Week 107, Dated 13 to 19 February 2010
TURKEY
Political Front: In Turkey strong opposition by various political groups has stalled the implementation of the Kurdish democratic initiative beyond certain cultural aspects. Meanwhile a group of 500 PKK members demonstrated in Istanbul last week to mark the 11th year of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's capture.
Main Opposition Republican People’s Party plans to submit a censure motion against PM and Interior Minister alleging that the government pressured judges not to arrest a group of terrorist.
Geo-strategic Front: Turkish high officials paid diplomatic visits to Dhaka and India in a bid to enhance cooperation. Meanwhile Turkey and Bahrain signed an agreement for inter-parliamentary cooperation.
Turkey has reiterated its intention to normalize ties with its Armenian neighbor. Meanwhile Kazakhstan has voiced its support for Turkey’s efforts towards stability in the region.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos has assured his nation’s support towards speeding up Turkey's EU accession. Spain is the current EU presidency holder.
Economic Front: Turkey has signed agreements with Bahrain and Tanzania to enhance economic cooperation.
Social Front: Mehmet Erdoğan, the Turkish PM’s nephew has been convicted on charges of drug trafficking and sentenced to prison. Meanwhile Twenty-six people, including a high-level police officer, have been arrested in operations targeting human trafficking in Istanbul, Ankara and the southern province of Malatya.
A number of nongovernmental organizations in Diyarbakir protested a decision by the 8th Chamber of the Council of State to retain a university admission system that uses a lower coefficient to calculate the university admission examination score. In the meantime storms and rainy weather have paralyzed life for nearly two weeks in Turkey's northwestern provinces.
CENTRAL ASIA
Political Front: Trial of 31 alleged members of an Islamic insurgent group accused of terrorist activities in the North Caucasus and Azerbaijan commenced last week.
The younger brother of Kyrgyz President has created an elite military unit on the basis of President's recommendations for amending the constitution. Meanwhile Tajikistan's ruling National Democratic Party has nominated the president's eldest son, to be a candidate for Dushanbe's city council.
Geo-strategic Front: Three Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with Armenian armed forces near the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Meanwhile Armenian Foreign Minister has warned Azerbaijan against di
sregarding the principle of self-determination in negotiations to resolve the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Meanwhile Kazakhstan's President has presented a package of measures to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to his Azeri counterpart.
Azerbaijani President received former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week where both exchanged views on issues of mutual concern. Meanwhile Kazakh PM held a meeting with Turkish FM focusing on Kazakh-Turkish trade and economic relations in the framework of the Treaty on Strategic Partnership, signed by the presidents of the two countries. Also the Kazak PM held telephonic talk with his Russian counterpart and discussed a bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
Uzbek officials have introduced new regulations that limit the number of visits Kyrgyz citizens can make to Uzbekistan. Also Uzbekistan’s President recently paid a visit to Korea.
Economic Front: The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has expressed its intention to build a new pipeline to export gas to Iran. Meanwhile as part of its new medium-term cooperation strategy for 2011-2014 financial years, the World Bank has made a plan to provide USD 1 billion in loans to Azerbaijan. All the while Azerbaijani Tax Ministry has announced revenue of 4.114 billion manats in 2009.
Global economic crisis also affected Kazakhstan's economy as its gross domestic product grew 1.2 percent last year, i.e. down from 3.2 percent in 2008. Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has appreciated efforts of the Government of Tajikistan to build hydropower plants on its territory that will allow tackling many problems resulting from electricity shortages. Also the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has completed its first power rehabilitation project in the country.
Turkmen geologists have found new evidence of huge gas reserves in the country.
Social Front: The attorney for arrested Azerbaijani blogger Adnan Hajizade has requested that new judges be named to preside over his client's appeal in a Baku court. Meanwhile the jailed Kazakh human rights defender Yevgeny Zhovtis has begun publishing a blog on the Internet.
