On June 18-19 in Baku, the GUAM countries’ annual summit reviewed the state of implementation of the group’s policies, projects, and institutional development. Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine, Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, and Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev (substituting for President... MORE

Armenia’s President Robert Kocharian and his top political allies have cut a new power-sharing deal resulting from their landslide victory in the May 12 parliamentary elections. In a decree made public on June 8, Kocharian formally approved the composition of a coalition government headed by... MORE

Although the political establishment in Azerbaijan was chagrined by the May 12 agreement among Turkmenistan, Russia, and Kazakhstan for plans to construct a new gas pipeline to export Turkmen gas to Western markets through Russia, official Baku still sees great opportunities in bilateral relations with... MORE

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to hold yet another face-to-face meeting that could result in a long-awaited breakthrough in international efforts to resolve the conflict over Karabakh. The U.S., French, and Russian diplomats acting under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group... MORE

A series of incidents staged in recent days by South Ossetian secessionist forces seeks to provoke the Georgian government into retaliating, so as to derail a political process that Moscow and Tskhinvali cannot control. That political process involves the consolidation of Tbilisi-backed alternative authorities under... MORE

Armenia’s main “party of power” scored a landslide victory in the May 12 parliamentary elections that were essentially recognized as legitimate by the West and significantly boosted Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian’s chances of succeeding President Robert Kocharian early next year. The development is a huge... MORE

Last week, Armenia and Azerbaijan marked the 13th anniversary of the cease-fire signed between the two governments in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, in 1994. But not only does the situation between the two countries remain tense, the prospects for peace keep getting smaller and smaller,... MORE

Armenia’s intensifying parliamentary election campaign has been jolted by a scandal over the secret recording of a recent confidential meeting between a top opposition leader and a Yerevan-based Western diplomat. Details of that conversation have been controversially disclosed by a pro-establishment newspaper, in what is... MORE

On April 26 a major international conference, “The Role of Media in the Promotion of Tolerance and Understanding,” opened in Baku, Azerbaijan. The conference was held under the auspices of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) with several high-ranking guests such as the Secretary-General... MORE