Since June, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s Kurdish initiative has stimulated debate on how to address the Kurdish question. After months of such debates on the issue the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, in consultation with the Turkish state apparatus,... MORE

On October 26, a group of demonstrators rallied in Moscow to protest against the results of the mayoral election in the southern Dagestani city of Derbent on October 11. Over 300 people were reported to have taken part in the protest. Derbent’s acting mayor, Felix... MORE

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov appears to have abruptly ended his courtship of Akhmed Zakaev, the exiled prime minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI), calling the London-based separatist leader a “liar” and “hypocrite.”Speaking on October 27 during a meeting of the regional branch of... MORE

The name of the Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini may soon be used as a flagship for a new protest movement in Georgia. The implacable Georgian opposition, who previously ran three-month long protest rallies which commenced in April, have reiterated their calls for pre-term elections in... MORE

On October 11, the United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, won more than 7,000 local elections in 75 of its 83 regions. President Dmitry Medvedev hailed United Russia’s victory as showing that the party had a “legal and moral right” to run... MORE

Agiri Rojhilat is one of the top seven members of the Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistane (PJAK) which is a part of the larger umbrella organization Koma Civaken Kurdistan (KCK) that includes the PKK. The Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan portrays itself to... MORE

On October 13, Ingushetia.org reported that the President of Ingushetia Yunus-bek Yevkurov, had called on the Ingush clans, known as teips, to form a teip council. Citing the importance of the teips for Ingush society, President Yevkurov decided to recruit them to improve the security... MORE

The resignation of the Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov on October 19 and, consequently the entire government should not be confused with any attempt to reform the country’s political system. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has indeed promised to change the way Kyrgyzstan’s government functions in order... MORE

A synopsis of the latest opinion poll (September 2009) conducted in Belarus by the Independent Institute of Social-Economic and Political Research has been published on the Institute’s website (www.iiseps.org). The Charter 97 website issued a press release, which maintained that given a choice, Belarusians would... MORE

On October 9 the Ukrainian parliament appointed the candy and automobile tycoon Petro Poroshenko as the foreign minister. His nomination, submitted by President Viktor Yushchenko, was backed by 240 deputies in the 450-seat body. All caucuses voted in his favor except the opposition Party of... MORE