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Azerbaijani capital turns fancy

BAKU/Azerbaijan, SEPT. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Azerbaijani capital thinks of itself as a cosmopolitan metropolis by the Caspian Sea.

There are big brand hotels, next to rows of designer shops from France, Britain and the United States. The restaurants keep up too. There’s the recently opened Mari Vanna restaurant, which like its London counterpart, looks like an old-style dacha complete with lacy tablecloths, curios and vintage plates. It serves Soviet starters, Russian breads and rustic golubtzi, stuffed cabbage leaves.

Then there is Maya, Baku’s first high-end Mexican restaurant and, if you are the son or daughter of one of Azerbaijan’s business elite and can afford the steep prices, it is one of the places to be seen at in Azerbaijan. Mexican food, with its burritos and tacos and beans and tequila is in-vogue.

Maya sits next to the new modern art exhibition hall Yarat on the edge of the Caspian Sea. This was an area rapidly developed in time for the European Games earlier this year.

Much like other restaurants in Azerbaijan, Maya presents a fusion mix for the senses.

Diners enter through something of a wall of sound. Inside, it was a combination of live Mexican music and chatter. It’s noisy inside, very noisy.

Outside, at the back, a scantily-clad Azeri singer belted out cover version of Hips Don’t Lie and She Wolf originally performed by the US-singer Shakira. Less authentic Mexican but certainly still noisy.

At the tables people ate tacos, burritos and enchiladas. It was a Tuesday evening, around 8.30pm and the crowd was young, dressed up and drunk. One bearded man in a tight black t-shirt sent a puff of shisha smoke into the night air and then let his head fall onto the table. In Azerbaijan, Mexican restaurants have to offer shisha pipes.

People knocked back salt-rimmed glasses of margaritas and danced merrily to the Mariachi band who valiantly played Mexican folk music despite the invasion of Shakira’s music every time a door to the terrace was opened.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, the tacos arrived. But if the atmosphere of the restaurant and the music had been full on, the food was limp. A disappointing finale to a promising evening.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Visa signs Tajik deal

SEPT. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — US-based Visa International and Tajikistan’s Central Bank signed an agreement to resolve a long-standing problem with payments and mutual settlements in the country. Media quoted Jamshed Nurmakhmadzoda, the Tajik Central Bank chairman, as saying: “Prior to this, Visa card holders could incur financial losses during the transactions.” The move is poised to increase the population’s confidence in cashless payment methods.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Auchan starts supplying food to Tajik capital store

DUSHANBE, SEPT. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — French retail group Auchan said it will supply its new hypermarket in Tajikistan with Russian-produced goods from November after a successful test-run.

The Russian branch of Auchan had earlier signed an agreement with Schiever Group to open a 5,000 square metres store in Dushanbe.

From a warehouse in Novosibirsk, Russia will supply around 80% of the products for sale in Tajikistan’s new store, the company said.

The project, conceived in 2014, was co-financed through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which allocated $5m for the construction of Tajikistan’s first hypermarket. Through the deal, EBRD has become a stakeholder in Schiever Tajikistan.

Tajikistan is the third post-Soviet country, after Russia and Ukraine, to host an Auchan hypermarket. It also plans one in Armenia. Reliant on workers’ remittances, Tajikistan needs more foreign investment.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

TeliaSonera companies reassure Kazakh, Uzbek, Azerbaijani customers

ALMATY, SEPT. 18-21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shortly after Swedish telecoms TeliaSonera said last week it was leaving Central Asia and the South Caucasus, its local brands were quickly reassuring worried customers they were not quitting altogether.

Azercell, Geocell, Kcell, Tcell and Ucell, TeliaSonera’s assets in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, all issued statements saying they will continue to operate.

Rumours still swirled but they focused on who would takeover TeliaSonera’s assets. Turkcell, which through Fintur is already a stakeholder in Azercell, Geocell and Kcell, is favourite. TeliaSonera also owns a stake in Fintur.

“To explore our strategic options to acquire the remaining stake in Fintur, we have initiated the process to appoint a strategic and financial advisor,” Turkcell said.

Analysts had mixed reaction. Some said TeliaSonera’s assets would attract decent bids, others that the poor state of the Kazakh economy would undermine their value.

Alexander Vasiliyev, editor of the website Profit.kz said Kcell would be a good buy for a global telecoms company.

“It continues to lay golden eggs, it is the largest player in the Kazakh market,” he told Kapital.kz.

Aivar Baikenov, Head of Research at Asyl-Invest, disagreed. He singled out the drop in the value of the Kazakh tenge, down 40% in a year, as a major problem.

“Kazakhstan is not attractive for foreign investors due to the devaluing tenge. I suppose Kcell could be interesting for local or maybe Russian investors,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Tajikistan accuses IRPT of attacks

SEPT. 20 2015, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik security forces detained 13 leaders from the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) and accused them of being linked to attacks this month that killed two dozen people.

