RFE/RL Caucasus Report 07.06.2013 A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the countries of the South Caucasus and Russia's North Caucasus region.How Much Do You Know About Modern Turkey? |
Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania has arrived in Afghanistan a day after seven Georgian soldiers died in a truck bombing at their base.More  Six Georgian Soldiers Killed In AfghanistanThe Georgian military says six of its soldiers have been killed in a suicide attack in southern Afghanistan.More  Putin Fires Karachayevo-Cherkessia Interior MinisterRussian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Major-General Zhaudat Akhmetkhanov as Karachayevo-Cherkessia Republic interior minister and named Akhmetkhanov’s first deputy, career investigator Colonel Mukhammed Bzhunayev, as acting head of the ministry.More  Armenia Opens Door To Female CadetsArmenia's Defense Ministry has announced that, for the first time, women now can be students at the nation's military schools.More  Azeris Criminalize Online DefamationAzerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed into law a bill passed by parliament that would criminalize what it calls defamatory and offensive views posted on the Internet.More  NATO Discusses Afghanistan, GeorgiaNATO defense ministers have finished the second of two days of meetings in Brussels to discuss the alliance's operations in Afghanistan after its combat mission ends there in 2014.More  Aram Khachaturian, A 'Titan' Of Soviet MusicAlongside Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, Khachaturian is referred to as one of the three titans of Soviet music. Although he was born in Georgia and lived most of his life in Russia, he has been an iconic figure to generations of Armenian composers.More  More Details Emerge Of Makhachkala Mayor's Suspected CrimesThree days after the spectacular detention of Makhachkala Mayor Said Amirov, the precise reason for it remains unclear. Federal and local officials have given diverging explanations.More  Latest School For Huffaz Opens In ChechnyaAs part of his effort to institute his own version of "traditional Chechen Islam," Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has announced the opening of the latest school for huffaz, institutions where students are taught to memorize the entire Koran.More Welcoming Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov to the State Department, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry emphasized U.S. interest in finding a solution to the so-called "frozen conflict" in the breakaway Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Some 30,000 people were killed after Armenia and Azerbaijan went to war over the region in the early 1990s before signing a truce in 1994. Years of internationally mediated talks have failed to make significant progress on the disputed region. (Reuters)More Years of negotiations mediated by France, Russia, and the United States have failed to produce a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.More  As Turkish Protests Rage, Baku Watches With InterestAzerbaijani activists and authorities alike have been watching with keen interest four days of antigovernment protests in their historic ally, Turkey. But the messages they're taking away may be different.More  Interior Ministry Remains Georgian Government’s Achilles’ HeelIn the eight months since Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement ceded power in the wake of the October 1 parliamentary elections, at least a dozen senior Interior Ministry personnel have been arrested and charged with abuse of office.More Georgian Labor, Health-Care, and Social Protections Minister David Sergeyenko said in a televised statement last week that his ministry was discussing the possible legalization of marijuana with the Justice Ministry.More  Armenia Looks West, Tries To Loosen Moscow’s GripArmenia has long been Russia’s most steadfast partner in the South Caucasus. So when the country’s president last week declined to travel to Kyrgyzstan for a summit of a Moscow-led security organization, people took note.More Hundreds of Georgians took to the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, on June 3, protesting in front of the old parliament building to demand an easing of laws against the possession of marijuana. (Reuters video)More  Makhachkala Mayor In Pretrial DetentionA court in Moscow has ordered that the mayor of Makhachkala, the capital of Russia’s troubled Daghestan region be held in pretrial detention for two months.More  Makhachkala Mayor Arrested In Murder InvestigationMakhachkala mayor Said Amirov, whom a recent opinion poll showed would have beaten acting Republic of Daghestan President Ramazan Abdulatipov in a direct election for republic head, has been arrested at his home.More  A Chechen Snake In The GrassChechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov is in high dudgeon following the screening by a Russian TV channel of footage showing employees of the Grozny municipal department responsible for parks carrying mown grass wrapped in the Russian national flag.More  Saakashvili Could Face ChargesA spokeswoman for the Georgian Prosecutor-General's Office said in a televised statement on May 31 that investigations have been launched into embattled President Mikheil Saakashvili's purported use of more than $11,000 of budget money for Botox plastic surgery in New York in 2009 and 2011.More  Belgian Post Complains Over Spin On Aliyev Vanity StampBelgium's postal service says media reports in Azerbaijan about what was essentially a vanity stamp of the late President Heydar Aliyev gave the wrong impression.More  Georgia, Russia To Discuss BoundaryPrime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili says a dispute about Georgia's administrative boundary with its separatist region of South Ossetia will be discussed at Russian-Georgian talks scheduled for June 5.More Washington says Iran is increasing its support for global terrorism to a level not seen for two decades.More |