Field Reports

The war in the Middle East has caused a resolute criticism from the Kyrgyz population. Although there has not been any official statement on the Gulf events, President Askar Akaev is obviously against the use of force to disarm Iraq.

Azerbaijan’s political elite is becoming more and more active as the time of the presidential elections approaches. Though the official pre-election campaign has not begun yet, the growing activity of political parties and other public organizations indicates that political forces have already begun the race.

President Aliyev on April 3 fired the Mayor of Sumgait, Azerbaijan’s third largest city. The move may be linked to the upcoming elections, but is also likely related to economic struggle between parts of the ruling elite.

As a part of a renewed drive for economic integration of the two countries the leaders of Kazakhstan and Russia announced that 2003 would be marked as the year of Kazakhstan in Russia. The event was clamorously trumpeted by official media in both countries. Does it signal the dawn of a new era in Kazakh-Russian relations?

On the first anniversary of the event, more than three and a half thousand people gathered in the village Bospiek, Aksy region to commemorate the Aksy tragedy that occurred on March 17, 2002. At the same time, people in other cities and villages throughout Kyrgyzstan paid their respect to the Aksy victims.

The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic is doing its best to attract foreign investments to the country. However, cash is hardly flowing in since the investment climate in Kyrgyzstan needs to be improved. Scarcity of valuable natural resources, a long distance from world trade arteries, high transportation expenses, large taxes, and a small internal market space impede financial injections into Kyrgyzstan.

A few days before the American led coalition forces launched war on Iraq the Defense Ministry of Kazakhstan announced large-scale military exercises in the Eastern military district. The timing of these maneuvers leaves little doubt that the main concern of the military is the security of Western borders in view of the inevitable war in Iraq.

Since November of last year, a dialogue between the opposition and authorities around the Election Code (EC) has been going on. The Election Code was adopted by the Parliament in the first reading. The apple of discord between authorities and opposition is in principle on how to form the election commissions.

Following the second round of elections in Armenia on March 5, the Central Election Commission Chairman Artak Sagradian has announced the incumbent Robert Kocharian as a winner. According to the final tally, Kocharian pulled 1 440 424 votes, which constitute 67.5 percent of all voters. His main rival Stepan Demirchian, the leader of People\'s Party of Armenia, has gathered 504,146 votes (32.5 percent). Total voter turnout was 1 595 702 people.

The world community is revitalizing efforts to settle the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and to normalize relations between Yerevan and Baku on the one hand, and between Yerevan and Ankara on the other. Between 13 and 15 May, two meetings were held almost simultaneously in order to pursue these aims in Prague and in Reykjavik