News Digest
CHECHEN PRESIDENT ASSAILS LACK OF SUPPORT FROM WORLD ISLAMIC ORGANIZATIONS
By empty (1/20/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In a statement pegged to the Muslim festival of Kurban-Bayram and posted on 20 January on chechenpress.com, Aslan Maskhadov expressed his disappointment at the \"silent complicity\" of world Islamic organizations such as the League of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference in the face of what Maskhadov termed the \"terrible genocide\" perpetrated by Russia against the Chechen people. Maskhadov argued that in accordance with their statutes, such organizations are obliged \"to defend the rights of all Muslims of the world,\" including the Chechens.ANOTHER AZERBAIJANI KILLED IN CLASH IN GEORGIA
By empty (1/19/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
One Azerbaijani was killed on 18 January and several people were injured in a fight in Georgia\'s Gardabani Raion between Georgian police and Azerbaijanis who were apparently trying to smuggle electronic equipment into Georgia from Azerbaijan. Local Azerbaijanis began throwing stones at police, injuring at least one of them, and police reportedly responded by firing into the air. It is the second fatal incident in a predominantly Azerbaijani-populated district of Georgia within the past two months; no one has yet been arrested for the killing of an elderly Azerbaijani woman in December.RUSSIA SAYS GEORGIA\'S PANKISI GORGE STILL A PROBLEM
By empty (1/19/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters on Wednesday that the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia \"gives us certain anxiety, and has done so for more than one year.\" Russia has repeatedly claimed that militants, including guerrillas from Chechnya, take refuge in the gorge and has been demanding intervention from the Georgian government. In an interview with Interfax earlier on Wednesday, Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili dismissed the Russian allegations as \"absolutely groundless.RUSSIA\'S CLAIMS ABOUT GEORGIA SHELTERING TERRORISTS ARE GROUNDLESS – MINISTER
By empty (1/19/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili has called Russia\'s claims that Georgia is sheltering terrorists absolutely groundless. On Monday, the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi issued a statement saying that \"the threat of terrorism coming from Georgian territory and constituting a serious challenge to the security of both Russia and Georgia remains.\" The statement also said that Russian officials have made a number of public statements lately about the presence of Chechen militants and terrorists in Georgia\'s Pankisi Gorge.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.