By Anara Tabyshalieva (5/22/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Defending the border agreement with China, President Askar Akayev stated that the border agreement is the best solution for a small country, a skillful piece of Kyrgyz diplomacy giving away just 30 percent of the originally contested area. Talking about a good relationship with China, government officials remind that China intended to acquire more lands, presenting its own maps and planning to give Kyrgyzstan only four percent of the disputed areas, while Kyrgyz officials argued that the old Soviet state borders should be the new borders of independent Kyrgyzstan. Since 1964 the Soviet-Chinese border problem, which then became a Kyrgyz-Chinese one, could not be resolved.By Michael Denison (3/26/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The decision by British-owned BG International Ltd. to sell its entire 16.67% stake in the North Caspian Sea Project (NCSP) in Kazakhstan did not unduly surprise industry analysts.By Claude Zullo (3/26/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: During and since the recent presidential election, Armenian opposition forces held a string of mass demonstrations in Yerevan to protest voting irregularities and the election’s disputed outcome. The Armenian government was caught off guard by the size of these protests, which according to estimates peaked between 45,000 and 100,000 people. Since the first round of voting, the Kocharian government resorted to extreme measures to ensure success at the polls, including the detention of scores of opposition supporters for allegedly organizing and leading unauthorized demonstrations, public disorder, hooliganism, and disobeying police.By Elkhan Mekhtiev (11/22/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: In January 20,1990, Soviet troops entered Baku, fired on pro-independence forces in the streets, imposed a state of emergency and provided the communists an overwhelming majority in the 350-seat Soviet Azerbaijani parliament. The 1990 parliamentary elections prepared the basis for future instabilities. In the 1995 parliamentary elections, ruling party members secured 94% of vote including Heydar Alievs son, brother, daughters husband and other relatives.
The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.
Sign up for upcoming events, latest news and articles from the CACI Analyst