Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
ANKARA WILLING TO RISK U.S. SANCTIONS FOR CHEAP IRANIAN ELECTRICITY
Iran and Turkey are broadening their energy cooperation to include electricity. According to recent statements by Turkish Minister of Energy Hilmi Guler, Ankara is determined to proceed with energy agreements signed with Tehran earlier this year. Specifically, on August 20 Turkey signed a deal with... MORE
SAAKASHVILI: DEFIANT AND READY FOR ACTION
Last Saturday evening, November 3, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili granted me a two-hour interview in his office, which is a few minutes’ walk from parliament. Demonstrators have been protesting in front of the building, demanding his resignation. On Friday, November 2, an estimated 50,000 protesters... MORE
IS BIG BROTHER WATCHING UKRAINIANS?
The Ukrainian government has simplified the procedure allowing the special services and police to procure confidential information about citizens. Ukrainian human rights activists and Internet providers believe that the government violated the constitution by legalizing widespread surveillance, giving the secret services almost unlimited access to... MORE
AZERBAIJAN’S LEADERS FEAR SPREAD OF RADICAL ISLAM, ESPECIALLY IN MILITARY
On October 27 Azerbaijani law-enforcement agencies announced they had foiled a terrorist plot targeting the U.S. and British embassies, as well as the Baku offices of several major oil companies. The plot was discovered following a theft in a Defense Ministry military unit. Lieutenant Kamran... MORE
FORMER TURKISH COMMANDERS DISCUSS COSTS AND BENEFITS OF CROSS-BORDER OPERATION AGAINST PKK
As Turkey continues to mull its options against elements of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq, the center-right daily Milliyet has been running a series of interviews with former leading Turkish commanders evaluating the costs and benefits of a cross-border military operation... MORE
MAJORITY OF TURKISH MEDIA CLAIMS BUSH GAVE TURKEY GREEN LIGHT FOR MILITARY OPERATION
The majority of the Turkish media believe that U.S. President George W. Bush effectively gave Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a green light for a military operation against elements of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq during their November 5 meeting. Although... MORE
GEORGIAN OPPOSITION ON A FREE RIDE, part two
Billionaire businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili has turned his Imedi Television, which broadcasts across the country, into a stronghold of political opposition to the government. Along with that move in 2006, he sold a 49% stake in Imedi TV to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. In October 2007,... MORE
NATO TREADS WARILY IN KAZAKHSTAN, AS RUSSIA WATCHES
Kazakhstan’s military cooperation with the NATO Alliance appears to be progressing steadily, despite the problems emerging between NATO and Russia. On October 31 Robert Simmons, NATO representative for Central Asia and South Caucasus, met Kazakhstan’s Defense Minister Daniyal Akhmetov in Astana. An official press release... MORE
PRESIDENT’S PARTY IS WEAKEST LINK IN ORANGE COALITION
Friday, November 2, was the last day that the Our Ukraine-People’s Self Defense (NUNS) bloc could collect signatures to support a “democratic” (orange) coalition with the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc (BYuT). BYuT deputies have openly expressed their fear that disunity in NUNS will lead to an... MORE
GEORGIAN OPPOSITION ON A FREE RIDE
On Friday, November 2, at least 50,000 people (as estimated by most local and foreign observers at the scene) demonstrated in downtown Tbilisi for regime change and early presidential elections in Georgia. The number decreased to some 12,000 on November 3. The demonstrations were peaceful... MORE