By empty (8/29/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

President Kocharian met on 27 August in Kazan on the sidelines of a CIS summit with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev to discuss approaches to resolving the Karabakh conflict, news agencies from both countries reported. The two presidents first met one-on-one and then were joined by the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group but, contrary to expectations, not by Russian President Vladimir Putin. No details of the specific issues discussed were made public, but Armenian Public Television on 27 August quoted Kocharian\'s press secretary, Viktor Soghomonian, as characterizing the talks as \"a positive development in the negotiating process.

By empty (8/27/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Turkmenistan has downgraded the status of its membership of the CIS to that of an \"associated member,\" the press service of Turkmenistan\'s Foreign Ministry reported. The ministry stated that the participants in the CIS summit in Kazan received a message from Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, who did not attend, \"with a request to take into account Turkmenistan\'s neutral status and support its position to participate in the CIS as an associated member.\" The report noted that the request received preliminary approval from CIS member states.

By empty (8/27/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Turkmenistan\'s idiosyncratic President, Saparmurat Niyazov, has found an unusual way to spread his message - by sending his writings into space. Part One of the Ruhnama was blasted off on a Russian Dnepr booster rocket from Kazakhstan\'s Baykonur launch site on Wednesday, local media said. People are obliged to read Mr Niyazov\'s book, an interpretation of Turkmen history, for moral guidance.