Kyrgyzstan has reinforced environment protection measures within oil and gas facilities exploitation. Meanwhile Oxfam has released its report on climate changes and poverty in Tajikistan claiming that frequent droughts and heightened extreme weather conditions are hitting poor communities, eroding their resilience. Meanwhile the country’s glaciers are melting raising fears of future water shortages and potential disputes in the wider region.
EAST ASIA
Political Front: While talking to Chinese community at the commemoration of their New Year, Indonesian President promised to protect their civil rights. Meanwhile effecting a smooth transition of power through a stable political process is a major challenge facing the Philippine president.
Thousands of pro-Thaksin protesters forced Thailand's biggest bank to close its headquarters under accusations of having links with the Thai royal family.
Economic Front: Indonesian economy fueled by exports and investment grew at the rate of 5.4% in the last quarter of 2009 with overall growth at 4.5%. Likewise, positive growth was also observed in the fourth quarter in Singapore.
Cyclones and droughts have badly affected Philippines’ crops further deteriorating its economy. Meanwhile projections regarding the Thai economy remain divided amidst an uncertain political environment.
Malaysia is making efforts to join the group of high income economies in the region. Meanwhile the biggest garment industry in Cambodia discarded 3,000 jobs amidst the economic crisis, while 106 factories were closed leaving 45,500 people out of work. The Government of Vietnam is also taking measures to avoid an economic slump this year.
Social Front: Islamic police in the Indonesian province of Aceh patrol daily to arrest people involved in anti-religious activities. Meanwhile three women in Malaysia were canned for engaging in illicit sex. The issue of caning the women has ignited a fierce debate in various circles of the country.
Last month a group of Philippine politicians called on the country’s government to ban domestic workers from going to the Middle East and Gulf states. According to a recent survey 44% of the population approved the proposal. 23% however claimed that government should avoid involvement in such affairs. According to a recent study an alarming number of government servants in Brunei, around 55 per cent, are struggling with obesity and another 60 per cent suffer from high blood sugar and high blood pressure.
INDIA
Political Front-National Front: BJP’s President has declared the ruling regime to be the main cause of rising inflation in the country. BJP has also opposed an open-ended dialogue with Pakistan and has strongly criticized Home Minister’s recent statement regarding Kashmiri youth. Meanwhile President of VHP has asked political parties to avoid interference in religious matters such as the reconstruction of Ram Temple at the place of Babri Masjid.
As far as
Maoist insurgency is concerned at least 20 Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) personnel were killed in the biggest attack yet launched in West Bengal. Meanwhile in Bihar Maoists assassinated 12 civilians.
Regional Front: Muslim leadership of Andhra Pradesh has announced to protest against a court decision on reservation of 10% quota for Muslims denouncing the government’s inept handling of the issue. Meanwhile nearly a week after setting up a five-member committee on the Telangana issue, the Union government has announced the panel’s seven-point terms of reference seeking to examine the situation in Andhra Pradesh with reference to the demand for a Telangana State against demands for a united Andhra Pradesh. The committee is to submit its report by December 31, 2010.
Fourteen MLAs from the Telangana region handed over their resignation letters to Speaker on a call by the all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC) to protest against the terms of reference of the Srikrishna committee.
Geo-strategic Front: Indo-Pak talks are currently a hot issue, where India wants to stick to the issue of dealing with terrorism while Pakistan wants resumption of dialogue process that was halted after 26/11. Congress government has expressed determination to resume talks even after the Pune blasts while BJP has strongly criticized this initiative.
Meanwhile India and Nepal have decided to sign an agreement to provide railway connectivity and expand existing lines between the two countries. Apart from this Russia and India have decided to firm up two major pacts on nuclear energy and a fifth generation fighter plane; they have also resolved to step up trade ties and develop closer cooperation in the energy sector.
Economic Front: India has started putting efforts to conclude comprehensive trade opening pact or the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union by the end of this year. Meanwhile inflation has marked another 120 basis points (1.2 percentage points) and surged to 8.6 per cent in January setting a record high in the last 13 months.
