Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
ALIYEV CASTS LONG SHADOW OVER KAZAKH INTELLIGENCE
Amangeldy Shabdarbayev, Chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNB), has confirmed continuing concern about the infamous case of Rakhat Aliyev, while trying to give a positive image of the KNB working closely with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to tackle serious security threats. Aliyev... MORE
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS INCREASINGLY RESTRICTED IN TURKEY
After several years in which restrictions on freedom in Turkey had begun to ease, journalists, academics and researchers are once again coming under increasing pressure, according to the latest report by the locally-based Independent Communications Network (BIA). Founded in 2003 in an attempt to provide... MORE
RUSSIA DOUBLING ITS TROOPS IN GEORGIA’S ABKHAZIA REGION
From April 29 through May 3, Russia sent additional troops to Georgia’s Abkhazia region on the pretense of “peacekeeping” and ostensibly on behalf of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Russian government announced its move through the mass media, but it did not inform... MORE
RUSSIA’S STRANGE “PEACEKEEPING” OPERATION IN ABKHAZIA
Despite the CIS cover, this operation has been a purely Russian one from 1994 to the present. Since 2002 CIS meetings have abandoned even the pretense of discussing this operation, let alone prolonging its “mandate.” Nor did Moscow seek CIS member countries’ approval of the... MORE
NEWSPAPER REPORTS ALL KEY POWERS WILL SHIFT TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Gazeta reported on May 5 that it had learned the structure and personnel make-up of the cabinet that Vladimir Putin will head as prime minister starting on May 8, the day after Dmitry Medvedev is inaugurated as president. According to the paper, outgoing Prime Minister... MORE
TURKEY TAKES FIRST STEP TOWARD A PROFESSIONAL ARMY
Since the beginning of May, the Turkish military has stopped enrolling conscripts as reserve officers in its commando brigades. This is the initial stage of a process that is expected to culminate in the creation of the country’s first fully professional army units (Vatan, Milliyet,... MORE
RUSSIA REINFORCES FORCES IN ABKHAZIA AS A POSSIBILITY OF ARMED CONFLICT LOOMS
On April 29 the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Georgia of concentrating forces and weapons in the upper part of the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia. An official foreign ministry communiqué stated, "More than 1,500 Georgian army and police personnel are already in the Kodori Gorge." According... MORE
RUSSIA MULLS STRONGER PARTNERSHIP WITH UZBEKISTAN
The Kremlin has moved to strengthen ties with Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous nation, through the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as well as major energy projects. CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha was in Tashkent from April 27 to 29 to meet top Uzbekistan... MORE
TAJIKISTAN COMES IN FROM THE COLD
Of all the post-Soviet Central Asian “Stans,” Tajikistan has had the roughest path toward stability and prosperity. The year after the USSR collapsed in December 1991, Tajikistan descended into a brutal civil war. By the time it ended with a UN-brokered agreement in 1997, fratricidal... MORE
TURKISH MEDIA REPORTS THAT ANKARA HAS OFFERED TO TRAIN THE IRAQI ARMY
On May 2 the Turkish daily Milliyet reported that Turkey had offered to provide training to the Iraqi army as part of an attempt to strengthen the central government in Baghdad and prevent the breakup of the country (Milliyet, May 2). In recent years, Turkey’s... MORE