Pressure has been mounting on the IRPT, the only real opposition party in Tajikistan, over the past few months. It’s leader, Muhiddin Kabiri, has fled into exile and the ministry of justice has said that the IRPT has to disband because it lacks members.

Now, the Tajik authorities have allegedly seized documents from IRPT office in Dushanbe that proves it was involved in attacks apparently lead by a disgruntled former deputy defence minister.

The IRPT denied links to attacks on two police stations on Sept. 4.

And on the streets of Dushanbe, this is view shared by some residents.

“I don’t think that IRPT are involved. The government is apparently getting rid of former Civil War opposition members,” a Dushanbe resident called Yahyo said.

A Dushanbe analyst agreed and said that Pre.s Rakhmon had used the attacks to get rid of opponents.

“Rakhmon will further centralise the regime with these lies being his main tool,” he said, anonymously.

The authorities also said they killed Gen. Abduhalim Nazarzoda, the ex-deputy defence minister blamed for organising the attacks (Sept. 19).

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Group of men beat Armenian opposition activist

SEPT. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A group of men dragged Smbat Hakobian, a member of an Armenian opposition group, away from a march and beat him, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. HRW said this was the 2nd time an opposition activist had been beaten in the past year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Ukraine complains to Kazakhstan over map

SEPT. 25 2015, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Ukraine’s embassy in Astana sent an official protest note to the Kazakh foreign ministry after a school text book published a map of Russia showing the annexed region of Crimea to be firmly within its borders.

The map touched off a row that not only threatens to derail relations between Ukraine and Kazakhstan but also highlights the sensitive diplomatic tightrope that former Soviet states have to walk. Russia is the main economic driver of growth in Central Asia but Kazakhstan, and others, also need to maintain good relations with the West which firmly backs the Ukrainian government against the Kremlin.

“The Ukrainian Embassy has sent a note of protest to Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry because school books issued by the Mektep publishing house say the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is a federal subject of the Russian Federation,” Ukraine’s statement said.

“The distribution of this information contradicts the position of the international community and Kazakhstan that has repeatedly stated its support to Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”

Mektep is one of the biggest publishers of school textbooks in Kazakhstan. Its textbooks are used across the country and are based on the school curriculum.

The map, published in a geography textbook aimed at 16-year-olds earlier this year, showed Crimea as part of Russia.

Crimea quit Ukraine last year after a referendum overwhelmingly supported joining Russia. The referendum, though, has not been recognised by Kiev or its Western allies. Since then a civil war in the east of Ukraine has pushed relations between the West and Russia to a post-Cold War low.

Only a few countries, such as Syria, North Korea and Venezuela recognise Crimea as part of Russia. Kazakhstan, officially, has been careful not to recognise it as part of Russia.

When contacted by a Bulletin correspondent in Kazakhstan, the Mektep publishing house declined to comment. A couple of the book’s authors had previously spoken to RFE/RL, though.

They defended the map by saying that it wasn’t meant to be a political statement but instead to reflect the results of last year’s referendum.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Armenia to produce lifts

SEPT. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian private company ADA Tech and the Chinese lift manufacturing factory Koyo signed an agreement to jointly build a lift factory in Armenia by 2018.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Turkmen President is no dictator, says official

SEPT. 21-23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Even at a European human rights meeting, it seems, calling President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov a dictator is just not acceptable.

This was the irate response, at least, of a deputy minister of foreign affairs when he slapped down a Turkmen dissident at an OSCE arranged human rights meeting in Warsaw.

Responding to a series of criticisms raised during the meeting, deputy foreign minister Vepa Khadzhiyev listed President Berdymukahmedov’s achievements in bringing “cheaper and more objective information to our citizens.” He also dismissed criticism from human rights groups of a decision to remove thousands of satellite dishes from homes in Ashgabat in April. Human rights campaigners had said this was the behaviour of a dictator.

Opposing Mr Khadzhiyev was the former member of Turkmenistan’s parliament now living in exile in Norway Pirimguly Tangrikuliyev, who openly criticised Western countries for cosying up to Mr Berdymukhamedov.

“They court the dictator because they need access to Turkmenistan’s energy resources,” he said.

This irritated Mr Khadzhiyev who asked rights groups not to use the term “dictator” for Mr Berdymukhamedov.

“A dictator does not provide free electricity, gas and water to his population. Our country increases salaries yearly by 10% and provides free education and healthcare,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Azerbaijan’s gold output rises

SEPT. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Gold production in Azerbaijan increased by 30% between Jan.- Aug. this year to 1.5 tonnes, media reported quoting government data. Gold is not a major contributor to Azerbaijan’s earnings, which is dominated by oil and gas, but it is growing in importance.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)