News Digest
TURKISH PRIME MINISTER ARRIVES IN TBILISI
By empty (8/12/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A delegation of Turkish officials led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Georgia on 11 August for a two-day visit. The Turkish delegation, which includes government ministers and more than 100 businessmen, is seeking to negotiate the expansion of border crossing points between the two countries and is reportedly interested in specific investment opportunities in Georgia, with a special focus on the planned construction of a network of high-voltage electrical transmission lines, the joint modernization of the Batumi airport and a highway through the port city of Batumi. Erdogan also met with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili, and President Mikheil Saakashvili before formally opening a Georgian-Turkish business and investment forum in the Georgian capital.U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION CRITICIZES AZERBAIJANI DECISION ON BAKU MOSQUE
By empty (8/12/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
United States Helsinki Commission Chairman Representative Christopher Smith (R-NJ) has criticized the 11 August ruling by the Azerbaijani Supreme Court upholding the eviction of worshippers from the Djuma Mosque. The U.S.RUMSFELD IN AZERBAIJAN FOR TALKS
By empty (8/11/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived here Wednesday for talks with leaders of Azerbaijan, the only predominantly Muslim country with troops in Iraq. Rumsfeld, who flew here from Afghanistan, was expected to meet Thursday with President Ilham Aliyev for talks on issues ranging from maritime security in the oil-rich Caspian to efforts to prevent proliferation of nuclear materials. He also was expected to thank leaders here for sending troops to missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, and supporting US counter-terrorism efforts since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, officials said.SOUTH OSSETIAN AND GEORGIAN CAPITALS SUFFER ENERGY BLACKOUT
By empty (8/11/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Despite the halt in clashes on 11 August between Georgian and South Ossetian forces that included a six-hour exchange of mortar and small-arms fire, the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali suffered a complete energy blackout for 12 hours on 11 August. The blackout, attributed to four high-voltage power lines that were damaged in the clashes, soon triggered an electrical-network failure that left the Georgian capital Tbilisi completely without power for most of the day. (ITAR-TASS).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.