Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
TURKMENISTAN WARMS TO TURKEY, BUT MAKES NO PLEDGE FOR GAS SUPPLIES
Turkey, located in the middle of the East-West energy corridor, and natural-gas-rich Turkmenistan have recently improved their relations after almost seven years without any high-level dialogue. This development has raised hopes for the revitalization of the long stalled, U.S.-backed Trans-Caspian pipeline (TCP) project aimed at... MORE
RUSSIA’S PRESIDENT-ELECT SPEAKS TO FINANCIAL TIMES
Russian observers are mulling the significance of Dmitry Medvedev’s interview with Britain’s Financial Times newspaper, particularly his comments about how he views his future role and how he will work with President Vladimir Putin, who has agreed to serve as his prime minister. In the... MORE
NATO MEMBERSHIP ACTION PLANS: “NOT IF BUT WHEN”?
Ahead of NATO’s April 2-4 Bucharest Summit, the alliance is preoccupied with maintaining the principles on which it interacts with aspirant countries. The core principles may be summed up as: the open door, membership action plans on the road to that open door, merit-based assessment... MORE
AZERBAIJAN’S RELATIONS WITH MINSK GROUP HIT NEW LOW
Azerbaijanis have long distrusted the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk group, co-chaired by Russia, France, and the United States. All three countries have large Armenian diasporas and are considered to favor Armenians in the Karabakh conflict. Many Azerbaijanis accuse the Minsk group... MORE
TURKEY RISKS LOSING INTERNATIONAL FUNDS FOR ILISU DAM
When covering Turkey’s complex relationship with its Kurdish minority, Western media outlets have tended to focus on the military activities in southeastern Anatolia against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The reality is much more complex, however. For nearly 40 years Turkey’s Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP)... MORE
EXTRANEOUS CONSIDERATIONS IN THE WAY OF GEORGIAN AND UKRAINIAN MAPS AT THE NATO SUMMIT
In on-the-record interventions and, especially, at off-the-record policy conferences, German officials lay out a whole collection of arguments against Membership Action Plans (MAPs) for Georgia and Ukraine at the upcoming NATO summit. Several West European governments share some of those arguments to some degree or... MORE
RUSSIA’S GAZPROMNEFT PLANS CRUDE OUTPUT HIKE
Russia's state-run oil firm, GazpromNeft, has disclosed ambitious plans to hike its oil production level, which would require taking over new assets. In its drive toward becoming the country's leading oil firm, GazpromNeft appears to be relying on its parent company Gazprom, currently chaired by... MORE
CRACKDOWN IN TIBET WILL BOOST ROLE OF SCO
Although the international community has condemned Beijing’s crackdown against rioters in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, the Russian government was among the first to show its active support for the Chinese authorities. The riots began March 10, and the subsequent crackdown has caused dozens of civilian... MORE
KURDISH DEMONSTRATORS CLASH WITH TURKISH SECURITY FORCES DURING NEWROZ
Over a period of four days from March 21-24, two people were killed and several hundred injured in clashes with Turkish security forces, as hundreds of thousands of Kurds took the streets to celebrate the Kurdish New Year of Newroz. No reliable figures are available... MORE
RUSSIA’S THREATS TO UKRAINE, GEORGIA ARE CHALLENGES TO U.S., NATO
Representatives of the Russian government and the Kremlin are multiplying their threats to Ukraine (as well as to Georgia) ahead of next week’s NATO summit, where Membership Action Plans (MAPs) for the two countries will be considered. Moscow realizes more clearly than some NATO governments... MORE