By Claude Zullo (3/26/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: During and since the recent presidential election, Armenian opposition forces held a string of mass demonstrations in Yerevan to protest voting irregularities and the election’s disputed outcome. The Armenian government was caught off guard by the size of these protests, which according to estimates peaked between 45,000 and 100,000 people. Since the first round of voting, the Kocharian government resorted to extreme measures to ensure success at the polls, including the detention of scores of opposition supporters for allegedly organizing and leading unauthorized demonstrations, public disorder, hooliganism, and disobeying police.By Elkhan Mekhtiev (11/22/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: In January 20,1990, Soviet troops entered Baku, fired on pro-independence forces in the streets, imposed a state of emergency and provided the communists an overwhelming majority in the 350-seat Soviet Azerbaijani parliament. The 1990 parliamentary elections prepared the basis for future instabilities. In the 1995 parliamentary elections, ruling party members secured 94% of vote including Heydar Alievs son, brother, daughters husband and other relatives.
By Svante Cornell and Maria Sultan (11/22/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The independence of Central Asia's five Muslim republics in 1991 fundamentally altered the geopolitical scene at the center of the Eurasian continent. A paradigm evolved defining Russia, Turkey and Iran as the major players in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Two security threats were defined: the risk of 'loose nukes' and the threat of radical Islam.
By Ahmed Rashid (11/22/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On the origins and aims of Hizb-e Tahrir:
Hizb-e Tahrir was formed in Saudi Arabia in the 1950's and at that time we had a united plan with the Wahhabi movement. But we soon developed differences and split. Hizb-e Tahrir wanted to work with people in each country on a separate basis and bring about Sharia (Islamic law) in a peaceful manner while the Wahhabis were extremists who wanted guerrilla war and the creation of an Islamic army.
The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.
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