Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev paid an official visit to Turkey on October 21-24, as the guest of his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul. In addition to his meeting with Gul, Nazarbayev was hosted by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressed the Turkish parliament, and met with... MORE

Russia and Turkey, with Italy in tow, have seemingly struck a grand oil and gas bargain in the Black Sea. On October 19 in Milan, government ministers and corporate officials from the three countries signed agreements to move ahead with the Russian South Stream gas... MORE

Recent developments in Kazakhstan clearly indicate that the human rights record and its press freedom are worsening as the country prepares to take hold of the Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) next year. On September 4, the Balkhashinskiy district... MORE

On October 6 the French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Astana on a state visit and met his counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev. During his one day visit he also held talks with Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev and the Minister of Economics and Budget Planning Bakhyt... MORE

Russia and Kazakhstan's leadership have reiterated pledges to boost their bilateral economic and energy partnership. However, they remain divided over some divergent interests, notably in gas processing and oil transit. Earlier this month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev met at... MORE

Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev has instructed the government to form a State Commission on Preparations for Kazakhstan's Chairmanship of the OSCE. Personally chairing an enlarged inter-departmental meeting on this subject, Nazarbayev described Kazakhstan's chairmanship of the OSCE in 2010 as a "national strategic project." The... MORE

If implemented, the Burgas-Alexandroupolis and/or Samsun-Ceyhan projects would reinforce Russia's quasi-monopoly on oil transportation from Kazakhstan to international maritime ports. Approximately one half of Western companies' production from Kazakhstan is already being delivered through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's (CPC) existing pipeline, via the North Caucasus,... MORE

One month after the dismissal of Kazakhstan's Defense Minister Daniyal Akhmetov by presidential decree on June 17, persistent rumors are still circulating about his alleged suicide. Unconfirmed reports in some media outlets suggest that Akhmetov shot himself when security police arrived to arrest him on... MORE

On June 17, following the CSTO and SCO summits, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked the country's first civilian Defense Minister Daniyal Akhmetov. The presidential press service refused to comment on the reasons for the dismissal, while confirming that the former defense minister and chairman of... MORE

In his address to the Collective Security Treaty Organization's (CSTO) summit in Moscow on June 14, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev assured his counterparts, above all the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, that his country unreservedly supports all projects aimed at strengthening this organization. Indeed, Kazakhstan, surrounded... MORE