Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
TURKS RECEIVE A GEOGRAPHY LESSON AS AKP SCRAMBLES FOR SUPPORT IN THE UN
Turks have recently been receiving an unexpected geography lesson as the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has stepped up its campaign to secure a seat on the UN Security Council when five places come up for election in October 2008. In recent weeks Turkish... MORE
HAS THE TRANSNISTRIA CONFLICT GONE FROM DEAD END TO WRONG TURN?
Negotiations between Chisinau and Tiraspol toward resolving the conflict in Transnistria have restarted after a pause of almost seven years. Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin met “Transnistria’s president” Igor Smirnov on secessionist-controlled territory on April 11. With Voronin fixated on resolving the conflict in 2008 while... MORE
CAN THE UKRAINIAN COALITION HOLD TOGETHER?
The ruling coalition of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Bloc (BYT) and President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine, People’s Self-Defense (NUNS), is on the verge of breaking apart. Yushchenko’s team not only criticizes Tymoshenko’s economic policy but also publicly accuses her of fostering corruption. Tymoshenko, for her... MORE
THE CONTOURS OF PUTIN’S DE FACTO THIRD TERM COME INTO FOCUS
As two Russian newspapers, Nezavisimaya Gazeta and Moskovsky korrespondent, correctly predicted last month (see EDM, March 28), President Vladimir Putin agreed on April 15 to become chairman of the United Russia party. Announcing at the party’s ninth annual congress in Moscow that he was “ready... MORE
TURKEY BROADENS REGIONAL SECURITY DIALOGUE
On April 15 an Iranian delegation arrived in Turkey to finalize a security convention that has been in the planning stages for the last two to three years and for discussions on joint measures against Kurdish PKK and PJAK guerrillas based in northern Iraq. The... MORE
NEW ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TAKES OFFICE, KEEPS UP REPRESSION
Serzh Sarkisian was sworn in as Armenia’s new president on April 9 amid a lingering political crisis triggered by his extremely controversial victory in last February’s presidential election. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the 53-year-old former prime minister sought to reach out to hundreds of... MORE
NATO WEIGHS PROTECTION OF KAZAKH OIL FACILITIES
NATO's 26 member states held their 59th annual gathering from April 2 to 4 in Bucharest. Its ambitious agenda was headed by proposals to expand the alliance. NATO eventually decided to extend membership offers to Albania and Croatia, while Macedonia, Georgia and Ukraine saw their... MORE
KYRGYZSTAN SPUTTERS ABOUT U.S. BASE, BUT COOPERATION CONTINUES
On April 8 the issue of pollution from the U.S. Manas Airbase once again resurfaced in the Kyrgyz Parliament. It was alleged by one member of parliament that foreign military personnel stationed at Manas were polluting the atmosphere, and this view was supported by others... MORE
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS REVEAL CONFUSION AND DISSENT IN AKP
On April 14 Turkish Speaker of Parliament Koksal Toptan formally forwarded a draft amendment to Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code to the Parliamentary Justice Committee. This notorious article makes it an imprisonable offence to denigrate “Turkishness.” The hopes of the ruling Justice and... MORE
MOSCOW MAKES FURIOUS BUT EMPTY THREATS TO GEORGIA AND UKRAINE
In the wake of NATO’s summit, top Russian officials are threatening Georgia and Ukraine directly and NATO indirectly with retaliation, if the alliance approves membership action plans for these countries. During the run-up to NATO’s Bucharest summit, from such threats were commonplace Kremlin political consultants... MORE