Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
CLASHES WITH PKK CONTINUE AS TURKEY PREPARES ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQI KURDS
As Turkey presses ahead with the military buildup on its border with Iraq, the Turkish media are continuing to report clashes between the security forces and militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). A group of around 80-100 PKK militants reportedly infiltrated Turkey from northern... MORE
OIC COULD MEDIATE BETWEEN TURKEY AND KURDS IN IRAQ
Amid the escalating tension between Ankara and Baghdad over the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) staging guerrilla attacks into Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq, one international organization might prove to be an honest broker in defusing the situation through diplomatic means—the Organization of the... MORE
U.S. FLOATS “ZERO OPTION” ON MISSILE DEFENSE IN EUROPE
The row between Moscow and Washington on missile defense (MD) has moved into the realm of Cold War rhetoric and typical Cold War “peace initiatives.” These are grand-sounding public offerings of extravagant compromises that are primarily publicity stunts. Last June, during the G-8 summit in... MORE
NEW KYRGYZ CONSTITUTION FAILS TO ADDRESS OLD PROBLEMS
On Sunday, October 21, Kyrgyzstan voted in a referendum for a new constitution and electoral law. According to the Central Elections Commission, voter turnout was 76%. Both the new constitution and electoral law were supported with 76% of voters favoring the new documents. While the... MORE
AKP GOVERNMENT CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE ON RESPONSE TO PKK ATTACK
Hundreds of thousands of Turks took to the streets in towns and cities across the country yesterday (October 23) to protest the killing of 12 soldiers in an attack by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on October 21 (see EDM, October 22). They also called... MORE
LUKASHENKA FANS ANTI-SEMITISM IN BELARUS
At a press conference broadcast for the Russian media on October 12, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka criticized living conditions in the town of Babruisk, one of the centers visited by 70 visiting Russian journalists (SB-Belarus' Segodnya, October 13). The translated version of his remarks was... MORE
LEFTIST, PRO-RUSSIAN EXTREMISTS DEFY YUSHCHENKO OVER HISTORY
President Viktor Yushchenko’s recent efforts to commemorate World War II nationalist fighters have provoked a wave of pro-Russian and leftist extremism in Ukraine. Radical leftists disrupted commemorations of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) across Ukraine on October 14, and the Russian radical nationalist organization Eurasian... MORE
CAN UZBEKISTAN COME IN FROM THE COLD?
On October 18 Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov met with his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov for wide-ranging talks on international and regional issues. The summit was initially given only passing reference on Uzbek television, with reports mentioning the scheduled signing of cooperation documents (Uzbek TV First... MORE
PRESSURE ON AKP MOUNTS AMID FEARS OF ETHNIC VIOLENCE
The public pressure on Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to launch a cross-border military strike into northern Iraq has continued to mount. Further public protests have erupted following the October 21 ambush by militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in which 12... MORE
UN SECURITY COUNCIL EXPANDS UNOMIG MANDATE TO KODORI
The United Nations Security Council has approved a routine prolongation of the U.N. Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) mandate to operate in Abkhazia (United Nations, Report of the Secretary-General, October 15; Civil Georgia, October 16; Georgia Today, October 19-25). The Security Council’s resolution is less... MORE