By Chemen Durdiyeva (12/17/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

This November 25th, 2003 marked the first anniversary of the failed assassination attempt on President Saparmurad Niyazov’s life. On this date a year ago, gunfire was opened on Niyazov’s motorcade with the purpose of physically removing him from his post. Whether this attack was a genuine incident or allegedly staged or fabricated by the government still remains a subject for comprehensive investigation.

By Elin Suleymanov (12/17/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Yet for many Azerbaijanis, the departure of Heydar Aliyev, once one of the USSR’s most powerful men and later Azerbaijan’s strong-handed leader, who ruled the country for over three decades totally, is a turning point in the country’s road to independence and the end of an era. In fact, the death of Aliyev, a patriarch of the region, is in a sense ending the 90s in Azerbaijan and in the Caucasus. With the Georgian patriarchal ex-President Eduard Shevardnadze ousted from office by a younger generation of leaders, Ilham Aliyev succeeding his father Heydar in Azerbaijan, and Russia ruled by younger, more dynamic Vladimir Putin, the region faces a new political dynamic.

By Aijan Baltabaeva (12/3/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Both law proposals comprise 11 articles that concern every citizen of Kyrgyz Republic, given the multinational character of the country and the presence of over eighty nations with their own language in Kyrgyzstan. Specifically, these law proposals require at least a third of the broadcasting, mass media and advertisement information to be in Kyrgyz, a transition to the Latin alphabet, and a pay rise for state employees knowing the Kyrgyz language.

This law is to replace the present law, which was adopted in 1989, during Soviet times.