Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Syria has stopped purchasing electricity from neighbouring Turkey. The move was due to damage to Syrian infrastructure, he explained. "Syria halted their power purchases from Turkey one week ago," Yildiz said.

• October 11, 2012

Kazakhstan and Russia will develop new agreement on good neighborhood and strategic partnership in 2013. Such decision was taken at a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Moscow on Tuesday, Kazakh presidential press-service reported.

• October 10, 2012

Delegations from Russia and Georgia delved into a 21st round of talks in Geneva Wednesday aimed at easing tensions still evident since a brief war in 2008 over two breakaway Georgian provinces.

• October 10, 2012

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on Wednesday that the use of force against Tehran would spell the end of the negotiating process on Iran’s nuclear program.

• October 10, 2012

Kyrgyz Prime-minister Zhantoro Satibaldiyev met with head of International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Mission Christian Beddis, KyrTAG reported on Tuesday.

• October 9, 2012

Russia and Kazakhstan implement some joint projects at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos reported.

• October 9, 2012

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said he sees no obstacles standing in the way of other countries' entry into the Common Economic Space (CES) if these states agree to meet a number of conditions.

• October 9, 2012

To check the insights into Turkish domestic and international politics during September 16-30th 2012 please see our Turkey File, updated by John VanPool, EGF Turkey and Black Sea Regional Analyst

Key Points:

• Prime Minister Erdogan leads the AKP party Congress, appearing to position himself for a presidential run in 2014.
• Syria’s civil war is causing violence to flare between the PKK and Turkish security forces (TSK). The porous nature of the Syrian-Turkish border is causing further domestic tensions, as the country’s population remains ambivalent about intervention.
• The Sledgehammer coup case concludes with a conviction and the TSK in its barracks.
• Turkey’s domestic energy needs hit citizens’ wallets as the government cuts subsidies and attempts to increase imports from Iraqi Kurdistan.
• Turkey’s economic success is built on risky factors according to some investors, despite its 8 percent growth.

• October 9, 2012