3/23/15 – 3/27/15

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On Friday, Turkey’s parliament passed a security law to

broaden police powers and allow the use of firearms against

demonstrators. The legislation gives police greater power for

searches, bans the carrying of fireworks and slingshots, and

stipulates five years in prison for those who cover their faces

at protests. The main opposition Republican People’s Party

(CHP) said it would file a suit in constitutional court to

challenge the security law before the June 7 parliamentary

elections. The law is seen by critics as government retaliation

to recent deadly violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast. Wall Street Journal Reuters

The Guardian New York Times RFE/RL AFP

President Serzh Sarkisian visited Beijing this week to meet with

Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders discussed further

cooperation in the Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative, and

Sarkisian stated his support for Chinese policy in relation to

Taiwan. Xi offered support for the peaceful resolution of the

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and expressed a desire for

strengthened ties with the Eurasian Economic Union. Sarkisian

then extended an invitation to Xi to visit Armenia, which he

accepted. A date has not been set for the visit. Asbarez Xinhua

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Ukraine Today New York Times

On Wednesday, President Petro Poroshenko dismissed the

billionaire governor of Dnipropetrovsk, Igor Kolomoisky.

Recently, Mr. Kolomoisky had clashed with the government

over two state-owned energy companies in which he owned a

minority stake. Masked armed men loyal to Mr. Kolomoisky

occupied the offices of one company last week in Kiev and

unsettled the city. Mr. Kolomoisky was appointed governor a

year ago and is widely credited with having stopped pro-

Russian separatism in his region.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people rallied in Georgia’s

capital demanding the resignation of the government. The

rally was organized by the opposition party of the ex-

president Mikheil Saakashvili, the United National

Movement. Saakashvili addressed the public via video call

from Brussels. "We will get Georgia back on a right track.

We will win," he said. Accused by prosecutors of abuse of

power, Saakashvili lives in Kiev where he serves as an aide

to President Poroshenko.

A pro-Russian politician who favors closer ties with Russia

has been elected as a governor of a semi-autonomous region of

Moldova, Gagauzia. Irina Vlah won more than 51 percent of

the vote to be a governor of Gagauzia for a four-year

term. Last week, afraid of the spread of Russian propaganda,

the Moldovan authorities banned a Russian television crew

sent to cover elections. Gagauzia is a populated by ethnic Turk

Christians, and enjoys economic autonomy.

Azerbaijani activists are using the upcoming “European

Olympics” to direct the attention of international actors to the

poor human rights record of their government and the official

crackdown on civil society. Recently, several human rights

groups submitted an appeal to the UN Human Rights Council

to stop government oppression of Azeris’ freedom of

expression. President Aliyev replied to the allegations with the

comment that “certain foreign circles” are trying to weaken

Azerbaijan.

On Wednesday, March 25, Belarusians celebrated Freedom Day,

which commemorates the Belarusian People’s Republic, which

existed from 1918-1919. In honor of the day, as many as 2,000

protesters marched through Minsk to express solidarity with

Ukraine and criticism of Russian policy. Some protesters also

carried EU flags and held banners declaring “Belarus is Europe.”

Opposition leaders at the protest stated their fears that Belarus

would be the next target of Russian aggression.

The son of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, also

named Viktor, died last Friday when a minivan he was in fell

through the ice of Lake Baikal. According to some accounts,

Yanukovych, 33, was driving the van of six people, the

remaining five of whom survived the crash. Russian authorities

haven’t confirmed that Yanukovych was behind the wheel. The

death Yanukovych’s son is the latest in a string of deaths of

people tied to the former Ukrainian president.

EurasiaNet Index

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister

Mohammad Javad Zarif met in Switzerland on Thursday to begin

the final round of nuclear talks before the deadline for a political

deal on March 31. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also reached

out to the leaders of France, Britain, China, and Russia on

Thursday in an effort to push the negotiations forward. French

President Francois Hollande released a statement declaring that

Iran has a right to civilian nuclear power and calling for a

"lasting, robust and verifiable Iranian nuclear program that

guarantees Iran will not get an atomic weapon."

Wall Street Journal Reuters

On Tuesday, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon took part in a

ceremony to launch the construction of a new city in a desert

region of northern Tajikistan near Khujand. During the

ceremony, Rahmon laid the city’s first brick and inspected

plans for the new city. The new city, to be named Saihoon after

a nearby river, is projected to house 250,000 people. In addition

to the construction of over 50 schools and 40 sports centers,

plans for the city include turning 7,000 hectares of desert into

orchards.

RFE/RL EurasiaNet

A delegation of Belarusian officials, including Deputy Prime

Minister of Belarus Anatoly Kalinin and Chairman of the

National Assembly (Parliament) of Belarus Mikhail

Myasnikovich, visited Turkmenistan this week and met with their

Turkmen counterparts. Belarusian officials promised to deliver

550 MAZ vehicles to Turkmenistan and reaffirmed Belarus’

commitment to building the potash mining and processing plant

Garlyk.

