News Digest
PROTESTERS STORM LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICE IN INGUSHETIA
By empty (7/12/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
An unspecified number of outraged local residents stormed the office of Karabulak Mayor Ibragim Arsamakov on 11 July after he refused to meet with them to discuss their complaints about the distribution of land plots and about corruption among local officials. The authorities responded by blocking all roads leading to the town; Prime Minister Ibragim Malsagov traveled to Karabulak to meet with the protesters, who dispersed following the announcement of Arsamakov\'s dismissal \"due to his incorrect approach to resolving the population\'s problems.\" Opposition leader Bekbulat Gorchkhanov told ingushetiya.ARMENIAN OPPOSITION BLOC REJECTS PROPOSED DRAFT CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
By empty (7/12/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Following a three-hour discussion on 11 July, representatives of the nine Armenian opposition parties aligned in the Artarutiun bloc said the most recent version of the proposed amendments to the constitution, which were submitted to the Council of Europe\'s Venice Commission last week, do not fully meet the opposition\'s three key demands, RFE/RL\'s Armenian Service reported. Opposition representatives pointed out that under the revised amendments, the president cedes to the parliament the power to sack the prime minister, but remains empowered to dissolve the parliament if legislators twice reject his successive proposed candidate for prime minister. They also noted that the revised amendments provide for the mayor of Yerevan to be elected by the municipal council, whereas the opposition insists that the mayor should be elected by the city\'s population.ARMENIA SAYS KARABAKH SETTLEMENT CLOSE
By empty (7/12/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Armenia and Azerbaijan have reached agreement on the key points of a formal peace accord ending the Karabakh conflict, and that agreement could be signed by the end of this year, RFE/RL\'s Armenian Service reported on 11 July, citing unnamed senior officials. Under that deal, Armenia would return to Azerbaijani control five of the seven districts adjacent to Karabakh currently controlled by Karabakh Armenian forces, not including the strategic Lachin corridor. A peacekeeping force composed of troops from countries that are not members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group would be deployed in the conflict zone.KAZAKHSTAN TURNS UZBEK HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST OVER TO UNHCR
By empty (7/12/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Kazakhstan turned an Uzbek human rights activist, who Uzbekistan claims to be one of the instigators of the May 13 violence in the Uzbek city of Andizhan, over to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday, the UNHCR said. The activist, Lutfullo Shamsudinov, was charged with terrorism and of \"spreading information with the aim of provoking panic among the population\" by Uzbekistan. He received refugee status from the UNHCR late last month.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.