Social Front: At least nine people died and over 50 were injured in a blast in a German Bakery in Pune. Some analysts and politicians doubted the involvement of extremist Hindu outfits in the tragedy. Meanwhile violence erupted in some parts of the Darjeeling Hills where life came to a halt due to a 24-hour strike by the students’ wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). The strike was called to protest against the refusal of the authorities to allow its supporters to hold a pro-Gorkhaland rally in Siliguri and other parts of the Dooars earlier this month.
CHINA
Political Front: Communist Party of China (CPC) has called for better law enforcement of law to ensure national security, social harmony and the country's sound economic growth.
Geo-strategic Front: China remained active in enhancing collaboration with various countries of the globe including; Tanzania, Syria and Singapore.
The US President went forward with a controversial meeting with the Dalai Lama despite warnings from China. In the case of cyber attacks against Google it is suspected that Chinese students and military were involved in the incident. The Military however has denied these allegations.
Economic Front: Despite the fact that China's natural gas output rose by 7.7 percent last year, it fell short of ever rising domestic demand. The country produced 83 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year, while consumed 87.45 billion cubic meters, up 11.5 percent year on year. Taiwan has expressed positive hopes regarding economic cooperation with China. China, Japan and South Korea have also launched a joint study on trilateral Free trade deal. Meanwhile stock exchange of Hong Kong remained fluctuating.
Social Front: China's operational high-speed railways have exceeded 3,300 kilometers, leading the world in both length and technologies. Police and other authorities in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region detained 1,795 people suspected of dealing drugs in 2009. Meanwhile Chinese Premier visited Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region over the weekend, spending the Spring Festival, or Chinese lunar New Year, with local villagers.
Political Front: In Turkey strong opposition by various political groups has stalled the implementation of the Kurdish democratic initiative beyond certain cultural aspects. Meanwhile a group of 500 PKK members demonstrated in Istanbul last week to mark the 11th year of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's capture.
Main Opposition Republican People’s Party plans to submit a censure motion against PM and Interior Minister alleging that the government pressured judges not to arrest a group of terrorist.
Geo-strategic Front: Turkish high officials paid diplomatic visits to Dhaka and India in a bid to enhance cooperation. Meanwhile Turkey and Bahrain signed an agreement for inter-parliamentary cooperation.
Turkey has reiterated its intention to normalize ties with its Armenian neighbor. Meanwhile Kazakhstan has voiced its support for Turkey’s efforts towards stability in the region.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos has assured his nation’s support towards speeding up Turkey's EU accession. Spain is the current EU presidency holder.
Economic Front: Turkey has signed agreements with Bahrain and Tanzania to enhance economic cooperation.
Social Front: Mehmet Erdoğan, the Turkish PM’s nephew has been convicted on charges of drug trafficking and sentenced to prison. Meanwhile Twenty-six people, including a high-level police officer, have been arrested in operations targeting human trafficking in Istanbul, Ankara and the southern province of Malatya.
A number of nongovernmental organizations in Diyarbakir protested a decision by the 8th Chamber of the Council of State to retain a university admission system that uses a lower coefficient to calculate the university admission examination score. In the meantime storms and rainy weather have paralyzed life for nearly two weeks in Turkey's northwestern provinces.
CENTRAL ASIA
Political Front: Trial of 31 alleged members of an Islamic insurgent group accused of terrorist activities in the North Caucasus and Azerbaijan commenced last week.
The younger brother of Kyrgyz President has created an elite military unit on the basis of President's recommendations for amending the constitution. Meanwhile Tajikistan's ruling National Democratic Party has nominated the president's eldest son, to be a candidate for Dushanbe's city council.
