Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
AKP FACING A CONSTITUTIONAL TRAP OF ITS OWN MAKING
An attempt by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to circumvent the country’s secularist establishment’s opposition to Abdullah Gul becoming president looks set to return to haunt it later this month. Under the current constitution, the president is elected by parliament. In April this... MORE
WILL PUTIN STEP DOWN EARLY IN ORDER TO RUN AGAIN?
Over the last few weeks, President Vladimir Putin’s has elevated long-time associate Viktor Zubkov as prime minister, “accepted” the pro-Kremlin United Russia party’s “invitation” to head its list of candidates for the upcoming State Duma elections, and strongly hinted he may become prime minister (Putin... MORE
RUSSIA SETTING UP “COLLECTIVE PEACEKEEPING“ FORCES
On October 2 Russia’s Nikolai Bordyuzha, secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, told mass media that the CSTO is creating its own “peacekeeping” forces. The member countries are Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Bordyuzha outlined the political and military concepts underlying... MORE
TURKMENISTAN PONDERS PARTNERSHIP WITH WASHINGTON
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov delivered a keynote speech at the UN General Assembly on September 25, indicating that Ashgabat wants to “open up” to the outside world and build a more durable environment to further its economic interests. Praising the role of the UN in... MORE
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