Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
BUYUKANIT WARNS AKP ON CONSTITUTION, DTP ON PKK
On October 1, Turkish Chief of Staff General Yasar Buyukanit publicly warned the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) against weakening secularism in the new Turkish constitution, which is expected to be put to a referendum in early 2008. A draft of the new constitution... MORE
SAAKASHVILI AT UN: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS FAILING ON POST-SOVIET CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on September 26, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili cautioned the United Nations and other international institutions that their credibility is eroding as security actors and guardians of international law. Saakashvili noted that the United Nations and the OSCE... MORE
MOSCOW MEASURES THE NEW WESTERN UNITY ON IRAN
International issues have been overshadowed during the last three weeks as the Russian governmental crisis triggered an avalanche of speculation that has swept aside two stale presidential hopefuls – First Deputy Prime Ministers Dmitry Medvedev and Sergei Ivanov – and swirled around the new prime... MORE
ASTANA CAUGHT UNPREPARED FOR WHEAT SHORTAGE
The steeply rising price of bread in all regions of Kazakhstan, coming in the wake of controversial parliamentary elections, has fueled popular discontent with the ruling Nur Otan party and become an embarrassment for the government. Recently a group of protesters picketed the Almaty office... MORE
MASSACRE IN SOUTHEAST TURKEY REVIVES OLD MEMORIES
On September 29, 12 male villagers were massacred close to the village of Besagac, near Turkey’s border with Iran, by what is believed to have been a unit of the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The killing came the day after Turkey... MORE
AKHMETOV EXPANDS STEEL AND IRON HOLDINGS ON THE EVE OF UKRAINE’S ELECTIONS
Ukrainian steel manufacturer Renat Akhmetov and Russian businessman Vadim Novinsky, principal owner of Smart Group in Ukraine, have announced a merger agreement amounting to a takeover of Smart by Akhmetov. This move should position Akhmetov clearly as the dominant force from now on among Ukraine’s... MORE
KOZAK LEAVES MIXED RECORD AS PUTIN’S ENVOY IN THE RUSSIAN SOUTH
On September 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin reorganized his cabinet. Among the new appointments was Dmitry Kozak, who was named regional development minister. This ministry is tasked with working out the Russian government’s regional policies and monitoring relations between Russian regions and the federal center.... MORE
ECONOMIC REALITIES DISCOURAGE BAIKONUR CLOSURE
The Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan has just finished a series of anti-terror exercises staged by Russia's National Anti-Terror Committee and the Federal Security Service (FSB), codenamed “Baikonur-Anti-Terror 2007” (Itar-Tass, September 26). Established by the USSR in 1955, Baikonur is the world's oldest and largest continuously... MORE
TURKISH OFFICIALS ACCUSE BARZANI OF PREVENTING “HOT PURSUIT” BEING INCLUDED IN ANTI-PKK AGREEMENT
Turkish officials have accused Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, of excluding the right of hot pursuit from a list of measures to be taken against militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq (NTV, Radikal,... MORE
ESTONIA WILL NOT ALLOW THE NORD STREAM PIPELINE ON ITS SEABED
Estonia's government has turned down the Russo-German company Nord Stream's request to survey the seabed off the Estonian coast. The survey was to precede the construction of the Russian gas pipeline on the Baltic seabed to Germany for Gazprom. The Estonian coalition government took the... MORE