Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
POLL SUGGESTS LEVELS OF PIETY UNCHANGED, HEADSCARF STILL INDICATOR OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS IN TURKEY
A recent opinion poll suggests that levels of piety in Turkey have remained virtually unchanged since the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power in November 2002. According to a study conducted by A&G research in September 2007, 61.4% of adult... MORE
UKRAINIAN ELECTION OVER, BUT ITS OUTCOME UNCLEAR
Ukraine’s September 30 early parliamentary election produced a hung parliament, just like the regular election in March 2006. Like last year, the Party of Regions (PRU) of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych scored more votes than other parties. The Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense bloc (NUNS), backed by... MORE
ARMENIAN EX-PRESIDENT BREAKS LONG SILENCE, SIGNALS COMEBACK
Levon Ter-Petrosian, Armenia’s former president acclaimed in the West for his conciliatory stance on the Karabakh conflict, has rocked the domestic political arena with his first public speech in nearly a decade. Addressing hundreds of supporters in Yerevan on September 21, he described the current... MORE
OMV VERSUS MOL: A TEST CASE FOR THE EU AND ITS ENERGY POLICY
The Austrian government and the state-controlled OMV energy champion have launched a campaign in European media and with EU authorities in Brussels for a hostile takeover of Hungary’s fully private-owned MOL energy champion. Members of the Austrian government, such as Economics Minister Martin Bartenstein and... MORE
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