Politics
Power and governance
Ashgabat sets the CIS summit and a Caspian ecological summit for Avaza on 9 October with Putin confirmed, as the Halk Maslahaty gathers 4 days before the 35th anniversary
Turkmenistan will host the CIS Council of Heads of State and a Caspian Ecological Summit in the Avaza national tourist zone on 9 October, and President Putin “again confirmed his participation” in both, the state news agency’s account of the 2 presidents’ telephone call on Tuesday says. The call came on Serdar Berdimuhamedov’s birthday; the same account has him congratulating Putin on the conduct of Russia’s State Duma election and wishing “the new composition of the Russian parliament fruitful work”. On Wednesday the Halk Maslahaty, the country’s supreme representative body, holds its regular session in Ashgabat’s Maslahat köşgi palace, with the velayat delegations in the capital since Monday, 4 days before the 35th anniversary of independence on Sunday.
Tokayev names all 10 judges of the Constitutional Court in one morning, and the People’s Council he appointed on Tuesday sits for the first time
President Tokayev appointed 10 judges of the Constitutional Court by decrees published on Wednesday morning, 5 days after he reappointed Elvira Azimova as its chairwoman, Akorda’s list shows: Saken Abdolla, Leila Zhakayeva, Kairat Zhakipbayev, Aizhan Zhatkanbayeva, Aigul Kydyrbayeva, Kanat Musin, Bakyt Nurmukhanov, Sergey Skryabin, Aslan Tukiyev and Sergey Udartsev. The Kurultai gave its consent to the 10 at its sitting the same morning, on the presentation of Roman Sklyar, the head of the presidential administration, and in the same sitting cleared 8 members of the audit chamber, whom the president then appointed, and 6 of the election commission, Kazinform reported between 10:24 and 10:33. The same day the Qazaqstan Halyq Kenesi, the 126-member People’s Council whose composition he approved on Tuesday, opens its first session in Astana. In 5 days the second republic has re-seated the heads of the court, the election commission and the audit chamber, named a full bench and convened a consultative chamber, every one of them by the president’s signature, and the bench with a consent the Kurultai gave in a morning.
Uzbekistan’s statement to the UN General Assembly goes to Saida Mirziyoyeva, the head of the presidential administration, a year after the president gave it himself
Saida Mirziyoyeva, head of the Presidential Administration, will speak for Uzbekistan in the general debate of the 81st General Assembly, which runs from Tuesday to Saturday and on Monday 28 September, Gazeta.uz reported on Tuesday, citing its sources. She met the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, on the session’s sidelines on Monday, the state daily Yangi O’zbekiston reported at 08:15 on Tuesday; a year ago the 80th session’s debate heard President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Tokayev names the 126 members of the People’s Council that replaces the Assembly of the People, and it meets on Wednesday
President Tokayev signed 2 documents on Tuesday: decree 1474, approving the composition of the Qazaqstan Halyq Kenesi, the People’s Council, with a list of 126 names, and order 331, convening its first session for 23 and 24 September in Astana, Akorda published. The constitutional law of 5 June, 298-VIII, calls the Council “the supreme constitutional consultative body representing the interests of the people of the Republic of Kazakhstan”, lets it submit draft laws to the Kurultai and initiate a national referendum, seats its members for 4 years in 3 groups of 42, from ethnocultural associations, from public associations and other non-profit organisations, and from maslikhats and public councils, and repeals the 2008 law on the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan.
Mongolia’s parliament opens with 75 members on its third attempt as the prime minister dares the Democrats to file for his dismissal
The State Great Khural’s plenary opened at 14:01 on Tuesday with 75 of its 126 members registered, 59.5%, after 2 attempts that stopped at 52 and 58, the parliament’s own account of the sitting says. Prime Minister N. Uchral presented the release of S. Amarsaikhan as justice and home affairs minister and the appointment of G. Temuulen in his place, 24 members put questions, Temuulen took the oath, and under the session rules the house voted on nothing. In the chamber Uchral told the Democratic Party to collect signatures and submit a letter for his dismissal if they disliked his work, ikon.mn reported at 18:30, and D. Amarbayasgalan, the former Speaker who stayed away on Monday and speaks for what he calls “our 30”, said he would meet the prime minister the same day.
