News Digest
RIGHTS GROUP BLASTS KAZAKHSTAN OVER REFUGEE RETURN TO UZBEKISTAN
By empty (3/31/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced in a March 29 press release that it has written a six-page letter to Kazakh President Nazarbaev asking him to investigate the forced return of Uzbek nationals from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan. The statement said that HRW has obtained new evidence linking Kazakh security forces to the seizure and return of four Uzbek nationals in November 2005. In all, nine men \"disappeared\" from southern Kazakhstan in November and were later transferred to Uzbek custody, HRW alleged.BISHKEK RALLY DEMANDS KULOV\'S RESIGNATION
By empty (3/31/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Up to 3,000 people have joined a rally in downtown Bishkek to protest the Kyrgyz Central Election Commission\'s decision to bar Ryspek Akmatbayev from running in parliamentary elections, the action\'s organizers told Interfax. Police have put the number of protesters at around 500. The demonstrators are holding banners with slogans reading \"Ryspek Akmatbayev is Our Deputy!\" and demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Felix Kulov.KYRGYZ POLICE SAY IMU ACTIVISTS DETAINED IN SOUTH
By empty (3/31/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Police in Osh arrested six alleged members of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) on March 30, RFE/RL\'s Kyrgyz Service reported, citing law-enforcement sources. Osh Deputy Police Chief Suyun Omurzakov told RFE/RL that police conducted early-morning searches at three addresses. \"At two of them we found the people we were looking for,\" he said.AFGHAN CONVERT “WOULD BE KILLED”
By empty (3/31/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
An Afghan man who could have faced the death penalty for becoming a Christian has said he would probably have been killed had he remained in Afghanistan. Speaking to journalists in Italy, where he has been given asylum, Abdul Rahman, 41, thanked Pope Benedict XVI for leading the campaign to have him freed. He said he never wanted to return to Afghanistan and was concerned for the safety of his family there.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.