Country News BriefsIssue #1

September 4 - September 11

Country News BriefsAzerbaijan was criticized by the Secretary General of NATO for its decision

Azerbaijan

Georgia

Russiato pardon convicted murderer Ramil Safarov. Safarov, who was repatriated last week after spending eight years in a Hungarian prison, was pardoned by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev for his murder of an Armenian citizen in 2004.

Articles:

On his way to the APEC summit in Vladivostok, President Putin lent a hand to conservation efforts to restore the Siberian Crane to the wild. Donning a white suit and helmet, President Putin test-flew a small motorized glider which ornithologists developed to lead a flock of young cranes along migratory paths to their winter habitat in southern Uzbekistan.

Armenia

Moldova

Belarus

Ukraine

Turkey

There are doubts about the upcoming Ukrainian Parliamentary elections, which are to be held on October 28th. While officials say the new election system will “bring in new faces” and improve the Parliament, many are skeptical. Surveys show that only 21% of people trust the parliament.

Belarus refused to extradite Zhanysh Bakiyev, the brother of former Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Members of the Bakiyev family fled Kyrgyzstan as an uprising unseated Kurmanbek from power in 2010. Zhanysh is on the Interpol’s wanted list for an alleged triple murder, but Belarus has refused to extradite him back to Kyrgyzstan on grounds that he is being persecuted for his political affiliations.

German Chancellor Angela Markel’s Aug 22 visit to Moldova is being described as “historic.” Merkel announced she would pursue her 2010 Meseberg initiative with Russia on the Transnistria conflict. Under this initiative Germany proposes a joint EU-Russia decision-making mechanism on European security, in return for Russian cooperation in resolving the Transnistria conflict. Moldova is currently considered the best success of the EU’s Eastern Partnership Program.

Georgia’s politics are heating up before the October 1 parliamentary

election. A recent poll by NDI suggests that President Mikheil Saakashvili’s National Movement party has gained support, increasing the gap between it and the Georgian Dream coalition led by tycoon Ivanishvili. Saakashvili has accused Ivanishvili of being a “Kremlin stooge.”

In response to Hungary’s extradition of Azeri Lieutenant Ramil Safarov,

who had been in a Hungarian jail for the past 8 years for the murder of Armenian soldier Gurgen Margarian, the Armenian parliament announced it was suspending relations with the Hungarian Parliament. Armenia’s parliament is also considering a bill recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent country.

At a meeting of the ruling AKP, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

signaled his government’s support for abolishing the parliamentary immunity of the pro-Kurdish BDP. Recently BDP lawmakers were photographed hugging PKK militants who were blocking a road near Şemdinli last month.

Reuters Huffington Post

Reuters Democracy and Freedom Watch Articles:

Articles:Armenia Now Eurasianet

Articles:Hurriyet Daily News Today’s Zaman Articles:

Jamestown Kyiv Post

Articles:RIA Novosti Telegraf.by

Articles:Kyiv Post For-UA

Articles:The Guardian The Washington Post

Country News BriefsThe Kyrgyz Parliament has elected a new Prime Minister. The divided

Kyrgyzstan

Kazakhstan

parliament chose to elect Zhantoro Satybaldiyev, currently the head of presidential administration. He viewed as a neutral candidate for the post. The Kyrgyz markets, already weaker than many of their neighbors, have been adversely affected by the recent political turmoil.

The US has suspended training of new recruits to the Afghan Local Police (ALP) and is re-vetting current members after a rise in so-called “green-on-blue” attacks. The ALP is a militia established by the US two years ago to protect remote villages. The Afghan army has also recently detained or suspended hundreds of soldiers with links to insurgents.

Mongolia

IranThe US is pressuring Iraq to require Iranian aircraft suspected of using Iraqi airspace to fly arms to Syria to land and be inspected. Flights through Iraqi airspace were suspended in March, but resumed in July after the Syrian defense minister and Assad’s brother-in-law were killed in a suicide bomb attack at Syria’s national security headquarters.