Geo-strategic Front: Three Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with Armenian armed forces near the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Meanwhile Armenian Foreign Minister has warned Azerbaijan against di
sregarding the principle of self-determination in negotiations to resolve the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Meanwhile Kazakhstan's President has presented a package of measures to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to his Azeri counterpart.Azerbaijani President received former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week where both exchanged views on issues of mutual concern. Meanwhile Kazakh PM held a meeting with Turkish FM focusing on Kazakh-Turkish trade and economic relations in the framework of the Treaty on Strategic Partnership, signed by the presidents of the two countries. Also the Kazak PM held telephonic talk with his Russian counterpart and discussed a bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
Uzbek officials have introduced new regulations that limit the number of visits Kyrgyz citizens can make to Uzbekistan. Also Uzbekistan’s President recently paid a visit to Korea.
Economic Front: The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has expressed its intention to build a new pipeline to export gas to Iran. Meanwhile as part of its new medium-term cooperation strategy for 2011-2014 financial years, the World Bank has made a plan to provide USD 1 billion in loans to Azerbaijan. All the while Azerbaijani Tax Ministry has announced revenue of 4.114 billion manats in 2009.
Global economic crisis also affected Kazakhstan's economy as its gross domestic product grew 1.2 percent last year, i.e. down from 3.2 percent in 2008. Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has appreciated efforts of the Government of Tajikistan to build hydropower plants on its territory that will allow tackling many problems resulting from electricity shortages. Also the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has completed its first power rehabilitation project in the country.
Turkmen geologists have found new evidence of huge gas reserves in the country.
Social Front: The attorney for arrested Azerbaijani blogger Adnan Hajizade has requested that new judges be named to preside over his client's appeal in a Baku court. Meanwhile the jailed Kazakh human rights defender Yevgeny Zhovtis has begun publishing a blog on the Internet.
Kyrgyzstan has reinforced environment protection measures within oil and gas facilities exploitation. Meanwhile Oxfam has released its report on climate changes and poverty in Tajikistan claiming that frequent droughts and heightened extreme weather conditions are hitting poor communities, eroding their resilience. Meanwhile the country’s glaciers are melting raising fears of future water shortages and potential disputes in the wider region.
EAST ASIA
Political Front: While talking to Chinese community at the commemoration of their New Year, Indonesian President promised to protect their civil rights. Meanwhile effecting a smooth transition of power through a stable political process is a major challenge facing the Philippine president.
Thousands of pro-Thaksin protesters forced Thailand's biggest bank to close its headquarters under accusations of having links with the Thai royal family.
Economic Front: Indonesian economy fueled by exports and investment grew at the rate of 5.4% in the last quarter of 2009 with overall growth at 4.5%. Likewise, positive growth was also observed in the fourth quarter in Singapore.
Cyclones and droughts have badly affected Philippines’ crops further deteriorating its economy. Meanwhile projections regarding the Thai economy remain divided amidst an uncertain political environment.
Malaysia is making efforts to join the group of high income economies in the region. Meanwhile the biggest garment industry in Cambodia discarded 3,000 jobs amidst the economic crisis, while 106 factories were closed leaving 45,500 people out of work. The Government of Vietnam is also taking measures to avoid an economic slump this year.
Social Front: Islamic police in the Indonesian province of Aceh patrol daily to arrest people involved in anti-religious activities. Meanwhile three women in Malaysia were canned for engaging in illicit sex. The issue of caning the women has ignited a fierce debate in various circles of the country.
Last month a group of Philippine politicians called on the country’s government to ban domestic workers from going to the Middle East and Gulf states. According to a recent survey 44% of the population approved the proposal. 23% however claimed that government should avoid involvement in such affairs. According to a recent study an alarming number of government servants in Brunei, around 55 per cent, are struggling with obesity and another 60 per cent suffer from high blood sugar and high blood pressure.
INDIA
Political Front-National Front: BJP’s President has declared the ruling regime to be the main cause of rising inflation in the country. BJP has also opposed an open-ended dialogue with Pakistan and has strongly criticized Home Minister’s recent statement regarding Kashmiri youth. Meanwhile President of VHP has asked political parties to avoid interference in religious matters such as the reconstruction of Ram Temple at the place of Babri Masjid.
