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Uzbek interior minister plans first visit in 19 yrs

JUNE 16 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan interior minister Major- General Abdusalom Azizov will visit Tajikistan for the first time in 19 years next month, media reported, another sign that Uzbek-Tajik relations are improving under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Major-Gen. Azizov is due to attend a meeting of regional interior ministers in Dushanbe on June 27-29.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

400 people protest in Uzbekistan’s largest demonstration for 12 years

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TASHKENT, JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — An estimated 400 people protested in Tashkent against police inaction over the murder of a 17-year-old student, the largest demonstration in Uzbekistan against the authorities for 12 years.

Under former leader Islam Karimov the authorities in Uzbekistan cracked down hard on public gatherings, essentially banning them. A Bulletin correspondent in Tashkent said this was the largest demonstration in Uzbekistan since the army shot dead several hundred people in the town of Andijan in 2005.

Activists said that the protest in Dostyk Square had been planned after 19,000 people signed an online petition calling on the authorities to investigate the death of Jasurbek Ibraghimov. He was beaten at his university in Tashkent at the start of May and died in hospital on June 1. The police had declined to investigate but after the public outcry changed their mind.

“We came to the park at 10am (0400GMT). There were 15 to 20 of us. The police tried to disperse us but after more and more people started coming they stopped interrupting the protest,” one activist said.

Another explained that the protest represented not just the need to investigate the death of Ibraghimov properly but also the pent up frustration felt by young Uzbeks. Many of the protesters were young, in their 20s, and savvy users of Facebook and other forms of social media.

“The protest was not spontaneous, it had deep roots. The unrest against corruption and injustice had been roaring like an enraged lion in people’s hearts until Jasur’s death,” said Anvar, a civil activist who agreed to be named. “The death of Jasur broke the silence. People took the park both to mourn the teen’s death and to say enough to social injustice and corrupt systems.”

Since taking over as leader in September 2017, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has talked of opening the country to investors and generating more personal freedoms, but commentators were taken by surprise by the spontaneous demonstration and the authorities’, relatively, relaxed attitude towards it. The protest also highlights just how powerful social media is becoming. The security forces monitor the internet but the sheer number of apps and internet variants and their increased user numbers makes it difficult to cover.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Turkmen Pres. Berdymukhamedov cuts subsidies to save money

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JUNE 6 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered his government to scrap all subsidies on household utilities, immediately drawing accusations that he was losing control of the economy.

In a surprise statement, the presidential press service said that Mr Berdymukhamedov had ordered parliament to cut the Soviet-era subsidies because they were “ineffective”.

Quoting official news sources, news agencies said that Mr Berdymukhamedov had ordered his government to cancel all subsidies except “for the most needy”.

Turkmenistan’s economy has been strained for the past three years, ever since energy prices started to collapse, and commentators said that a lack of funds and not any root and branch change of economic strategy was behind the move.

Turkmenistan holds the world’s fourth largest gas reserves. The vast majority of its foreign earnings come from selling this gas, mainly to China. The drop in gas prices has hit this income stream hard and although Mr Berdymukhamedov has never admitted as such, it has dented the economy. In 2015, the Turkmen currency was devalued by a third.

At the start of this year, Turkmenistan accused Iran of not settling a debt that it said it was still and in the last few months Mr Berdymukhamedov has embarked on a series cabinet reshuffles and sackings that analysts said hinted at panic and frustration over the economic turmoil.

Under Mr Berdymukhamedov, state subsidies in Turkmenistan have gradually been eroded. The subsidies have their roots in the Soviet Union which made a point of giving electricity, heating and water virtually away for free.

Turkmenistan is trying to extend its energy customer base to India and Pakistan via the so-called TAPI pipeline, and also to negotiate a way to sell gas to Europe via the South Caucasus energy corridor.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

RusHydro looks to pull out from Armenia

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JUNE 6 2017 (The Bulletin) — Russia’s RusHydro said that it wanted to sell off the second largest hydropower plant in Armenia, Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade, which produces roughly 10% of Armenia’s power. RusHydro said that it had been in talks with a potential buyer but that these talks had fallen through. In 2015, Russia’s Inter RAO sold its debt-ridden electricity distribution network to a Armenian oligarch after a series of angry street demonstrations against planned electricity price rises.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Inter RAO sues Georgia

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JUNE 10 2017 (The Bulletin) — Russian energy company Inter RAO has begun proceedings at the Stockholm International Arbitration court against Georgia because of losses incurred at its two hydropower plants Khamri-1 and Khamri-2, Georgia’s deputy energy minister Mariam Valishvili told Retuers. It blamed the losses on the devaluation of the Georgian lari and on the government for blocking its move to increase electricity prices.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Azerbaijan allies with Costa Rica

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JUNE 6 2017 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan appeared to be grooming Costa Rica as an ally by calling for bilateral ties between the two countries, which lie thousands of miles apart and have no natural connections. Costa Rican media reported that the two countries “chancellors” had met and exchanged pleasantries. Reports said that the Azerbaijan Petroleum Fund was interested in boosting investments in Costa Rica and that Costa Rica was going to open an embassy in Baku.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Ukraine visit to Georgia boost military ties

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JUNE 8 2017 (The Bulletin) — Ukraine’s defence minister Stepan Poltorak visited Tbilisi for talks with his Georgian counterpart Levan Izoria. Georgia and Ukraine have been developing bilateral military ties. Ukraine is fighting a Russia-backed insurgency in the east; Georgia considers Russia to be its main threat.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Kazakhstan cuts key interest rate

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JUNE 6 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan cut its key interest rate to 10.5% from 11% because it said that its currency had recovered. The Kazakh Central Bank has steadily cut its interest rate from a high of 17% at the start of 2016. It has said that the Kazakh economy is recovering. This year, the tenge has increased in value by 5% against the US dollar.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

25th Georgian dies in Syria fighting for IS

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JUNE 6 2017 (The Bulletin) — Media in Georgia reported that another man from the Pankisi Gorge had died fighting for the extremist IS group in Syria. He was said to be the 25th Georgian national to die fighting for IS. The Pankisi Gorge is a slither of land that borders the Caucasus Mountains. It is predominantly Muslim and was used by Chechen rebel fighters battling Russian troops at the turn of the century as a safe refuge area.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Armenia plans property privatisation

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YEREVAN, JUNE 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — Armenia’s government plans to sell 47 state-owned properties, including post offices, Yerevan’s bus station and a football stadium, to raise an estimated $75m.

Armenia, like the rest of the region, has been trying to pull out of an economic downturn linked to a drop in oil prices and a recession in Russia. The data this year has showed an improvement but the government still needs to raise more cash, giving foreign investors the chance to buy into property in Armenia.

The head of the state property management department, Arman Sahakyan, said the government had tried and failed to privatise half the properties in 2006/7.

“The companies that will be put up for privatisation, are not managed effectively, they face problems, that’s why we included them in the list in order to ensure their effective management,” he was quoted by media as saying.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)