News Digest
ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT QUERIES PRIVATIZATION STRATEGY
By empty (10/21/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In a report circulated to legislators and made available to RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau, the parliament Audit Chamber highlighted \"significant shortcomings\" in the government\'s three-year program to privatize remaining state-owned enterprises, RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau reported on 20 October. The government program, which should be completed by the end of this year, envisaged the sale of almost 1,000 enterprises, but in 2000-2001 only 350 were sold. Moreover, in many cases the sales were not transparent, and according to Audit Chamber deputy head Gegham Gasparian, many entities were sold for less than one fifth of their face value as estimated by the State Property Committee.ARMENIAN OPPOSITION STAGES NEW ANTIGOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATION
By empty (10/20/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Thousands of people attended a rally in Yerevan on 17 October at which leading members of the opposition Artarutiun bloc renewed their demand for the referendum of confidence in President Robert Kocharian proposed by the Constitutional Court in April, RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau reported. Kocharian immediately rejected that proposal. People\'s Party of Armenia Chairman and defeated presidential candidate Stepan Demirchian told the rally that a referendum would give Kocharian the legitimacy that he currently lacks because the presidential election outcome was falsified.US ADDS VOICE TO INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM OF AZERBAIJAN ELECTION
By empty (10/20/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The United States added its voice to concerns about events in Azerbaijan after the much-criticised presidential election in the Central Asian republic. A number of international bodies, led by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, has condemned a wave of arrests of opposition party officials and supporters following last week\'s election, which was won by the son of the outgoing president. \"We share those concerns at what appears to be a wave of politically motivated arrests over the weekend,\" deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.KYRGYZ LOWER HOUSE WANTS TO KNOW MORE ABOUT COALITION AIR BASE
By empty (10/20/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The lower house of Kyrgyzstan\'s parliament ratified 10 international agreements on 20 October but not an agreement on the status of New Zealand personnel at the international antiterrorism coalition air base at Bishkek\'s Manas airport. The parliamentarians said they want more information on the makeup and financial expenditures at the base, which supports coalition missions in Afghanistan. They also want more information from Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov, who was not present at the session, on the expected length of the coalition\'s presence in Kyrgyzstan.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.