Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
TURKISH MILITARY WARNS AKP ON SECULARISM, U.S. ON IRAQ
Turkish Land Forces Commander General Ilker Basbug has issued a stern warning to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) not to attempt to change the current interpretation of secularism in the country and bluntly told the United States that it is time to take... MORE
GAS DISCUSSIONS IN TURKMENISTAN, AZERBAIJAN AFTER THE BUDAPEST NABUCCO CONFERENCE
European officials are hastening to Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan in the wake of the Budapest conference that relaunched the momentum of the Nabucco gas pipeline project (see EDM, September 19, 20). Turkmenistan’s central role as a gas supplier seems finally to be acknowledged with regard at... MORE
BELARUS PERSECUTES OPPOSITIONISTS
In a recent statement U.S. Department of State spokesman Sean McCormack declared that Belarus has once again increased its intimidation of citizens and called on the government to release political prisoners and respect human rights. Ten days later, Pirkka Tapiola, the EU high representative for... MORE
MOSCOW PROMISES HUGE FUNDS TO DEVELOP FAR EAST, BUT EXISTING PROJECTS SLOW TO MATERIALIZE
The Russian government plans to allocate up to 600 billion rubles ($23.6 billion) to fund development projects in Eastern Siberia and Far East by 2013, Kamil Iskhakov, presidential envoy in the Far East, told the Far Eastern International Economic Forum on September 18. Total investments... MORE
VISITS BY TOP U.S. OFFICIALS FAIL TO HEAL STRAINS IN TURKISH-U.S. TIES
Two visits by leading U.S. officials to Turkey in less than a week have failed to heal the strains in relations between Ankara and Washington, particularly over Turkey’s increasingly close economic ties with Iran and the continuing presence of militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party... MORE
MOSCOW HINTS AT ITS NUISANCE VALUE TO ALLIED OPERATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN
Russia abstained in the UN Security Council’s September 20 vote to prolong the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, a NATO-led operation. This is the first time since 2001 that Russia withheld its approval from an allied operation (U.S.-led Enduring Freedom... MORE
RUSSIAN SECURITY SERVICES KILL DAGESTANI REBEL LEADER
Early on the morning of September 17, specialized detachments from the Russian police and the Federal Security Service (FSB) surrounded a small house in the village of Novy Sulak, located in the Kyzyl-Yurt district of Dagestan. Two armed rebels were inside the house. The troops... MORE
GROWING RUSSO-TURKISH ECONOMIC TIES OVERSHADOW POLITICAL DIFFERENCES
Despite continuing political differences, Russia is rapidly becoming one of Turkey’s most important trading partners. According to figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), during the first six months of 2007 Turkey’s exports to Russia rose by 60.3% over the same period of 2006... MORE
OIL POOR, WATER RICH TAJIKISTAN AND KYRGYZSTAN DRAW CLOSER TOGETHER
While Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are relatively poor in hydrocarbons compared with the petro-rich former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, they both possess abundant quantities of an even more valuable resource -- water. The two countries are slowly coordinating their water policies in a manner... MORE
GENERAL DECLARES RUSSIAN NUKES SECURE
This month the secretive, nuclear 12th Main Directorate of the Defense Ministry celebrated its 60th birthday. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin created the directorate on September 6, 1947, to supervise nuclear tests. Today Russian nukes are produced by the Rosatom Federal Nuclear Energy Agency and then... MORE