Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
TURKISH MILITARY LAUNCHES MAJOR ANTI-PKK OPERATION
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
SHELL OFFERS A BOUNTY IN GERMANY TO ROSNEFT
According to Russian and German media reports, Royal Dutch Shell offers its stake in Germany’s largest oil-industry complex, MIRO, to Russia’s Rosneft, in return for Shell “access” to a field development project in western Siberia. If consummated, the proposed deal would mark the Russian state’s... MORE
ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT OPPOSITION UNDER FIRE AFTER KEY VOTE
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’S CADETS PREFER BELARUS TO AMERICA
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
TURKISH POLICE NO NEARER TO SOLVING ATTEMPTED ANKARA BOMBING
One week after foiling a massive bomb attack in the center of Ankara, the Turkish police appear no closer to identifying either the perpetrators or the bomb’s intended target. On September 11, police sniffer dogs found a 580 kilogram improvised explosive device (IED) in a... MORE
FRIENDS OF GEORGIA HOLD STRATEGY SESSION IN LITHUANIA
The New Friends of Georgia group of countries conferred in an enlarged and upgraded format on September 13-14 in Vilnius. This meeting shows that a strong nucleus of eight countries has developed within the European Union and NATO (alongside the United States in the latter... MORE
RUSSIA’S FAR EASTERN REGIONAL LEADERS HAIL ASIA-PACIFIC INTEGRATION
Regional leaders in the Russian Far East want to speed development of the country’s remotest regions in a bid to strengthen the Asia-Pacific dimension of Russia’s external economic ties. Notably, the Far Eastern Primor Region, bordering China and the Pacific, is supposed to become a... MORE
TRENDS AND OPINION POLLS REVEAL SHIFTING VOTER PREFERENCES IN UKRAINE
Ukraine’s parliamentary elections on September 30 are unlikely to bring overwhelming victories for either the “orange” camp of Our Ukraine-Self Defense and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc or the “blue” camp of the Party of Regions. Ukraine’s regional and linguistic divide makes such a landslide unlikely;... MORE
ERDOGAN TO RULE ON FINAL DRAFT OF TURKEY’S NEW CONSTITUTION
Members of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have completed a three-day retreat to discuss a draft of the country’s new constitution, but they have left the decision on the final text to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On September 12, AKP Deputy Chairman... MORE
BULGARIA SEDUCED BY SOUTH STREAM GAS PROJECT?
Bulgarian authorities seem to regard Russia’s South Stream project for gas transport to Europe as a great opportunity for the designated transit country, Bulgaria. The South Stream pipeline would run from Russia’s Black Sea coast on the seabed to Bulgaria and from there to Italy.... MORE