BelTA AzerNews

This week a Mongolian court upheld an $18 million fine for

SouthGobi resources due to tax evasion. The Toronto-listed

company has rejected the verdict and announced its intention to

appeal the decision to a higher court. The decision follows the

conviction and presidential pardoning of three SouthGobi

executives who were also convicted of tax evasion. Earlier

hearings had been postponed and rescheduled due to a lack of

evidence. The verdict could potentially impact other investors’

confidence in conducting business in the resource-rich country.

Reuters Bloomberg

Gulnara Karimova, the estranged daughter of Uzbek President

Islam Karimov, is facing new allegations of corruption. The

Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

reported this week that Karimova had received over $1 billion

in payments and shares from Scandinavian and Russian

telecom companies including TeliaSonera, Telenor, MTS, and

Alfa Telecom. OCCRP accused Karimova of diverting money

away from the Uzbek economy to banks, an offshore hedge

fund, and real estate around the world.

Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security

(GKNB) has designated the Islamic State (IS) a terrorist

organization and banned its activity in the republic. The news

comes as Kyrgyz intelligence agents arrested three Tajik

citizens before boarding a plane in Osh on March 22, as they

tried to travel to Syria to join IS. In addition, the Osh district

prosecutor’s office filed a request with the Osh City Court to

rule that IS is a terrorist organization, claiming that the

groups are actively recruiting in Kyrgyzstan.

Gazeta.ru RFE/RL

The Guardian The Australian

Thousands of protesters gathered in Kabul for a rally in front of

Afghanistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday. The protesters

demanded justice for Farkhunda, a 27-year-old woman who was

brutally killed by a mob on March 19 after she was falsely

accused of burning a Quran. The protesters also called for the

trials related to Farkhunda’s case to be opened to the public.

Nearly 30 people have been arrested in connection with her

death, and police officers accused of failing to intervene to

protect Farkhunda have been suspended.

RFE/RL CNN

A report released by the Asian Development Bank this week

has forecasted an economic slowdown for Kazakhstan in 2015.

The report anticipates economic growth to drop to 1.9% in

2015 due to inflation and weak oil prices, as well as a 10%

contraction in the mining industry for 2015. However, the

report also predicts the growth rate to recover to 3.8% in 2016

thanks to stimulus measures and general adjustment to lower

oil prices.

bne IntelliNews Times of Central Asia

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According to General Andor Sandor, the former head of

Czech military intelligence, Prague has become a major

target for Russian and Chinese spies seeking to gain access to

NATO intelligence and leverage the Czech Republic’s status

as an EU member state. Sandor’s statement follows reports

that three alleged Russian spies were quietly asked to leave

Prague by the Czech government earlier this month. Sandor

said that the latest scandal is not an isolated incident and

“We have had this issue for some time.”

Hungary announced on Wednesday that it had reached an

agreement with EU atomic fuel watchdog Euratom to amend a

contract regarding two new nuclear reactors in the town of Paks.

According to the original terms, Russia would have exclusive

rights to fuel the plant for 20 years. However, the EU objected to

this arrangement in light of its attempts to diversify Hungarian

its nuclear fuel supply. The new terms stipulate that Russia will

have exclusive fueling rights for 10 years, after which the

contract opens up to international competition.

On Friday, police military prosecutors charged Polish and

Russian officials with causing the plane crash in 2010 that killed

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others. The prosecutors

charged Polish officials with selecting a flight crew that lacked

the proper qualifications to fly the presidential plane in difficult

weather conditions, and charged unnamed Russian air traffic

controllers from Smolensk with putting the plane at

risk. Prosecutor Ireneusz Szelag said that attempts have been

made to interrogate the Russian officials but declined to

speculate on the likelihood of extradition.

Novinite Sofia Globe

The Dutch newspaper Teelgraaf published an article that reveals

that the Netherlands is a conduit for gun smuggling from

Slovakia to the rest of the Europe. The paper bases its claims on

the correspondence between Netherlands and Slovakia through

Europol. In November, the police intercepted a large shipment

of sub-machine guns from Slovakia to the Netherlands. It

appears that the shipments were happening on by-weekly basis.

NL Times Dutch News

On Tuesday, the U.S. Army began a series of training exercises

in Romania and Bulgaria under Operation Atlantic Resolve. The

173rd Airborne jumped into the Smarden Training area to begin

training with Romanian counterparts, and USAREUR's 2nd

Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment arrived at the Mihail

Kogalniceanu Air Base to conduct simulated ground assaults. A

total of about 800 paratroopers and soldiers arrived for the

exercises, which is part of a U.S. plan for increased military

presence in the Black Sea region and Baltics.

