 1991 implosion of Communism is how Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan transited their economies to national sovereignty after being constituent Soviet republics of the USSR. Of all the economic readjustments that the “Stans” have had... MORE
VERDICT IN CLOSURE CASE TO INCREASE PRESSURE ON AKP TO IMPLEMENT EU REFORMS
On July 31, one day after Turkey’s Constitutional Court narrowly ruled to allow the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to remain open (see EDM, July 31), the country’s parliament finally went into recess for the summer. It is not expected to reconvene until October 1... MORE
GAZPROM’S EFFORTS IN TURKMENISTAN UNMATCHED BY WEST
Gazprom president Aleksei Miller’s July 24-25 visit to Ashgabat brought Russia closer to its goal of monopolizing Turkmenistan’s proven and probable gas reserves for the next several years. Miller’s visit was the third by Gazprom’s top leaders to Turkmenistan in the last three months and... MORE
KREMLIN REVISES COSTS FOR EXPENSIVE SOUTH STREAM PROJECT
On July 29, the Russian government made public a hefty increase in its cost estimate of Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline project. Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko reevaluated the cost at $20 billion, and stated that even this figure is an interim one, pending another financial... MORE
RUSSIAN RAILROAD TROOPS COMPLETE MISSION IN ABKHAZIA
On July 30, it was announced that Russian Railroad Troops have completed their mission in breakaway Abkhazia and are withdrawing. A battalion of some 400 men of reportedly unarmed Railroad Troops was sent to Abkhazia to repair the railroad on May 31 without warning or... MORE
RELIEF BUT NO VICTORY FOR AKP IN CLOSURE CASE
On July 30, Turkey’s Constitutional Court narrowly voted to allow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to remain open in the case filed for its closure by Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya on March 14 on the grounds that the party had become a focus... MORE
RUSSIAN OFFICIALS AND MEDIA HAIL DEAL CEDING ISLANDS TO CHINA
Russia moved to finalize its border arrangements with China in an apparent bid to prop up its bilateral “strategic partnership.” On July 21, Russia and China signed an agreement that finally settled the demarcation of their 4,300-kilometer (2,672-mile) border, the longest land frontier in the... MORE