Armenia’s parties have until Friday to register for the 25 October local elections, the last scheduled vote before the 2027 parliament is chosen
The Central Electoral Commission closed nominations on Monday for the local elections of 25 October and set 25 September as the registration deadline, Armenpress reported. Party lists will be voted in Artashat, Armavir, Gavar, Hrazdan, Goris, Meghri, Ijevan, Dilijan and other towns; Fioletovo and Shamiram vote by majority. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan used the evening’s independence-day address on Republic Square to name “the durability of the state” the country’s principal task and to ask citizens to strengthen it “with education, work and taxes paid”.
Mongolia’s parliament opens on its third attempt after 2 quorum failures as the prime minister presents G. Temuulen for justice minister
The plenary called for 14:00 on Tuesday in Ulaanbaatar opened in the State Palace, ikon.mn reported at 14:11, after failing for want of a quorum on Thursday and on Monday; Prime Minister N. Uchral was presenting the appointment of G. Temuulen as justice and home affairs minister as its first item. The house needs 64 of its 126 members to register; it reached 52 on Thursday and 58 on Monday, when 16 members of the governing Mongolian People’s Party, a former prime minister and a former Speaker among them, were on ikon.mn’s list of those who had not registered. In March the same absences idled the chamber for 2 weeks, and the prime minister resigned before it sat again.
Mongolia’s parliament fails to open again as 16 ruling-party members, a former prime minister and a former Speaker among them, stay away
Fifty-eight of 126 members had registered by 16:42 on Monday in Ulaanbaatar, 6 short of the 64 a sitting needs, and the plenary called for 14:00 had not begun, ikon.mn reported. Sixteen of the missing belong to the governing Mongolian People’s Party: the former prime minister L. Oyun-Erdene, the former Speaker D. Amarbayasgalan and S. Amarsaikhan, the dismissed justice minister whose removal the sitting was called to hear, are on the outlet’s list. In March, with the same 3 absent, the plenary stood idle for 2 weeks until the prime minister resigned.
Ashgabat now counts 44 documents from its Seoul visit and turns to a Moscow commission
Turkmenistan's Cabinet met by video link on Friday 18 September. The state site's readout raises the Korean visit's tally to 44 signed documents, from the 29 listed by name last week, and turns to preparations for the 14th session of the Turkmen-Russian intergovernmental commission.
A Tbilisi appeal court swaps a 5-year sentence in the '4 October' case for 1 year and a plea; Kobakhidze says repentance is the price of release
The Tbilisi Court of Appeal on Friday approved a procedural agreement between prosecutors and Nikoloz Gventsadze, a marketing specialist and former lecturer at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs who was convicted in May of attempting to seize a strategic facility and of group violence during the 4 October 2025 attempt to storm the presidential palace: his 5-year sentence becomes 1 year in prison and 3 suspended, and he leaves prison in early October, NewsGeorgia reported. The same afternoon Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists in Batumi that Georgia has no prisoners of conscience and that the state is ready to forgive "each of them, if there is repentance and admission on their part".
Tokayev reappoints the heads of the Constitutional Court, the election commission and the audit chamber, and tells 8 new ambassadors Kazakhstan has to hold together
President Tokayev signed decrees on Friday appointing Elvira Azimova chairwoman of the Constitutional Court, Nurlan Abdirov chairman of the Central Election Commission and Alikhan Smailov chairman of the Higher Audit Chamber, the posts all 3 already held, Akorda's releases carried by Tengrinews and Zakon.kz show. In the afternoon he received the credentials of 8 ambassadors at the Palace of Independence and told them the doors of the state would stay open to them "because we need to hold together in this very restless and turbulent world".
Pashinyan's government drafts the Trump route company's charter the day after the court's ruling; Iran's ambassador asks Yerevan for a standing channel on the route
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired a meeting on Thursday on the legal and contractual package of the TRIPP Development Company, its charter and the draft shareholder agreement, his office said, and discussions in that format will continue. The same evening Iran's ambassador, Khalil Shirgholami, said in remarks Armenia Today and NEWS.am reported that a joint institutionalised mechanism with Armenia's government would be the best way to address Tehran's concern about an American presence on the Armenia-Iran border.
