News Digest
TURKISH AMBASSADOR VOWS TO CONTINUE SUPPORT FOR AZERBAIJAN
By empty (4/17/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Turkey's ambassador to Azerbaijan pledged on 17 April that, despite recent Armenian comments suggesting an easing of tensions with Azerbaijan, Turkey will continue to withhold diplomatic relations with Armenia until "Armenia reconsiders its policy toward Azerbaijan" and the Karabakh conflict is resolved. The Turkish diplomat added that Ankara remains committed to the planned Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline for exporting Azerbaijani oil and pledged that Turkey will ensure the security of any pipeline from Baku. (Turan).RUSSIA AND IRAN PROMOTE 'NORTH-SOUTH' TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
By empty (4/16/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Russian Transport Minister Sergei Frank, who is on a three-day visit to Iran, said on 16 April after meeting with his Iranian counterpart Ahmad Khorram that Russia is ready to launch a trilateral transport project next month known as "North-South," which will link the Western states with Central Asian countries via Russia. The agreement on the transport corridor was signed last year by Russia, India, and Iran, and was approved by the Russian parliament and President Putin this month. Frank added that Scandinavian and Baltic states, as well as Ukraine and Kazakhstan, have expressed interest in the project.RARE PUBLIC PROTEST IN TURKMENISTAN
By empty (4/17/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Some 300 Turkmen demonstrated outside the headquarters of the Committee for National Security (KNB) in Ashgabat on 15 April, and about 50 turned out the following day to protest how KNB officers treat ordinary citizens. The demonstrators demanded that malefactors in the security services be punished, following widespread revelations of abuse of power, including drug smuggling and the raping of Turkmen citizens by KNB officers. President Saparmurat Niyazov began purging the ranks of the KNB with mass firings on 4 March.OIL MAJOR TO EXPAND PRODUCTION, INCREASE INVESTMENT IN KAZAKHSTAN
By empty (4/16/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Following talks with Kazakh Prime Minister Imanghali Tasmaghambetov in Astana on 16 April, ChevronTexaco's CEO David O'Reilly announced that his company will increase its production of Kazakh oil from its present amount of 13 million metric tons per year to 20 million tons per year by 2005. To this end, ChevronTexaco will invest some $1.5 billion over the next three years to expand the production capacity of the Tengizchevroil joint venture.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.