Thousands of troops from Russia and four other ex-Soviet nations began military exercises in southern Kazakhstan on Friday, the first of its kind for the newly formed NATO-style rapid-reaction force. Moscow is hoping the force will help bolster the power and prestige of the seven-nation Collective Security Treaty Organization, which Russia is hoping will help counterbalance NATO but to date has been seen largely as a mere talking shop. More than 7,000 troops gathered at the Matybulak training grounds for the maneuvers, which are expected to last two weeks, the Kazakh Defense Ministry said in a statement on its Web site. The ministry said the drills will, among other things, help train troops in combating insurgent uprisings in CSTO member countries—something that has worried some Central Asian nations that share borders with Afghanistan or Pakistan. Russian efforts to increase its clout in Central Asia are widely viewed as an attempt to outmaneuver the U.S. and its push for influence in the strategic region. U.S. forces have used bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to support military operations in Afghanistan.
Russia will resist any attempt by Washington to prevent the recognition of Abkhazia by third countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday. "If our U.S. partners are set on preventing the recognition of Abkhazia's independence, we will resist attempts to impose opinions on sovereign states," he said, commenting on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's remark that Washington would never recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. Russia recognized the independence of the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in August 2008 after a five-day war with Georgia. The conflict began when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control. Nicaragua and Venezuela have also recognized the republics. Lavrov, who is on a visit to Abkhazia, said Russia had never attempted to force any country to recognize the former Georgian republics. "We have not launched any geopolitical projects - we were simply concerned over security and safety of the people [in both republics]," the minister said. He added that Moscow, for instance, would not trade the recognition of Abkhazia by Turkey for Russia's recognition of the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus." "We are not willing to make any exchanges in the logic of the Cold War," Lavrov said, adding that both conflicts had different backgrounds and natures. The Russian foreign minister praised the EU-commissioned report on the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008, which has put the blame on Tbilisi for starting the conflict. "It is an objective report, which formally recognizes a well-known fact - the war was started by the Saakashvili regime," Lavrov said.
A Turkish student threw his shoe at International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn yesterday while he was in the middle of a speech to students in Istanbul ahead of the IMF’s annual meeting. Hundreds of protesters from left-wing parties and unions marched peacefully through central Istanbul, chanting anti-IMF slogans. Security had been stepped up across the city ahead of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings, which begin on Saturday with a meeting of Group of Seven (G7) nations’ finance ministers. Security guards dragged Selcuk Ozbek, 24 – who is also a journalist at the small left-wing newspaper Birgun – away after he threw a white sports shoe and rushed toward the stage. The shoe landed at the feet of Strauss-Kahn. “Get out of the university, thief IMF,” Ozbek shouted during Strauss-Kahn’s speech at Istanbul’s Bilgi University as part of the IMF-World Bank events. Up to 30 students started chanting slogans against the IMF and Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, such as “collaborators AKP” outside the university as police took Ozbek away in a car. “Throwing a shoe exceeds the limits,” Turkish Interior Minister Besir Atalay told reporters.
