Central Eurasia Week in Review - June 20, 2014
This week Azerbaijan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan each held various bilateral and multilateral meetings to discuss issues ranging from economic integration to security cooperation. Read these news stories and other highlights from Central Eurasia below.
· European Union and NATO officials both visited Azerbaijan this week in an attempt to strengthen economic and political ties with the country and reduce Russian influence. Meanwhile, a Russian military official also visited Azerbaijan to discuss security cooperation and the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
· Diana Ohlbaum, Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies argued the U.S.’s counterterrorism strategy is a failure, particularly its attempt to arm and train foreign security forces and cautioned the proposed Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund is only more of the same failed policy.
· Kyrgyz and U.S. officials met on June 18 to discuss the future of security cooperation between the two countries, now that the Manas airbase is officially closed. The U.S. and Uzbekistan also held bilateral discussions on security cooperation this week.
·The Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes several Central Eurasian countries, voted to downgrade ties with NATO.
· Russia will allocate $200 million in aid to Kyrgyzstan to address border issues. The U.S. government also recently provided support to the Kyrgyz Customs Service to enhance international export controls and strengthen border security capabilities.
· Two Armenian soldiers were killed in border skirmishes between Armenian and Azerbaijani military forces.
· Georgia and Russia held talks over the political futures of Georgia’s two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
·The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) supported a training course this week on torture prevention and human rights for Kyrgyzstan’s military personnel.
·Tajikistan blocks access to YouTube and Google. Tajik media organizations are pressuring the government to unblock the websites.
·Georgia announced it would continue to use Azerbaijan as its main supplier of natural gas, not Russia.