As far as
Maoist insurgency is concerned at least 20 Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) personnel were killed in the biggest attack yet launched in West Bengal. Meanwhile in Bihar Maoists assassinated 12 civilians.Regional Front: Muslim leadership of Andhra Pradesh has announced to protest against a court decision on reservation of 10% quota for Muslims denouncing the government’s inept handling of the issue. Meanwhile nearly a week after setting up a five-member committee on the Telangana issue, the Union government has announced the panel’s seven-point terms of reference seeking to examine the situation in Andhra Pradesh with reference to the demand for a Telangana State against demands for a united Andhra Pradesh. The committee is to submit its report by December 31, 2010.
Fourteen MLAs from the Telangana region handed over their resignation letters to Speaker on a call by the all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC) to protest against the terms of reference of the Srikrishna committee.
Geo-strategic Front: Indo-Pak talks are currently a hot issue, where India wants to stick to the issue of dealing with terrorism while Pakistan wants resumption of dialogue process that was halted after 26/11. Congress government has expressed determination to resume talks even after the Pune blasts while BJP has strongly criticized this initiative.
Meanwhile India and Nepal have decided to sign an agreement to provide railway connectivity and expand existing lines between the two countries. Apart from this Russia and India have decided to firm up two major pacts on nuclear energy and a fifth generation fighter plane; they have also resolved to step up trade ties and develop closer cooperation in the energy sector.
Economic Front: India has started putting efforts to conclude comprehensive trade opening pact or the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union by the end of this year. Meanwhile inflation has marked another 120 basis points (1.2 percentage points) and surged to 8.6 per cent in January setting a record high in the last 13 months.
Social Front: At least nine people died and over 50 were injured in a blast in a German Bakery in Pune. Some analysts and politicians doubted the involvement of extremist Hindu outfits in the tragedy. Meanwhile violence erupted in some parts of the Darjeeling Hills where life came to a halt due to a 24-hour strike by the students’ wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). The strike was called to protest against the refusal of the authorities to allow its supporters to hold a pro-Gorkhaland rally in Siliguri and other parts of the Dooars earlier this month.
CHINA
Political Front: Communist Party of China (CPC) has called for better law enforcement of law to ensure national security, social harmony and the country's sound economic growth.
Geo-strategic Front: China remained active in enhancing collaboration with various countries of the globe including; Tanzania, Syria and Singapore.
The US President went forward with a controversial meeting with the Dalai Lama despite warnings from China. In the case of cyber attacks against Google it is suspected that Chinese students and military were involved in the incident. The Military however has denied these allegations.
Economic Front: Despite the fact that China's natural gas output rose by 7.7 percent last year, it fell short of ever rising domestic demand. The country produced 83 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year, while consumed 87.45 billion cubic meters, up 11.5 percent year on year. Taiwan has expressed positive hopes regarding economic cooperation with China. China, Japan and South Korea have also launched a joint study on trilateral Free trade deal. Meanwhile stock exchange of Hong Kong remained fluctuating.
Social Front: China's operational high-speed railways have exceeded 3,300 kilometers, leading the world in both length and technologies. Police and other authorities in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region detained 1,795 people suspected of dealing drugs in 2009. Meanwhile Chinese Premier visited Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region over the weekend, spending the Spring Festival, or Chinese lunar New Year, with local villagers.
________________________________________________________
Business and Politics in the Muslim World (BPM)refers to the project entitled, "Globalized Business and Politics: A View from the Muslim World.' The blog development project has been undertaken and developed jointly by the Gilani Research Foundation and BPM as a free resource and social discussion tool.
Please Preview your comments before posting.
Business and Politics in the Muslim World (BPM)refers to the project entitled, "Globalized Business and Politics: A View from the Muslim World.' The blog development project has been undertaken and developed jointly by the Gilani Research Foundation and BPM as a free resource and social discussion tool.
Please Preview your comments before posting.
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