Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
POORER, LESS EDUCATED VOTERS PREFER TURKEY’S AK PARTY
A close look at voting patterns in the July 22 Turkish general election suggests that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has broadened its electoral base while retaining its grassroots support among lower-income groups and the more conservative sections of society. Yesterday, July... MORE
POST-SOVIET RAILWAYS LACK FUNDS FOR AMBITIOUS PROJECTS
Post-Soviet railway problems made headlines when Ukraine announced a hazardous materials emergency after a train carrying toxic chemicals crashed on July 16 in the country's Western Lviv region (see EDM, July 23). Fifteen tankers carrying liquid yellow phosphorous derailed, and six caught fire. The train... MORE
DONETSK PROSECUTORS, COURTS STRIKE BACK
Several prosecutors and courts recently decided high-profile cases in favor of individuals who were prosecuted when President Viktor Yushchenko came to power in 2005. At the same time, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor-General’s Office, which is controlled by individuals hailing from Donetsk,... MORE
SCO PREPARES LIST OF BANNED RADICAL GROUPS
Radical groups operating within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states will be placed on a new, common list of banned organizations. On July 24 Toygonbek Kalmatov, from the Kyrgyz government agency for religious, confirmed that SCO representatives recently held a closed meeting in order to... MORE
RUSSIAN SPECIAL SERVICES THRIVE IN QUASI-COLD WAR SETTING
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pivotal role in running the country is beyond doubt for the vast majority of Russians, but the institution they see as the next in importance, according to a recent Levada Center poll, is not the government or the church – but... MORE
UKRAINE’S ELITES REMAIN ABOVE THE LAW
Ukraine’s orange elites are facing a growing scandal surrounding Yuriy Lutsenko, head of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine-People’s Self Defense bloc (NUNS). Lutsenko allegedly lobbied on behalf of Ukrainian New Telecommunications (UNTC) when he was interior minister. Lutsenko’s wife is UNTC’s financial director, and the company... MORE
TRANSNISTRIA SETTLEMENT AND POLITICAL POWER IN MOLDOVA
In his marathon-length speeches on July 20 and 25, defending his non-transparent negotiations with Russia on Transnistria (see EDM, July 27), Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin assailed all of Moldova’s non-communist parties indiscriminately. He accused them in prosecutorial terms of obstructing any solution on Transnistria and... MORE
PKK INSURGENCY GROWS AS AK PARTY RENEWS DEBATE ON CROSS-BORDER OPERATIONS
Fresh from its landslide victory in the Turkish elections of July 22, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has once again begun to increase pressure on the United States to move against elements of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq. On... MORE
DTP ELECTION SUCCESS SET TO CHALLENGE BOTH TURKISH STATE AND PARTY ITSELF
The election to the Turkish parliament of 24 members of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) looks set to challenge both the Turkish state’s commitment to freedom of expression and the DTP’s ability to establish itself as an independent political force, free of any links with... MORE
IN PUTIN WE TRUST: MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT GOES FOR BROKE IN DEAL WITH RUSSIA
In a marathon-length televised interview on July 20, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin admitted to negotiating a “plan” for conflict-settlement in Transnistria with the Kremlin. Broadcast live in Russian on the presidentially controlled private channel NIT, Voronin’s emotional interview was kept out of the official Moldovan... MORE