Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY FACE OFF AS TURKEY PREPARES FOR THE POST-AKP ERA
On May 21 Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeal, the Yargitay, issued an official statement bluntly accusing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of conducting a systematic campaign to undermine the influence and independence of the judiciary in the run-up to several important decisions by... MORE
U.S. COMPANY BANISHED FROM UKRAINIAN OIL AND GAS FIELD
The Ukrainian government has revoked the license to develop Black Sea oil and gas fields which was issued to Vanco Prykerchenska, a subsidiary of the US company Vanco Energy. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said that the agreements which were concluded with Vanco in 2007 were... MORE
MOSCOW ENCOURAGES NORTH-SOUTH OSSETIAN IRREDENTISM AGAINST GEORGIA
On May 20 Moscow signaled officially that it was prepared to promote annexation of Georgia’s region of South Ossetia to the Russian Federation. The Russian government seems set to underwrite an ethnic irredenta there, seeking to put an Ossetian face on Russian state expansionism (as... MORE
ARE MEDVEDEV’S LATEST PROMISES TO FIGHT CORRUPTION SIMPLY “RITUAL INCANTATIONS”?
Acting on his promises to battle corruption, instill respect for the law and overcome “legal nihilism,” President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree setting up a presidential anticorruption council and appointed Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin to head the council’s presidium, which will have... MORE
TURKEY EYES DEEPER ROLE IN SOUTHERN IRAQ
Of all Iraq’s neighbors, Turkey has the most intricate foreign policy toward the beleaguered nation, attempting to balance its concerns about the Kurdish PKK militants in northern Iraq with its support of the attempts of the government in Baghdad to pacify the country. Turkey's special... MORE
AZERBAIJAN CAN RESCUE THE ODESSA-BRODY PIPELINE PROJECT
The energy summit in Kyiv, to be attended by heads of state and government from Caspian, Black Sea and Baltic countries on May 22 and 23, is expected to revitalize the Odessa-Brody-Plock-Gdansk pipeline project for Caspian oil. This has become possible thanks to rapidly developing... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN EMERGING AS AN ARMS EXPORTER
Kazakhstan has announced ambitious plans to become the leading regional exporter of arms in Central Asia, transforming its defense industry capabilities within the next two years in order to export mainly artillery systems. Kazakhstan Defense Minister Daniyal Akhmetov has confirmed that the country intends to... MORE
TURKEY OFFERS “DIALOGUE” TO ARMENIA
Turkey has offered to enter into a “dialogue” with neighboring Armenia that would aim at improving the historically strained relations between the two nations. The diplomatic overtures have prompted a positive response from Armenian leaders, raising fresh hopes for the elimination of a major source... MORE
ALLEGED SURVEILLANCE OF SENIOR JUDGES RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT POLITICIZATION OF TURKISH POLICE
On May 16 the Ankara Public Prosecutor initiated an investigation into claims by Vice President of the Constitutional Court of Turkey Osman Paksut, that he had been the subject of a surveillance operation by the country’s police. The Constitutional Court is currently hearing a case... MORE
OBSERVERS DEBATE WHETHER THE SILOVIKI HAVE WON OR LOST
The general consensus about the personnel changes in the Kremlin administration and cabinet of ministers that have been made in the week and a half since Dmitry Medvedev was inaugurated president and Vladimir Putin was named his prime minister is that the reshuffle has meant... MORE