In May the presidents of Central Asia’s main energy producers, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, joined Russian president Vladimir Putin in agreeing to build a pipeline along the Caspian Sea coast to ship Turkmen natural gas to Western markets via Kazakhstan and Russia. Turkmenistan possesses the fourth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world. Under this new agreement, Russia, the world’s No. 1 exporter of natural gas, could increase its influence by maintaining a monopoly on the transit of Turkmen and Kazakh exports to Europe. Former Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov, who died last year, had previously kept Russia at bay, instead choosing to sign deals with China to build export pipelines. The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal is a blow to the U.S. and European efforts to secure alternatives to Middle East oil and natural gas independent of Russian influence. Although the pipeline’s cost wasn’t actually announced, according to The Wall Street Journal, the ITAR-Tass news agency cited a 2003 estimate of $1 billion. The presidents have ordered their governments to sign an accord outlining the deal’s specifics by September 1, 2007. President Putin has stated that construction would begin in mid-2008.

Along with the proposed introduction of the pipeline, Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov continues to make small efforts toward reform and changes in foreign policy. He reversed the decision of his predecessor to eliminate pensions for more than 100,000 elderly citizens and on March 22, 2007, signed into law a new Code of Social Guarantees restoring pensions and introducing new state benefits. With regard to foreign policy, after eight years of standoff, the presidents of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan held a phone conversation on March 13, 2007, and agreed to resume bilateral cooperation. Analysts believe the resumed communication could be a result of the new Turkmen leadership’s desire to explore alternative routes for exporting hydrocarbons to the West. However, the dispute over a major deposit of natural gases, which both countries claim, could hinder the relationship. The Turkmenistan president and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia signed a general cooperation agreement on April 16, 2007. The Turkmen leader described his country’s ambitions to develop a business partnership and establish strong economic ties between the two countries as “strategic.”

On March 29, 2007, the prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, Azim Isabekov, resigned and President Kurmanbek Bakiyev appointed a moderate opposition leader, Almaz Atambayev, to replace him. (This is the first time an opposition politician has been made a prime minister in Central Asia.) While the Kyrgyz government states that the appointment portrays the president’s willingness to compromise politically, critics question whether it is really a sign of a healthy democracy or instead reveals a weak government. On April 19, 2007, some 1,500 opponents of President Bakiyev rioted, threatening to storm government headquarters. They were driven back by riot police and the opposition received a strong condemnation from President Bakiyev, who stated: “They have shown that they cannot control the people they brought to the rally.…[t]his should be stopped.” The riot echoed the clashes that led to President Bakiyev’s rise to power. Popular protests had ousted former president Askar Akayev in 2005 and swept in the current president. The political turmoil is being keenly observed by the U.S. and Russia, both of which have air bases in Kyrgyzstan. The U.S. base serves as a crucial operation as it supplies the North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops in Afghanistan and is also the last remaining U.S. military base in Central Asia.

On May 18, 2007, Kazakhstan’s parliament voted to allow President Nursultan Nazarbayev an unlimited number of terms in office. Under the current constitution, the president may only serve two terms in a row. Nazarbayev gained power in 1989 and led the country to independence in 1991. His current term ends in 2012. In what is widely seen as a move to gain legitimacy to hold the 2009 chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a major foreign policy goal for the president, Nazarbayev has dissolved parliament and called for early elections on August 18, 2007. While the original parliament term was to end in 2009, in holding the elections early, constitutional changes will be implemented immediately, including granting the president unlimited terms and giving parliament greater power. Under the new reforms, the number of members of parliament will increase from 77 to 107, effectively allowing for a greater possibility for members of the opposition to be elected. The BBC reports that despite the participation of seven different parties, Nazarbayev’s ruling party, Nur-Otan, will undoubtedly win a huge majority. However, some observers say that because of pressure from the international community, Nazarbayev might allow a greater opposition presence in parliament. The OSCE has set up an election observation mission in Kazakhstan to monitor the electoral process.In July, Tajikistan’s parliament approved legislation that makes it a criminal offense to publish false or offensive information on the internet. The legislation has garnered criticism from human rights groups for the country’s lack of freedom of expression. Tajik media is almost entirely state-run. The president of Tajikistan, Emomali Rakhmon, announced on March 27, 2007, that he had dropped the Slavic “ov” from the end of his surname, and that henceforth, the same must be done for all babies born to Tajik parents. The Slavic ending was added to Tajik’s surnames when Tajikistan came under Soviet rule in the early 20th century.