By Grigor Hakobyan (6/15/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Specifically, the Armenian Center for National and International Studies convened a roundtable discussion entitled “Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC): A New Pulse in the Region,” where participants attempted to shed light on Armenia’s place and role this time in the context of regional economic developments. Well known policy analysts, public figures, academics and representatives of various media outlets and NGOs attended the conference.

During the conference, a representative of the Democracy and Civil Society Development Center ‘Armat’, Mr.

By Marat Yermukanov (6/15/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In an interview to the Russian newspaper Tribuna a month ago, Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev assured that the popular uprisings that shook Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan were inconceivable in economically and politically stable Kazakhstan. But his daughter, the leader of the Asar party and member of parliament Dariga Nazarbayeva sounded conspicuously less optimistic when, speaking at the party Congress of Asar, said the repetition of “colored revolution” scenario was possible in Kazakhstan. But, in her words, popular unrest in Kazakhstan may be triggered off not by the poverty of population or by some other economic reasons, but by the passivity of pro-presidential parties in the face of the danger of “export of democracy” to Kazakhstan by outside forces, assisted by “inner destructive forces”.

By Anar Kerimov (6/1/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The struggle between Aliyev and Heydarov, perhaps the most powerful oligarchs in the country, escalated after the election of President Ilham Aliyev in October 2003. During President Heydar Aliyev’s presidency, both officials kept a low profile and did not dare to have an open struggle for economic influence in the country. Yet, after 2003, having received more freedom in their actions, Aliyev and Heydarov launched a fierce fight against each other, using both media outlets and local businesses.