Field Reports
HUNGER STRIKE FOR THE RELEASE OF DEPUTY CONTINUES IN KYRGYZSTAN
By Anna Kirey (1/30/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The hunger strike involving 362 people all over Kyrgyzstan continues despite the fact that its main sources of inspiration, human rights activist Tursunbek Akunov and leader of Coalition of NGOs for democracy and civil society Tolekan Ismailova, quit the strike on its 15th day. Their decision mainly came as an answer to a request by twenty-four NGOs to stop torturing themselves when this is unlikely to impact on government authorities.
Going on hunger-strike was the last resort of the desperate opposition after the arrest of deputy Azimbek Beknazarov who is accused of not instituting proceedings against an individual accused of homicide several years ago.
GEORGIAN LEADERS DISAGREE WITH UN ON ABKHAZIA
By Irakly Areshidze (1/30/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The decision regarding the presence of 350 Georgian troops in the Kodori Valley, the one part of Abkhazia still controlled by the authorities in Tbilisi, has the potential of turning into a serious crisis for Georgian President Eduard Shevadnadze. The situation in Kodori has been tense ever since October of last year, when Georgia dispatched troops to the Valley to protect the local population, after Russian SU-25 aircraft bombed the area. Ostensibly, the presence of Georgian troops in Kodori is in violation of the May 1994 agreement signed in Moscow by the Georgian authorities and Abkhaz separatists which ended the armed conflict in the region.
KYRGYZSTAN RESTRICTS FREEDOM OF SPEECH
By Aziz Soltobaev, American University in Kyrgyzstan (2/27/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On January 14, vice Prime Minister Nikolay Tanaev signed a governmental decree that contradicts the most important democratic reforms in Kyrgyzstan during the last decade. The Government justifies the enactment of the decree “On some issues of publishing” through the need to combat the penetration of the ideology of extremist organizations, especially Hizb-ut-Tahrir, claiming that it directly follows from Kyrgyz Republic’s duties to the antiterrorist Coalition and to the international community of countering international terrorism.
The Decree obliges the Interior affairs Ministry and the customs authorities to ensure strict control and registration of the import to the Kyrgyz Republic of typographical, polygraph, and of other printing equipment.
AZERBAIJAN EXPECTS TO BECOME ASSOCIATED MEMBER OF NATO PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
By Gulnara Ismailova (2/27/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
At the beginning of the 1992, NATO officials actively used the changes in the political situation on the European continent to expand their influence in Central and Eastern Europe. Partnership for Peace (PfP) was taken as basis for that policy, and was approved in January 1994 during the winter session of the NATO Council. In May 1994, Azerbaijan signed the framework agreement on joining PfP.
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Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, "Promise and Peril in the Caucasus," AFPC Insights, March 30, 2023.
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Putin's War In Ukraine and the Crimean War), 19fourtyfive, January 2, 2023
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Russia Needs Its Own Charles de Gaulle, Foreign Policy, July 21, 2022.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Rethinking Greater Central Asia: American and Western Stakes in the Region and How to Advance Them, June 2022
Oped Svante E. Cornell & Albert Barro, With referendum, Kazakh President pushes for reforms, Euractiv, June 3, 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell Russia's Southern Neighbors Take a Stand, The Hill, May 6, 2022.
Silk Road Paper Johan Engvall, Between Bandits and Bureaucrats: 30 Years of Parliamentary Development in Kyrgyzstan, January 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell, No, The War in Ukraine is not about NATO, The Hill, March 9, 2022.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, Kazakhstan’s Crisis Calls for a Central Asia Policy Reboot, The National Interest, January 34, 2022.
Book S. Frederick Starr and Svante E. Cornell, Strong and Unique: Three Decades of U.S.-Kazakhstan Partnership, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, December 2021.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, S. Frederick Starr & Albert Barro, Political and Economic Reforms in Kazakhstan Under President Tokayev, November 2021.