Author Archives: Editor

Human rights groups say forced labour still exists in Uzbekistan

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FEB. 7 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two human rights groups said that forced labour in Uzbekistan was still a major problem despite assurances by the government that it had been eradicated in its cotton industry. Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights and the U.S.-based Solidarity Center said in a report based on 260 interviews that teachers and other public sector workers were still expected to clean streets, plant trees and harvest wheat.
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>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Armenia buys Russian fighter jets

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FEB. 1 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia has bought four Su-30SM fighter jets from Russia for an undisclosed amount, media reported saying that it was the first time in “many years” that the Armenian military had bought new fighter jets rather than second-hand ones. The fighter jets should be delivered by 2020. Armenia is still officially at war with Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Swiss government says Russia-Georgia customs deal is ready

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FEB. 5 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Swiss government, which has been mediating between Russia and Georgia since the end of a brief war in 2008, said that “conditions to implement the customs deal signed by Georgia and Russia are in place”. The two neighbours have been working on a deal that will mean trade between them passes through three corridors — via the disputed regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the undisputed Zemo Larsi-Kazbegi border.
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>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Italian ceramic maker to move production to Armenia

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FEB. 4 (The Conway Bulletin) — Italian Stoneware signed a deal to move part of its production for its Ceramisia brand to Armenia. Under the deal, ceramic pots will carry the slogan: “Designed in Italy, made in Armenia”. Media reports said that 150 jobs will be created in Armenia by the move.
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>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Georgia arrests 16 people for spreading sex tape of MP

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FEB. 1 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Georgia arrested 16 people for allegedly leaking a sex video of senior Georgian Dream parliamentarian Eka Beselia. Ms Beselia had been head of Parliament’s legal affairs committee until she resigned last month over a row about the appointment of new members of the Supreme Court. She accused the nominees of being too close to former president Mikheil Saakashvili.
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>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Europe bans Turkmenistan Airline

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FEB. 5 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Aviation Safety Agency banned Turkmenistan Airlines from flights to EU airports until it had proved that it meets international safety standards. The ban is a blow to Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov who has spent millions of dollars buying new jets for the airline. Turkmenistan Airlines flys from Birmingham and London Heathrow via Ashgabat to India. To cover the gap, it hired aircraft from a Spanish operator.
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>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Russian soldiers fly to Syria to help Russian reconstruction effort

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YEREVAN/FEB. 8 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian soldiers flew into Syria to help Russia’s reconstruction effort, the only military from the former Soviet Union to support Russian forces in the region.

Acknowledging the sensitivity of their mission, the Armenian ministry of defence described the 83 soldiers as “specialists” deployed as deminers and medical personnel.

“Armenian specialists will carry out humanitarian activities related to humanitarian demining, mine awareness of the population, provision of medical assistance in Aleppo, exclusively outside the zone of combat operations,” it said in a statement.

Around 100,000 ethnic Armenians lived in Aleppo before the start of the civil war in 2011. Most have now fled, many to Armenia.

Politics, though, appears to be the driving force behind Armenia’s decision to support the Russian reconstruction effort. FSU states ducked out of a Russian request for help, fearing a backlash from the US or Turkey, but Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan was keen to win support from Russian President Vladimir Putin for the revolution that propelled him to power in May 2018.

The Armenian ministry of defence confirmed that Russian transport planes had ferried the soldiers into Syria but it declined to say for how long they would remain in Syria. Russia is allied to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and helped him defeat US-supported rebels.

A Russian statement thanked Armenia for its military support.

“This, of course, will be a significant contribution to the establishment of a normal life in Syria,” said Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister.

ENDS

>This story was first published in issue 399 of the weekly Conway Bulletin, an independent newspaper for Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

copyright — The Conway Bulletin 2019

Georgia’s m2 buys luxury hotel

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FEB. 6 (The Conway Bulletin) — The real estate unit of London-listed Georgia Capita, m2, said that it has bought the remaining 40% that it didn’t already own in a Tbilisi luxury hotel for $5.2m. m2 did not name the yet-to-be-built hotel but it did say that it would be the only luxury hotel in its collection.
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>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Russia’s Lavrov underlines importance of Tajik military base

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FEB. 5 (The Conway Bulletin) — On a trip to Dushanbe, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia’s base in Tajikistan was a vital bulwark against the spread north of Islamic extremism and the Taliban. He also promised to strengthen Russian forces at the base. Russia has warned for the past five years that militant Islamic forces intend to move north into Central Asia.
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>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

France declares say of mourning for “Armenian Genocide”

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FEB. 5 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a victory for Armenia’s campaign to promote awareness of the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in east Turkey towards the end of WWI, French President Emmanuel Macron declared April 24 to be a day of commemoration for the “Armenian Genocide”. To the irritation of Turkey, which contests the killings and says they were the result of the chaotic end of the Ottoman Empire, France in 2001 became one of the first governments to recognise the Armenian genocide.
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>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019