News Digest
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS DENY \'INTERFERENCE\' IN KYRGYZ ELECTIONS
By empty (1/27/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Representatives of media NGO Internews, the OSCE center in Bishkek, and CIMERA-Kyrgyzstan (a Geneva-based organization that focuses on governance issues) held a news conference in Bishkek on 28 January to deny recent official allegations that international organizations are interfering in the run-up to Kyrgyzstan\'s 27 February parliamentary elections. \" CIMERA-Kyrgyzstan is assisting in raising journalistic skills, but it does not interfere in internal affairs and is not involved in politics,\" said CIMERA-Kyrgyzstan spokesperson Vasilina Brazhko. Held amid rising domestic political tensions, the news conference follows comments Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Askar Aimatov made on 14 January to \"Slovo Kyrgyzstan\" in which he warned that \"direct financial support of opposition parties and movements\" would be \"a direct violation of our internal legislation.AZERBAIJAN REJECTS TURKMEN CASPIAN PROPOSAL
By empty (1/27/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Baku does not consider it expedient to refer to the UN or any other international organization the dispute between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan over the borders of their respective sectors of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Metin Mirza told Interfax on 27 January. Turkmenistan recently held talks with a Canadian company on the possible joint development of the Kyapaz/Serdar oil field to which both countries lay claim; on 24 January the Turkmen Foreign Ministry suggested submitting the dispute over that deposit to international arbitration. (Interfax).AFGHAN-IRANIAN HIGHWAY OPENS
By empty (1/27/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Afghan and Iranian presidents have opened a major road linking their two countries as part of reconstruction efforts aimed at boosting trade. It is estimated the $60m Dogharun-Herat road, paid for by Iran, will carry over half of Afghan imports and exports. The highway has been called a modern day \"silk route\" and it is hoped it will eventually link the whole of Asia.TURKMENISTAN THREATENS TO TAKE CASPIAN SEA DISPUTE TO UN
By empty (1/26/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Turkmenistan expressed anger Wednesday at the lack of an agreement on dividing the oil-rich Caspian Sea, threatening to take the issue to the U.N. if the five countries on the inland sea don\'t reach a deal soon.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.