News Digest
KAZAKH PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTIES OPPOSE LAND CODE
By empty (4/18/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Deputies of the Kazakh parliament\'s Mazhilis (lower house) Serik Abdrakhmanov and Serikbay Alibaev told a news conference on 17 April that they and other deputies oppose adoption of a controversial draft Land Code that would permit private landownership, RFE/RL\'s Kazakh Service reported. The code was approved in its first reading by the Mazhilis in March and is subject to a second reading. Abdrakhmanov said that 122 amendments to the code have been proposed by deputies, adding that in his opinion the current laws on parliamentary powers, government, and regional administration must be changed before the Land Code is adopted.PROTOCOL ENDING TURKMEN-RUSSIAN DUAL CITIZENSHIP PUBLISHED
By empty (4/18/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The protocol on ending dual citizenship of Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation was published in the Turkmen media. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov signed the measure on 10 April during the latter\'s state visit to Moscow. At the time, Putin said dual citizenship is no longer needed because those ethnic Russians who wanted to leave Turkmenistan have already done so.ARMENIAN PRESIDENT REJECTS CALLS FOR \'REFERENDUM OF CONFIDENCE\'
By empty (4/17/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The presidential press service said in a statement released on 17 April that Robert Kocharian will not comply with a Constitutional Court\'s proposal of 16 April to hold a \"referendum of confidence\" to allay widespread doubts about the validity of the February-March presidential election. That proposal was contained in the Constitutional Court\'s ruling rejecting an appeal by defeated presidential candidate Stepan Demirchian that the poll be annulled in the light of alleged procedural, legal, and constitutional violations. Vahan Hovannisian, one of the leaders of the Yerevan Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiun which backs Kocharian, argued on 17 April that the Constitutional Court\'s proposal to hold a \"referendum of confidence\" contradicts its simultaneous ruling that the presidential election outcome is legal and valid.ARMENIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULES THAT PRESIDENTIAL POLL WAS VALID
By empty (4/17/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Constitutional Court rejected on 16 April a lawsuit by defeated presidential candidate Stepan Demirchian claiming that the February-March presidential ballot was marred by legal, constitutional, and procedural violations and should therefore be declared void, RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau reported. But the court acknowledged Demirchian\'s claim that the official returns from some 40 constituencies are \"not credible\" due to ballot-box stuffing and other irregularities. The court ordered the Prosecutor-General\'s Office to launch a criminal investigation into those irregularities.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, "Promise and Peril in the Caucasus," AFPC Insights, March 30, 2023.
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Putin's War In Ukraine and the Crimean War), 19fourtyfive, January 2, 2023
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Russia Needs Its Own Charles de Gaulle, Foreign Policy, July 21, 2022.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Rethinking Greater Central Asia: American and Western Stakes in the Region and How to Advance Them, June 2022
Oped Svante E. Cornell & Albert Barro, With referendum, Kazakh President pushes for reforms, Euractiv, June 3, 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell Russia's Southern Neighbors Take a Stand, The Hill, May 6, 2022.
Silk Road Paper Johan Engvall, Between Bandits and Bureaucrats: 30 Years of Parliamentary Development in Kyrgyzstan, January 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell, No, The War in Ukraine is not about NATO, The Hill, March 9, 2022.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, Kazakhstan’s Crisis Calls for a Central Asia Policy Reboot, The National Interest, January 34, 2022.
Book S. Frederick Starr and Svante E. Cornell, Strong and Unique: Three Decades of U.S.-Kazakhstan Partnership, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, December 2021.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, S. Frederick Starr & Albert Barro, Political and Economic Reforms in Kazakhstan Under President Tokayev, November 2021.