Turkmenistan held naval exercises on the Caspian Sea, an oil- and gas-rich source of territorial disputes between the five border states. The exercise consisted of two corvettes and fighter jets, which practiced defending an oil tanker, an oil-rig and an imaginary town. Turkmenistan has described its military stance as “exclusively defensive.”

Iran gave a tour of its Uranium enrichment plant to Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj. President Elbegdorj visited the plant after attending the summit for non-aligned nations held in Iran.

An explosion occurred on the morning of September 5 near a mosque in the

western city of Atyrau. The body of a young man has been found at the site. The police have cordoned off the area and no information has been released as to the cause of the explosion. While the cause is yet unknown, Kazakhstan has experienced growing unrest in the past year and a half, highlighted by the riots in Zhanaozen.

A market fire in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe led to public protests. The

protesters demonstrated to express their anger with the slow response time of emergency personnel. The government claims that local firefighters did not receive notification of the blaze until forty minutes after it began. The cause of the fire is yet unknown.

The Uzbek parliament has passed a resolution banning the presence of foreign

military bases on Uzbek territory. The bill is part of a move by Tashkent to ensure future neutrality. Uzbekistan recently left the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization causing fears in Russia that Tashkent may have plans to host an American military base.

Articles:The Star Reuters

Articles:Inform.kz Turkish Weekly

Articles: RFERL

Articles:Mizo News Sunday Times

Articles:Huffington Post Mongolia Web

Articles:Reuters Associated Press

Articles:

Articles:Gulf News The GuardianEurasianet

Tajikistan

Uzbekistan

Afghanistan

Xinhua Net

New York Times The Telegraph

Turkmenistan

BBC

Country News BriefsEstonia plans to teach programming to 6-year olds. The program is called

Estonia

Lithuania

Czech RepublicProtiiger and is being introduced by the Estonia Tiger Leap foundation. The program is called “ProgeTiiger” and is being introduced by the Estonian Tiger Leap Foundation as a pilot scheme to some Estonian schools this year.

Czech lawmakers voted down a law proposed by Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas that would trim the fiscal deficit by raising taxes, after six members his own party defected from his coalition. The Prime Minister is now calling for a confidence vote.

Latvia

Romania

Hungary

Poland

According to the Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic, GDP growth declined in the second quarter due to “weak external demand” but did so less than experts had expected. The Statistics Office also reported that the unemployment rate increased from 13.2% to 13.6%.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has rejected the conditions of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan deal for aid to his country. On Sept. 7, Orban set the aid package discussions back to square one, saying the IMF’s requirements for lower taxes on banks and higher pension cuts were unacceptable while at the same time conceding that Hungary needs such help for financial “safety.”

Seventeen executives have resigned and over three hundred employees have taken to protesting the Romanian government’s plan for privatizing the state-owned company Oltchim. The resignations of the seventeen executives were the result of a “lack of dialogue” with the Economy Ministry according to now former-CEO Constantin Roibu. The privatization of Oltchim was a condition set by the IMF before it would advance Romania’s status.

A top research center in Lithuania created a website that exposed the secret

activity of the KGB. Due to the overwhelming amount of visitors to the site, it crashed on Thursday.The state-funded website was actually launched last May, but it was impossible to load. The center is to release a list of over a thousand former KGB agents who refuse to confess.

The Seima (Latvia’s parliament) supported amendments to the

Citizenship Law dealing with the issues of non-citizen Latvian residents and dual-citizenship. The law will allow dual-citizenship for citizens of countries in teh EU, EU Free Trade Association members, NATO, and from a countries Latvia has an agreement with regarding dual-citizenship. Following Saeima’s adoption, the law should take effect January 1, 2013.