Newsweek Prague Post ERR.ee Baltic Course

Latvia plans to introduce military exercises for students,

according to the minister of defense Ramonds Vējonis. Vējonis

said on Latvian TV that he has instructed the national armed

forces to create a structure that would allow the inclusion of

student trainings. Whether the training will be mandatory or not

is still under discussion. The initiative comes after the decision

of neighboring Lithuania to introduce compulsory military

service.

Newsweek Sputnik News

RFE/RL Wall Street Journal

Interfax

Euractiv Financial Times

Ukraine Today

The Lithuanian parliament voted overwhelmingly to ratify an

agreement to establish a joint Ukrainian-Polish-Lithuanian

military brigade. Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas

said that the main purpose of the brigade is to hold joint

military exercises and participate in international operations

for the UN. Lithuanian military personnel will be drawn from

the Grand Duchess Birute Uhlan Battalion for the

multilateral brigade. Ukraine’s parliament has already

ratified the agreement.

On Tuesday, thousands of candles were lit on Freedom

Square in Tallinn for the 66th anniversary of the 1949 March

deportations. The ceremony was held to remember those who

were victims of the Soviet action. The USSR deported

thousands of people, amounting to nearly 3% of Estonia’s

total population. The deportees were mainly women and

children who were dispatched to remote areas of Siberia.

On Thursday, Bulgaria pulled its team out of April’s

European weightlifting championships. The decision follows

the official announcement from the International

Weightlifting Federation that eight male and three female

Bulgarians tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol.

The Bulgarian government said that Bulgarian athletes will

not participate in any international events until the case is

cleared. The European championships will take place April 9-

18 in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Boston Herald

On Wednesday, European authorities announced the arrest of 77

people suspected of smuggling migrants from Kosovo into the

European Union. The arrest total includes 46 people arrested on

Tuesday in Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany,

Hungary, Slovakia, and Kosovo, as well as 31 other suspects

who have been detained in raids since October. The arrests are

aimed at stemming the flow of tens of thousands of ethnic

Albanian migrants and asylum-seekers who have been streaming

into the EU since last fall.

In Belgrade, hundreds of people gathered in front of the

former Yugoslav Army headquarters to mark the 16th

anniversary of the air strikes on Yugoslavia that ended the

1999 war in Kosovo. Among the protesters were top state

officials, including Prime Minister Aleksandr Vucic, who

said that Serbia will never forget those 78 days or the people

who died during the NATO bombing. The commemoration

began with the Serbian national anthem at 7:58pm, the time

of the bombardment.

On Thursday, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic

received Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of

National Defence Tomasz Siemoniak in Zagreb. The parties

discussed bilateral relations between the two countries and

highlighted the fact that they see each other as important

strategic partners. According to the President’s office, the

topics discussed included issues related to Afghanistan and

NATO enlargement.

Johannes Hahn, the European Union’s Enlargement

Commissioner, visited Tirana for the first time on Tuesday.

Hahn met with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to discuss

Albania’s path to join the EU. Albania was given candidate

status last June, and Hahn emphasized the necessity of

reforms, particular judiciary reform, in moving Albania closer

to joining the EU. "Success will depend on Albania's resolve to

continue with reforms in an inclusive way and make them

irreversible," Hahn said during a press conference with Rama.

Apollo, a U.S. investment firm, is in advanced talks to finalize

the purchase of Slovenia’s second-largest bank NKBM from the

state. Local media reported on Friday that Apollo is buying

NKBM for about 200 million euros, while its rival bidder,

Hungarian Bank OTP, reportedly offered 130 million euros.

NKBM is one of 15 firms that have been earmarked for sale by

the Slovenian government to boost economic growth and reduce

debt.

STA

Leading opposition politician Zoran Zaev on Thursday

accused Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of

accepting a 20 million dollar bribe from Chinese firms in

return for awarding them the construction of two highway

sections without a tender. This is the latest in a series of

accusations and harsh exchanges between Zaev and Gruevski

that has led the country into a political crisis.

Montenegro is planning to sign an agreement with Bulgaria to

boost bilateral cooperation in the field of culture during the

upcoming meeting of the delegations of the two countries.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov is expected to meet

his Montenegrin counterpart and discuss deepening the

relationship between Podgorica and Sofia.

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Business Standard The Nation

Catholic officials in Bosnia have revealed details about the

June visit of Pope Francis to the Balkan country. The Pope is

schedule to hold an open air mass and meet political leaders

during his trip on June 6. Cardinal Vinko Puljic, Bosnia’s

Roman Catholic Primate, said that the Pope’s motto for the

trip will be “Peace be with you,” while the banners at events

will include images of Bosnia’s flag with a white cross and

dove. The Pope will make peace-building the main focus of

his visit, Puljic said.

Ukraine Today Journal of Turkish Weekly

The Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies 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,

Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas.