Kyrgyzstan's constitution will be changed yet again through a national referendum to be held October 21. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev scheduled the referendum following the Constitutional Court's September 14 cancellation of constitutional amendments endorsed in November and December 2006. While the referendum will secure the legitimacy... MORE

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reacted angrily to criticism from the country’s secular establishment regarding a proposal in the draft new constitution to lift the current ban on women wearing Islamic headscarves while attending university. Members of the ruling Justice and Development Party... MORE

The Nabucco gas pipeline project is back on track (see EDM, September 19), preparing for an actual start. However, this project has a history of being derailed before even starting. In order to avoid any more derailments, this project needs to resolve a number of... MORE

Just one week after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s surprise dismissal of the government, experts and commentators in Moscow still remain in the dark about the real meaning of this development. It took only a few hours for the Kremlin to announce the name of the... MORE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has accused Moscow of hindering the investigation into his poisoning in 2004. What’s more, he hinted that Russia might actually have been behind the poisoning. An indignant Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian ambassador to Ukraine, said that Russia was not involved and suggested... MORE

Around 10,000 members of the Turkish security forces have been deployed in a major military operation against units of the military wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in eastern and southeastern Anatolia. The operation is concentrated in mountainous areas of the provinces of Sirnak,... MORE

The two opposition parties represented in the Armenian parliament are facing embarrassing accusations of secret collaboration with the government after effectively acquiescing to the reappointment of the country’s top prosecutor. The National Assembly overwhelmingly voted on September 13 to endorse President Robert Kocharian’s decision to... MORE

Kazakhstan has strengthened its security ties with Washington since 9/11 in order to maximize the numbers of officers from Kazakhstan’s armed forces who receive military training and education in the United States. Indeed, the U.S. Department of Defense has used this as an engagement tool... MORE