Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
TURKEY’S CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?
On February 9, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), supported by the opposition ultranationalist Nationalist Action Party (MHP), amended the Turkish constitution in an attempt to create the legal framework for lifting the ban that currently prevents women wearing headscarves from attending university. The... MORE
NABUCCO PROJECT APPROACHING A REAL START
Germany’s Rheinisch- Westfaelische Elektrizitaetswerk (RWE) has joined the EU- and US-supported Nabucco pipeline project for Caspian gas to Europe. RWE is Germany’s largest energy company overall and second-largest gas distributor. On February 5 in Vienna, the Nabucco consortium’s five founding companies -- Austria’s OMV as... MORE
SOURCING THE NABUCCO PIPELINE TO PREVAIL AGAINST SOUTH STREAM
Gas reserves at Azerbaijan’s Shah-Deniz field would amply suffice for the Nabucco pipeline’s first commercial phase, from 2013 onward. However, investors would expect second-phase supplies to be reliably identified by the time construction work starts on the pipeline’s first phase. The start of construction is... MORE
FEARING MASS PROTESTS, KYRGYZ REGIME PLANS TO BAN PUBLIC PRAYERS
The Kyrgyz Interior Ministry intends to ban public prayers at the central square in Bishkek during Islamic holidays. The ministry’s main rationale for its decision is that because Kyrgyzstan is a secular state, religion should be everyone’s private business as opposed to state-sanctioned public events.... MORE
POLL SUGGESTS MILITARY STILL THE MOST TRUSTED INSTITUTION IN TURKEY
Despite its failed attempt last year to prevent Abdullah Gul from being appointed president, the Turkish military remains the most trusted institution in the country, according to the latest Eurobarometer opinion poll conducted for the European Commission. On April 27, 2007, the Turkish General Staff... MORE
TYMOSHENKO REACHES OUT TO FOREIGN INVESTORS
On February 5 Ukraine was admitted to the World Trade Organization. That achievement will facilitate Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s efforts to attract foreign investment. Kicking off that campaign on January 24 she held a two-hour meeting in Kyiv with 250 foreign investors. Then on... MORE
KARABAKH AGAIN THE FOCUS OF FOREIGN POLICY
After rather a calm year in 2007, conflict over Karabakh is once again emerging as a primary foreign policy focus in both Armenia and Azerbaijan. Last year, Azerbaijani and Armenian politicians, as well as international mediators, struggled to find a breakthrough in the peace talks... MORE
RAHMON EFFUSIVE ABOUT “STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP” WITH RUSSIA
Tajikistan’s defense and security structures, traditionally heavily influenced by Russian methods and Moscow’s assistance, depend on fresh intakes of Tajik conscripts to maintain their manpower levels. Potential conscripts are exposed to Russian military culture even before coming in contact with military recruiting centers or responding... MORE
THE TURKISH MILITARY AND THE MHP: THE END OF A PLATONIC LOVE AFFAIR?
An angry confrontation outside the headquarters of the ultranationalist Nationalist Action Party (MHP) appears to have signaled the end of one of the longest platonic love affairs in Turkish politics. On February 5 the representatives of a number of associations representing retired military personnel attempted... MORE
DID GLONASS FAILURE SINK IVANOV’S CHANCE AT THE PRESIDENCY?
The Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) has long been a priority in the development of Russian space technologies. Last March, in a major speech on the future of space development, Russian President Vladimir Putin singled out global positioning as a field in which Russia... MORE