Pashinyan calls the “Western Azerbaijan” narrative a threat to the peace and puts Kyarki inside 29,743 square kilometres; Shoigu declares Moscow’s crisis with Baku over
At a security conference in Yerevan on Thursday the Armenian prime minister named the “Western Azerbaijan” narrative a serious challenge and a threat to Armenia’s security, and drew the state’s border by the Soviet republic’s 29,743 square kilometres, with the Azerbaijani enclaves outside it and Artsvashen inside. In Moscow the same day Russia’s Security Council secretary said the crisis with Baku had been overcome by joint effort and that Russia “is not ready and will not finance” Armenia’s European integration.
Mongolia’s parliament fails to make a quorum for a new justice minister and its rewritten fiscal rule; the 2027 draft prints a 2% deficit
Fifty-two of 126 members registered for Thursday’s plenary, 41.3%, and the Speaker moved the sitting to Monday. The Democratic Party sent 1 of its 42 members; the governing party sent 44 of its 68. On the agenda were the replacement of the justice minister sacked on Wednesday and the amendment that takes 2 indicators out of the fiscal rule.
A Tbilisi court gives Georgia's former security chief 13 years for bribes as parliament seats the fourth head of his old service
Grigol Liluashvili, who ran the State Security Service from October 2019 to April 2025, was convicted of taking bribes in an especially large amount as a group on all four episodes of the indictment, under article 338 of the Criminal Code, which carries 11 to 15 years. He denies the charges.
Pashinyan tells parliament the Trump route runs from Azerbaijan's border to Azerbaijan's border, and Armenia decides at the gates
On the day the Constitutional Court cleared the TRIPP agreement, the prime minister spent the government hour answering Baku's description of the route and Moscow's description of the price of Europe. He conceded the geography, kept the jurisdiction and moved the base question to Putin.
Georgia's parliament confirms Tamaz Borashvili as its fourth security chief in 18 months, 83 votes to none
Parliament approved Tamaz Borashvili as head of the State Security Service on Wednesday, Interpressnews reported at 12:36: 83 deputies voted for, none against, for a term the law sets at six years. He is the fourth holder of the post since April 2025. Anri Okhanashvili took it on 4 April 2025 and left on 23 August; Mamuka Mdinaradze was confirmed on 3 September 2025 and resigned on 21 April 2026; Gela Geladze followed and announced his resignation on Monday.
Mongolia's prime minister removes his justice minister 2 days after the prisons chief accused him in public over his driver's relatives
Prime Minister Uchral relieved Justice and Interior Minister S. Amarsaikhan of his post on Wednesday, the government's press office said, because the branch responsible for the country's internal security 'has become unable to operate normally'. On Monday the head of the Court Decision Enforcement General Office, A. Namsamand, had told the media that the minister had his driver's wife and a younger sibling appointed as heads and threatened over other appointments.
Seoul's summit week reaches its declaration with five different baskets on the table
The first Korea-Central Asia summit sits in Seoul on Wednesday with a Seoul Declaration on supply chains and future industries to adopt. The week of bilateral talks that led to it shows what each capital came for: Kazakhstan a status upgrade and $19 billion of commercial agreements, Uzbekistan a $12 billion portfolio, Turkmenistan a named contractor for its canal, Tajikistan 17 documents with one railway agreement among them, Kyrgyzstan 18 documents and a trade office. Korea's instruments are loans and guarantees for Korean equipment. The declaration adds a calendar.
Tokayev tells Korean business he will turn Kazakhstan into one big construction site; Ashgabat's state site has yet to post its own president's 13 documents
At a Kazakh-Korean roundtable in Seoul on Tuesday Tokayev put the joint project portfolio at 51 projects worth over $4 billion and invited Korean companies into hospitals, schools, sports facilities and transport. His talks with President Lee were still ahead at this edition; hours after 13 documents were signed at Serdar Berdimuhamedov's summit with Lee, Turkmenistan's state site had posted at least 10 items for the day and none on the summit.