By empty (9/26/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

A conference of Tajikistan\'s Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) in Dushanbe on September 25 decided not to participate in the country\'s November 6 presidential election, Avesta and RFE/RL\'s Tajik Service reported. The party gave a number of reasons for its decision, including flaws in Tajik election law, skepticism about the Central Election Commission, and the current global climate of suspicion toward Islamic parties. Despite its refusal to advance a candidate, however, the IRP will participate on local election commissions and be present at polling stations.

By empty (9/21/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Kazakhstan should adopt a special state program for the protection of the Caspian Sea’s ecosystem, deputy Leonid Burlakov stated at a republican senate plenary sitting September 21, REGNUM correspondent reports. In a request addressed to prime minister, the senator raises the issue of flooded and improperly shut oil wells. Referring to data of public prosecutors’ checks, Leonid Burlakov points out that an earlier adopted four-year branch program on elimination of self-flowing oil wells is not being fulfilled.

By empty (9/19/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In a speech at a two-day conference on Turkic friendship and solidarity held in Antalya, Turkey, Ilham Aliyev called on September 18 for Azeri and Turkish groups living outside of their countries to mobilize and consolidate, Turan and ANS-TV reported. Referring to the seizure of several districts of Azerbaijan by Armenian forces at the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Aliyev vowed that \"Azerbaijan will not allow its territory to be turned into a second Armenian state\" and warned that \"we will mobilize all of our forces: political, diplomatic, economic, and military, and we will liberate our land.\" Aliyev further called on the Azeri and Turkish diaspora organizations to consolidate to oppose \"Armenian propaganda\" regarding Azerbaijan and Turkey and welcomed plans to convene a joint forum of Azeri and Turkish diaspora organizations in Azerbaijan next year.