BSIS, University of Kent, Brussels, 8 December 2011 Provisional summary of seminar findings

By Dr Marat Terterov and Mr. George Vlad Niculescu, European Geopolitical Forum, Brussels

On December 8 2011, The European Geopolitical Forum staged a seminar on the topic “The Unresolved Conflicts in the South Caucasus: Implications for European and Eurasian Integration” at the University of Kent/Brussels School of International Studies. The seminar represented a concerted attempt by the organizers to provide a platform for a lively and objective roundtable debate where experts of different orientations would have the opportunity to engage in a frank exchange of positions on the highly sensitive subject matter of South Caucasus unresolved conflicts. In contrast to many events taking place in Brussels, the organizers of the December 8 seminar did not have the objective of taking sides in political disputes, or seeking to promote the merits of one side at the expense of the other. READ MORE

• February 17, 2012

Kazakhstan is keen to expand civil nuclear ties with India, its envoy here said Wednesday. Ambassador Doulat Kuanyshev said the two strategic partners should look beyond and enhance ties in the nuclear sector, and let Kazakhstan’s atomic power company Kazakhprom and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited expand cooperation.

• February 15, 2012

Establishing and developing cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan in prevention and elimination of natural and man-caused emergency situations and conclusions of the due intergovernmental agreement is the main issue of talks between the Kyrgyz Minister of Emergency Kubatbek Boronov and Azerbaijani ambassador in Bishkek Arif Agayev.

• February 15, 2012

A defiant Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Saturday to inaugurate "important nuclear projects" within days and lashed out at Israel, saying the "story" of the Holocaust underpinning its existence had been "smashed".

• February 11, 2012

Turkmenistan has unilaterally closed the border with Kazakhstan in the run-up to the presidential elections on Feb. 12. Security measures at the border were strengthened in connection with the upcoming presidential elections in Turkmenistan. Foreigners entering the country in a simplified manner will temporarily fail to do this from Feb. 8-15.

• February 9, 2012

France and Britain have expressed doubts about Russian efforts to mediate in the Syrian crisis. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he does not believe any commitments announced by the Syrian regime, including those made on February 7 to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Damascus.

• February 8, 2012



Karabakh conflict

Angela Khachatryan, the Zhamanak (Time), www.1in.am portal (Armenia)
- Mr. Terterov, what effect can the crisis in Europe have on the countries of association partners to the EU, of which Armenia is one?

MT: I think the main point to take here is the question of whether countries in the EU’s Eastern Partnership framework, or those coming into the wider-European Neighbourhood context, are a priority for EU external relations strategies. Clearly, some countries come higher up the EU pegging order than others. This also depends on which EU member states holds important positions in the EU institutions, including the rotational presidency of the Council of the European Union, and the foreign policy strategies which those countries entertain. Clearly, when France holds the presidency, one can assume that greater EU external policy resources will be directed towards the South Bank Mediterranean countries. This is also likely to be the case even more so now with the EU having to show its “interest” in the region in way of developments associated with the Arab Spring. When Poland, for example, holds the presidency, it is likely greater EU foreign policy resources will be directed towards Ukraine and Belarus. READ MORE

• February 5, 2012

Syrian forces hammered restive neighbourhoods in the city of Homs for hours with mortars and artillery before dawn Saturday, sending terrified residents fleeing into basements and killing more than 200 people in the bloodiest episode of the nearly 11-month-old uprising, activists said.

• February 4, 2012