Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
A HAWK AND A DOVE SHARE THE DTP LEADERSHIP
On July 20, the embattled pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) elected Ahmet Turk (born 1944) and Emine Ayna (born 1968) as its co-chairs during a party congress in Ankara. As the Turkish Political Parties law does not provide for the sharing of the leadership of... MORE
MEDVEDEV’S FOREIGN POLICY TAKES INDEFINITE SHAPE
President Dmitry Medvedev, after completely ignoring foreign policy issues on the election trail, has performed a high-intensity campaign of visits, speeches and meetings since late May, wrapping up this season last week with the adoption of a new Foreign Policy Concept. Sycophants are trumpeting the... MORE
PAVEL VOSHCHANOV: DISSATISFACTION ON THE RISE IN PROVINCIAL RUSSIA
It is often said in Russia that dissatisfaction with the country’s existing political system is greater among those living in the cities than those living in the countryside. Yet according to one observer who recently traveled through central Russia, dissatisfaction with the status quo is... MORE
A POLITICAL SUMMIT MIGHT RESUSCITATE THE NABUCCO PROJECT
The European Union’s Nabucco pipeline project for transporting Caspian gas to Europe continues to experience false starts and outright setbacks. The impasse seems to justify the Hungarian proposal to hold a summit of the Nabucco consortium countries and the relevant gas producer countries, with the... MORE
TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER HOSTS HEADS OF MISSION CONFERENCE IN ANKARA
From July 15 to 18 more than 200 Turkish diplomats, including 103 of the country’s ambassadors and heads of missions serving in different countries around the world, met in Ankara to discuss Turkey’s short and long-term foreign policy goals. The unprecedented gathering of virtually all... MORE
SAUDI-RUSSIAN MILITARY COOPERATION
A simple, one-sentence Russian language news item published by Russia's Interfax on July 14 seemingly signals yet another tectonic shift in the Middle East's volatile mixture of oil, religion and weaponry. The item read, "An agreement about military-technical collaboration (VTS) between Russia and Saudi Arabia... MORE
KASHAGAN PROJECT DELAYS SERVE RUSSIAN INTERESTS
At a recent government session Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov congratulated Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sauat Mynbayev on the successful outcome of talks with the international Agip KCO consortium developing the Kashagan oil field, the largest deposit found in the Caspian in the... MORE
MOSCOW, SOKHUMI STOP GERMAN PLAN BEFORE THE START
German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier landed in Georgia on July 17 to promote a German plan for resolution of the Abkhazia conflict. The plan's general outline had emerged through semi-official reports in the German press during the preceding fortnight. The German MFA's special... MORE
ERGENEKON INDICTMENT DEEPENS DIVISIONS IN TURKISH POLITICS
Turkish prosecutors investigating the Ergenekon network finally submitted their indictment to the court on July 14. The indictment was presented a year after the network was first discovered and many influential figures including retired army generals, journalists, businessmen and academics were arrested or interrogated as... MORE
RUSSIA IS STRONGER AND MORE AGGRESSIVE
This week President Dmitry Medvedev addressed a meeting of senior Foreign Ministry officials and ambassadors summoned worldwide to unveil a revised foreign policy concept. President Vladimir Putin signed the previous concept into law in June 2000. Medvedev's new concept is definitely more aggressive and anti-Western.... MORE