Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
ISTANBUL BOMBINGS RAISE FEARS OF NEW WAVE OF TERRORIST ATTACKS
On the evening of July 27, two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were detonated in Menderes Caddesi, a street in the Istanbul working class neighborhood of Gungoren. By midday local time on July 28 the death toll stood at 17, all of them civilians. Another 154... MORE
THE IRON SILK ROAD ADVANCES FURTHER
Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, and Abdullah Gul of Turkey inaugurated on July 24 in Kars the construction work on the Turkish section of the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku (KTB) railroad. A project of inter-continental significance, connecting Europe and Asia through the South Caucasus,... MORE
SUB-ROSA WARFARE IN THE CRIMEA
On the evening of July 24, 2008, Russian State Duma member Konstantin Zatulin was banned from entering Ukraine for one year when he arrived in Simferopol airport in the Crimea with a group of Russian parliamentarians to take part in the commemoration of the 1,020th... MORE
ISRAELI-KAZAKH COOPERATION GROWS
Since 1991 Kazakhstan has pursued a multilayered foreign policy, juggling its evolving foreign initiatives from hydrocarbons to military cooperation with its former Communist master Russia through growing relationships with China and the United States. Now a fourth player is entering the market—Israel, not for Kazakhstan’s... MORE
TURKEY AND ARMENIA: FROM SECRET TALKS TO “SOCCER DIPLOMACY”?
On July 24, the presidents of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan formally inaugurated the Turkish section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad, which will eventually provide the first ever rail link between the three countries. Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Turkish President Abdullah Gul declared, in an unmistakable... MORE
GEORGIA, U.S. ADDRESSING GAPS IN THE GERMAN PLAN ON ABKHAZIA
The Georgian government seeks to fill some of the main gaps in Germany’s plan for political resolution of the Abkhazia conflict. Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier has in recent days presented the plan to European Union, Georgian, Abkhaz, and Russian leaders, in that sequence... MORE
RUSSIAN OFFICIALS AND CHAVEZ TALK OF MILITARY BASES IN THE CARIBBEAN
Moscow officials hinted through the media on July 21 that Russian Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers, armed with nuclear-tipped long-range X-55 cruise missiles, may be deployed on Cuba, as an asymmetric response to the planned US deployments of missile defense systems in Europe. The bombers... MORE
KYRGYZ MINISTER OF JUSTICE CONTINUES PROMOTING LEGALIZATION OF POLYGAMY
Last year prior to the celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, Kyrgyz Minister of Justice Marat Kaypov proposed to legalize polygamy as a means of fighting poverty and prostitution among women. Although his idea drew public attention, the parliament avoided discussing the minister’s... MORE
THE AKP AND THE TURKISH MILITARY BOTH PREPARE FOR NEW ERAS
On July 22, the Turkish Constitutional Court announced that it would meet on July 28 to begin considering its final verdict in the closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). In a statement to the Turkish media issued after the decision, Constitutional... MORE
POST-MORTEMS ON THE GERMAN PLAN ON ABKHAZIA
Moscow refined at the last moment its method of killing Berlin’s plan for resolving the Abkhazia conflict. Rather than rejecting the plan outright, as it did initially, Moscow received German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier courteously and seemed prepared to discuss the plan, even terming it... MORE