Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
KAZAKH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS RESURRECT COMMUNIST-STYLE ONE-PARTY RULE
The August 18 snap elections for Kazakhstan’s national parliament and local assemblies brought, as predicted, a landslide victory for President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s Nur Otan party. With amazing speed, on the morning of August 19 the Central Election Committee announced that Nur Otan had gained 88.5%... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN CRACKING DOWN ON HIZB-UT-TAHRIR
Kazakhstan’s National Security Service (KNB) is continuing to crack down heavily on the activities of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Party of Liberation. According to the KNB press service, on August 24 intelligence officers disrupted a cell of the banned religious party in Mangistau Region (western Kazakhstan).... MORE
TURKISH MILITARY BRACES FOR NEW BATTLE OVER CONSTITUTION
Following its failure to prevent the election of Abdullah Gul as Turkey’s president, the Turkish military is now regrouping and preparing for the next battle in what is likely to be a long campaign to preserve the ideological legacy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded... MORE
PRESIDENT SEZER SNUBS ERDOGAN IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE WAR OF ATTRITION BETWEEN THE AKP AND TURKEY’S SECULAR ESTABLISHMENT
On August 16, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer publicly humiliated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the first move in what is likely to be a long war of attrition between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Turkey’s ruling secular military and bureaucratic... MORE
TURKEY MOVES TO POSITION ITSELF AS A STRATEGIC TRANSIT CORRIDOR FOR CASPIAN HYDROCARBONS
On July 14 Turkey signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran related to gas and oil transit and joint energy investments. Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler and a team of officials are currently in Tehran meeting with Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, international affairs director of the state-owned... MORE
AUSTRIA’S OMV VERSUS HUNGARY’S MOL: THE LESS EFFICIENT TARGETING THE MORE EFFICIENT
Austria’s national energy champion, OMV, persists with attempts to take over its Hungarian counterpart, MOL, even as OMV itself seems to drift into closer association with Russia. The Austrian government, the single largest shareholder in OMV -- 31.5% direct control plus some small stakes under... MORE
KAZAKH INTERIOR MINISTRY HUMILIATED BY AUSTRIAN REFUSAL TO EXTRADITE RAKHAT ALIEV
The scandal around Rakhat Aliev, the runaway former son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Kazakhstan’s former ambassador to Vienna, shows no sign of subsiding. Astana asked the Austrian government to extradite Aliev as early as May 26, after the suspect was stripped of his... MORE
SCO SUMMIT FOCUSES ON ENERGY COOPERATION
On August 16, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held its annual summit in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital. This was the largest event to date for both Bishkek and the SCO, as the summit brought together official representatives of 12 countries. Energy cooperation and security issues... MORE
EXPERT REPORT ON MISSILE DROP IN GEORGIA LEAVES UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
On August 12-14 in Georgia, an international group of experts investigated the circumstances of the August 6 Russian air incursion and missile drop on that country. Following the incident, Georgia called for an independent international investigation -- independent meaning that the experts would volunteer their... MORE
MORE PROBLEMS FOR RUSSO-GERMAN GAS PIPELINE PROJECT
Gazprom’s corporate report for the second quarter of 2007, released on August 14, officially puts the cost of building the Russo-German gas pipeline on the Baltic seabed, known as Nord Stream, at €6 billion (Interfax, August 14). This means a 50% increase over the €4... MORE