A snapshot of Turkey’s domestic and regional politics during May 2011
Key Points:

• Uprisings in the Middle East continue to make diplomacy a difficult game to master for leaders in Turkey, with Syria’s potential implosion being a matter of great concern for those in power in Ankara.


• With Parliamentary elections scheduled for June 12, and the AKP seeing stronger challenges across the political spectrum, tensions are on the rise in the country. It is unlikely, however, that the AKP will face electoral defeat.


• The Nabucco pipeline continues to be mired in uncertainty as Brussels has not been able to persuade suppliers to sign on to the project. READ MORE

• June 6, 2011

Turkey has not confirmed reports that it plans to build a nuclear power plant in Igneada on the border with Bulgaria right on the Black Sea coast, according to EU Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger.

• June 4, 2011

Azerbaijan and Germany will cooperate in nuclear research, the director of the Institute of Radiation Problems under the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) Adil Garibov told Trend.

• June 4, 2011

Turkmenistan might supply more oil products to Tajikistan as Russia curtails gasoline exports and raises export duties that Tajikistan pays

• June 3, 2011

Ukraine may ship between 15 million and 18 million metric tons of cereals in the year starting July 1, up from around 12 million tons in the year-earlier period, Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said.

• June 3, 2011

Belarusian environmental campaigners and political activists held a meeting at Lithuania’s Seimas (parliament) in Vilnius on Wednesday to discuss the Belarusian authorities’ plans to build a nuclear power plant in the vicinity of the Baltic state's border.

• June 3, 2011

At the end of June, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev will travel to Tashkent to discuss border demarcation with his Uzbek counterpart, Kyrgyz government spokeswoman Roza Daudova said.

• June 2, 2011

The U.N. nuclear agency urged Iran on Thursday to join a 72-nation atomic safety convention, as the earthquake-prone Middle East country prepares to bring its first nuclear power station into service.

• June 2, 2011