On April 19, five days before his scheduled visit to Russia, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev threatened on national television to close the U.S.-led Manas air base by June 1, unless the United States agrees by that date to sign a new agreement on terms demanded... MORE

Unlike Kazakhstan's Russian-language papers, the Kazakh-language media are full of frightening stories of frequent attacks by Russian extremists in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other locales. The complacent attitude of the Russian authorities toward the surging attacks on foreigners leads observers to believe that official Moscow... MORE

The Ferghana Valley is one of the most unstable regions in Central Asia. In early 1989, pogroms of Jews and clashes with Meskhetian Turks broke out and resulted in the deaths of 150 people. Subsequently, 15,000 Meskhetian Turks fled from the Ferghana Valley. In 1990,... MORE

American strategic and democratic interests in Kyrgyzstan are increasingly coming under pressure, one year after the purported democratic "Tulip Revolution" in that country. Russian influence and that of local organized crime groups are growing while U.S. influence is steadily eroding. At the overt level, Moscow... MORE

On April 13 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Secretary-General Zhang Deguang announced that the SCO's upcoming June summit would consider renaming and reforming the organization's secretariat, as well as granting permanent membership to observer countries that have applied for membership. India, Iran, Mongolia, and Pakistan currently hold... MORE

Kazakh Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev traveled to Beijing April 11-13 for a wide range of talks with top Chinese officials on energy, transportation, communications, trade, and trans-border rivers issues, a long-running sticking point in bilateral relations. Considering the complexity of problems in relations with Beijing,... MORE

As Tashkent drifts closer towards Moscow-led post-Soviet groupings, Russia has lost little time in boosting bilateral economic and political ties with Uzbekistan, Central Asia's major market. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Uzbek counterpart, Islam Karimov, conferred by telephone on Friday, April 14. Both leaders... MORE

By-elections for Kyrgyzstan's parliament were held on Sunday April 9. Reputed mafia chief Rysbek Akmatbayev won 79% of the votes in the parliamentary by-elections in Balykchi, Kyrgyzstan. Akmatbayev has a criminal reputation and is known to have strong connections with top government officials. His victory... MORE

Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov and Chinese President Hu Jintao signed a framework agreement on oil and gas cooperation in Beijing on April 3. Niyazov was in Beijing for a six-day visit to China. The trip underlined the growing ties between the two countries in culture,... MORE

Visiting China on April 2-7, President Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan signed with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao a "general agreement" on Turkmen gas deliveries to China and construction of a pipeline to link the two countries. Turkmen state media have published the agreement's text, and... MORE