Radoslow Sikorski, the Foreign Minister of Poland, said in an interview

this week that Poland will eschew the adoption of the Euro until some troubling fiscal issues were worked out. Although Sikorski did reaffirm Poland’s long standing goal of eventually adopting the Euro, Poland was one of several countries, including Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, who have recently voiced their concern with the Eurozone.

Articles:Geek.com Smithsonian Magazine

Articles:IOL News The Baltic Course

Articles:Baltic News Network The Baltic Times

Articles:Russia Today EurActiv Articles:Romania Insider

Articles:Reuters Bloomberg Businessweek

Articles:RTT News The SlovakSpectator

Noviny.cz Bloomberg Businessweek

The Warsaw Voice

Slovakia

Articles:

Bloomberg Businessweek

Country News BriefsThe Bulgarian government announced on September 3 that it would halt the

Bulgaria

Albania

Croatiacountry’s plan to adopt the Euro. Bulgarian Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said the decision to abandon plans to join the Euro was made after continued economic deterioration in the zone and amid rising uncertainty over the currency union’s future.

Croatia’s ascension to the EU is raising tensions between former Yugoslav countries. Croatia has proposed to build a bridge that links to Peljesac to link Dubrovnik to the rest of the world without having to go through Bosnia. Bosnia says the bridge will threaten its access to open seas. The EU will progress its talk, and also hopes to secure a deal between Croatia and Slovenia.

Serbia

Macedonia

Relations between China and Montenegro seem to be headed in a positive direction this week. Montenegro was one of many Central European nations that met with China in Warsaw to commemorate the founding of a Chinese secretariat to promote relations between Central Europe and China.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has agreed to take part in multilateral talks attended by Kosovo, provided that an asterisk is placed on Kosovo’s nameplate that denotes its unresolved diplomatic status. Despite this positive sign, Dacic continues to insist that Serbia will never recognize Kosovo as nation.

Slovenia, at this point, is not in need of financial aid from the European rescue fund, accordimg to Prime Minister Janez Janša following the end of the EU summit in Brussels. He added there is no basis for any degree of speculation on this issue.

Albanian and Slovenian Prime Ministers met on Monday to talk about

economic development and bilateral agreements between the two countries. Slovenia’s Jansa publicly praised Albania’s efforts at reform. Prime Minister Sarisha emphasized Albania’s willingness to meet all the requirements demanded by Brussels.

EU Council urges Serbia to open up talks with Kosovo. On Thursday, after a two-

day visit to Brussels, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic stated that Serbia will never recognize Kosovo, despite urging from the EU council. The recognition of Kosovo would be a main factor in membership.

A proposed “Law on Defenders” that would grant special privileges to

soldiers who fought in the 2001 conflict that occurred in Macedonia has become embroiled in controversy in the parliament. The bill has run up against the ethnically Albanian DUI party, who either wants these same benefits extended to those who fought on the side of the Albanian guerrillas or have the bill scrapped altogether.

Articles:Reuters EU Inside

Articles:Global Times Xinhua Net

Articles:RFERL Turkish Weekly

Articles:Slovenia Times Global TimesArticles:Eurasia Review MINA

Articles:EU Observer Adnkronos International

Articles:Argophilia

Articles:The Wall Street Journal Huffington Post

Montenegro

Kosovo

Slovenia

Country News Briefs

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Articles: New Europe Online Balkans.com Eurasia Review

The CE and the EC both expressed disappointment this week over Bosnia and Herzegovina’s failure to amend their constitution by an August 31 deadline. The amendment was to bring the constitution into compliance with a 2009 ECHR decision against the government. The failure to amend the constitution is seen as a step back in the country’s attempt to join the European Union.

Box 571031, ICC 111, Washington, DC 20057-1031

Email: ceres@georgetown.edu Tel.: (202) 687-6080 Fax: (202) 687-5829

The Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies is a U.S. Department of Education Title VI-funded National Resource Center (NRC) that strives to increase understanding and appreciation of the

cultures and challenges of the region stretching from Central Europe to the Pacific and from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas