Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
AS IT CONTINUES TO MULL LIMITED MILITARY ACTION, TURKEY STEPS UP EFFORTS TO DIVIDE PKK
As Turkey continues to mull limited air strikes and commando raids against the camps of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, Turkish authorities appear to be stepping up their efforts to weaken the PKK by exacerbating divisions inside the organization. In late October... MORE
MOMENTOUS IMPLICATIONS OF AZERBAIJAN-GEORGIA-TURKEY RAILROAD (part one)
Ignoring the anti-constitutional opposition’s calls for immediate regime change, Georgia began construction work on its section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (Turkey) railroad on November 21. The railroad will connect Asia and Europe via the South Caucasus. The Georgian section is the linchpin to the entire project.... MORE
MOSCOW CONCEDES NEED FOR MAJOR TRANSIT INVESTMENT
At the State Council's November 13 meeting in Krasnoyarsk, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that transportation infrastructure is strategically important for the country's economic growth. He conceded that the bulk of Russia's transportation facilities have become worn-out and obsolete, as most civilian planes, river ships,... MORE
IRAN PLAYS “GREAT GAME” POLITICS OVER TURKMENISTAN
International competition in Turkmenistan’s energy sector is supplying a pretext for Iran to remind Ashgabat of its need to preserve good relations with Tehran. A bilateral meeting held in Ashgabat on November 19, attended by senior foreign ministry officials from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, considered the... MORE
AKP ATTEMPTS TO RECAPTURE MOMENTUM BY SETTING DATE FOR NEW DRAFT CONSTITUTION
On November 25, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will make public the details of a new Turkish constitution on December 15 (Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Vatan, Radikal, November 26). Erdogan’s statement came on the last day... MORE
RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS DETAINED: IS A CRACKDOWN UNDERWAY?
The past week has not been a good one for opponents of President Vladimir Putin’s rule. Police in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and other cities forcibly broke up opposition demonstrations and detained a number of opposition leaders. The actions followed Putin’s speech to supporters at Moscow’s... MORE
RUSSIA HOPES TO ENTER CASPIAN MARKET WITH NEW KASHAGAN DEAL
In the covert “great game” currently playing out between Russia and the United States to control the hydrocarbon assets of the Caspian, a glittering new prize has appeared on the horizon. Kazakhstan’s massive offshore Kashagan oilfield is the world's largest discovery in the last 30... MORE
WEST RACING RUSSIA FOR TURKMEN GAS
On November 23 in Ashgabat, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov and Gazprom president Alexei Miller held tense talks with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov on joint gas projects. The Russians goaded the Turkmens to open Caspian offshore blocks for Russian exploration and to start construction work... MORE
TURKISH OFFICIALS CALL FOR TURKIC COMMONWEALTH
Buoyed by its increasing engagement with Central Asia and the Arab world, Turkish officials have begun to discuss institutionalizing what they regard as Turkey’s growing regional influence. When Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the Turkish Republic in 1923, he explicitly set Europe as the new state’s... MORE
PUTIN PLEDGES MORE MONEY AND HOUSING FOR MILITARY
It is an old Russian military tradition to gather all of Russia's top military brass in Moscow in late November or early December for a meeting to "summarize the year's achievements and outline future tasks." With snow already in the fields, military training ceases as... MORE