A string of recent incidents have underscored the shortcomings of the EU's rule of law mission in Kosovo (Eulex) with respect to the contentious issue of Kosovo's status. While ethnic Serbs and Albanians in the Brdjani neighbourhood of northern Mitrovica again clashed over the controversial and provocative issue of housing reconstruction, members of the ethnic Albanian movement, Vetevendosje (Self-Determination), opposed to the recently announced protocol on co-operation between Eulex and Serbia's interior ministry, damaged around 28 vehicles belonging to the mission. The nature of these events provides a telling insight into the challenges facing Eulex in successfully fulfilling its mandate. The protocol on police co-operation between Eulex and Serbia's interior ministry is primarily concerned with the exchange of information relevant to the fight against corruption, organised crime, arms smuggling and other illicit trade. It has, however, been vehemently opposed by the Kosovo government, which maintains that Eulex does not have the mandate to sign international agreements on its behalf and complains that it was neither informed nor consulted about the protocol. The Joint Action of February 2008, however, which provides the basis for Eulex's mandate, clearly states that the mission can enter into agreements independently of the Kosovo authorities. Having publicly demanded Serbia's constructive engagement with Eulex, the need for a similarly firm stance towards the Kosovo government is becoming increasingly apparent. With Eulex planning further agreements with Serbia in the areas of customs and the judiciary, attempts to undermine and impair Eulex by Kosovo Albanians will have important ramifications for the EU's crisis management capabilities elsewhere in the region, particularly as the EU contemplates how best to strengthen the role of its special representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. If Eulex is to reinforce its own often ambiguous role, while stabilising Kosovo and strengthening the rule of law, then it must re-emphasize that its legitimacy derives from UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and reassert, both rhetorically and in practice, its neutrality towards Kosovo's status. [To read more about UN Security Council Resolution 1244, click here.]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) yesterday upheld the right of Greek nationals to inherit property in Istanbul, which is denied under Turkish law. The ruling on a case brought in 2002 by Ioannis and Evangelos Fokas – two brothers from Katerini in Macedonia, Greece – relates to three apartment blocks left to them by their sister, Polyxeni Pistika, who lived in Istanbul. The court found that current Turkish law, which denies any person not holding Turkish nationality the right to inherit property in Turkey, violated the plaintiffs’ right to “peaceful enjoyment of their property”. The ECHR also found Turkey guilty of racial discrimination on the grounds of the plaintiffs’ ethnic origin and religion. The plaintiffs were represented by three lawyers: one Greek, one Turkish, and Greek Cypriot, human rights lawyer Achilleas Demetriades. Since Pistika had herself inherited the three apartment blocks from her parents, Demetriades said yesterday that “this ruling essentially opens the way for anyone with inheritance rights in Istanbul, at least, to register a claim on property previously owned by their parents or grandparents.” The two plaintiffs are also claiming €19 million in damages from the Turkish state for being deprived of use of their property. If the Turkish government refuses to pay this amount, there is a second claim for €5.5 million, equivalent to the estimated value of the property. A crucial component of the plaintiffs’ case was the argument made in the successful application to the ECHR made by Greek Cypriot Titina Loizidou, which clearly established the inalienable right of refugee property. Demetriades said that the Loizidou ruling established the notion of continued violation. “Despite the fact that a state in its own opinion takes possession of a property, this seizure is not legal; and since it is not legal, and the court confirms this, then the plaintiff is entitled to be compensated for income he has been deprived of.” If Turkey does not appeal against the ECHR ruling within three months, then the court will award damages.
Turkey refuses to open its ports and airports to Cypriot ships and planes until negotiations on the status of the divided island are concluded, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday. Under a customs agreement with the European Union, which Turkey is struggling to join, Ankara must extend a trade protocol to the 10 nations that joined the bloc in 2004, including Cyprus, by the end of this year. But Turkey does not recognise its Greek-Cypriot government and refuses to open its ports to Cyprus unless the EU makes good on a promise to break the economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriot [occupied] north. "Recognition of the Greek Cypriots without solving the Cyprus question is not possible for us," Davutoglu told media and experts at a conference in Brussels. The United Nations is eager to step up the pace for a Cyprus solution, but little progress was made during 40 meetings in the first phase of talks. The trade issue has held up Turkey's EU membership talks, which began four years ago. To join, all aspirants must complete 35 policy negotiating areas, or chapters. Ankara has formally opened 11 chapters. But eight others have been frozen since 2006 over the customs dispute. France is blocking another five chapters. Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 and it has been divided ever since.
Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Mediterranean island of Cyprus in early June next year. The pope had been invited by the president of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias; by Catholic leaders in Cyprus; and by Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus. While no official program has been finalized, the Franciscan Custody Web site said the pope is expected to be in Cyprus June 4-6. It said he would stay in the capital, Nicosia, and make a brief visit to Paphos where St. Paul preached. Pope Benedict will be the first pope in modern times to visit the Mediterranean island, the Web site said. The pope had been invited by the president of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias; by Catholic leaders in Cyprus; and by Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus.