By Nicklas Norling (4/5/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Before the break-up of the Soviet Union, Central Asia played an active role in the development of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) due to its massive reserves of uranium tapped for fissile material. As the Soviet Union disintegrated, the Soviet military-industrial complex left behind significant amounts of WMD as well as poorly guarded reactors and facilities for uranium enrichment. These facilities have been of increasing concern for the states in the region, as well as the United States, as nuclear weapons and material could get into the hands of terrorists or rogue states.

By Stephen Blank (4/5/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Turkey has stated that it has sent messages to Iran asking it to desist from building nuclear weapons. Indeed, as an aspirant to membership in the EU it could do no less without enraging Brussels, and the key members of the EU who are leading the negotiations with Iran. But it has a delicately balanced relationship with Iran.

By Anara Tabyshalieva (4/5/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: The first historical movement of Christians in Central Asia was the Nestorian Church in the fourth century. Nestorian Christian successfully converted a number of Turks to the new faith in the medieval ages. The second migration was related mostly Orthodox Christian during Russia’s colonization of the region in the nineteenth century.