News Digest
ADJAR LEADERS\' DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS REVOKED
By empty (3/24/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The diplomatic passports of more than 500 Adjar officials -- including Adjar State Council Chairman Abashidze; his son, Giorgi, who is mayor of Batumi; and Interior Minister Djemal Gogitidze -- have been revoked in order \"to remind them that it is inadmissible to exceed their competencies,\" Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Baramidze announced on 24 March. President Saakashvili ordered a review of all diplomatic passport holders last month after former President Shevardnadze\'s son-in-law, Gia Djokhtaberidze, was apprehended at Tbilisi airport as he was about to leave the country on a diplomatic passport. (Caucasus Press) .ARMENIAN PRESIDENT AGAIN ARGUES AGAINST ELECTING YEREVAN MAYOR
By empty (3/22/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Robert Kocharian told journalists in Yerevan on 19 March that he considers it inexpedient to amend the constitution to provide for the election of the mayor of Yerevan, RFE/RL\'s Armenian Service reported. The mayor of Yerevan is currently appointed by the president. Kocharian reasoned that the capital is home to one-third of Armenia\'s population, and that \"a great potential for conflict\" could emerge if a mayor were elected who represented a political party in opposition to the president and government.TAJIKISTAN, IRAN ANNOUNCE MEDIA COOPERATION
By empty (3/19/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Tajikistan and Iran have reached an agreement under which Iranian radio and television will be rebroadcast in Dushanbe. Tajik Communications Minister Said Zubaydov and Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting head Ali Larijani have signed a memorandum of understanding to set up an antenna in Dushanbe to relay broadcasts from one Iranian television station and one radio station. A group of Iranian experts is slated to arrive in Dushanbe in two-three weeks to provide technical support for the project.GEORGIAN PRESIDENT, ADJAR LEADER AGREE TO SHELVE DIFFERENCES
By empty (3/18/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
During talks in Batumi on 18 March that lasted over three hours, Mikheil Saakashvili and Aslan Abashidze reached an agreement under which the latter will comply with key demands made by Saakashvili on 14 March, in return for which Saakashvili pledged that the \"restrictions\" imposed on transporting goods across Adjar territory will be lifted at midnight on 18 March. The most important of those demands is to ensure that voting in Adjaria in the 28 March national parliamentary election is free and fair. Abashidze also undertook to have weapons distributed to the population earlier this week collected.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.