Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
EXPECTATIONS LOW FOR AL-BULANI VISIT TO ANKARA TO DISCUSS MEASURES AGAINST THE PKK
Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bulani arrived in Ankara on September 25 for two days of talks with Turkish officials in an attempt to resolve long-standing differences over the continued presence of camps belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Qandil Mountains of northern... MORE
RUSSIA GETS THE GOVERNMENT THAT WILL EASE PUTIN OUT
It took Russian President Vladimir Putin only a few hours to appoint a new prime minister after sacking the indifferent Mikhail Fradkov, who never was up to the job and never pretended to be. But it took nearly two weeks to form a new Russian... MORE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE HELD IN SOUTH OSSETIA
On September 21 Georgia organized an international conference within South Ossetia about that conflict. It was the first event of this type ever held in any post-Soviet conflict area, and it was held despite an attempt by the Russian military to stop it. Ambassadors and... MORE
TAJIKISTAN AND KYRGYZSTAN AGREE TO DEEPEN SECURITY COOPERATION
Talks held in Bishkek on September 18 between Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon produced wide-ranging commitments to deepen bilateral cooperation. Significantly, both sides agreed step up cooperation involving their intelligence and law-enforcement agencies in order to combat terrorism, extremism, human and... MORE
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