Category Archives: Uncategorised

Kyrgyz court jails IS recruitors

SEPT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kyrgyz court sentenced two women to six and seven years in prison after they tried to recruit another woman to join the IS extremist group in Syria. The prosecutor also said that the brother of one of the women was currently fighting in Syria. Kyrgyzstan and other countries in Central Asia are increasingly worried about a rise in IS recruitment in the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)

Armenia’s PM resigns

SEPT. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hovik Abrahamyan resigned from his post as Armenian PM, saying that new leadership was needed to restore confidence in the government.

Local media outlets in Armenia have touted Karen Karapetyan, former mayor of Yerevan and Gazprom Armenia executive, as the potential new PM.

During his resignation speech, Mr Abrahamyan, PM since April 2014, said that Armenia needed new leadership to restore confidence.

“In order to improve the current economic and social situation, both the government and the people need to make joint efforts, and this requires new approaches and new principles,” he said.

Mr Abrahamyan may have been trying to deflect criticism from Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan. President since 2008, Mr Sargsyan’s popularity has fallen recently.

In July a group of gunmen calling for a new government captured a police station, triggering a two week standoff with security forces. Three policemen died during the capture of the police station and the subsequent standoff. Hundreds of protesters, supporting the gunmen clashed with police, during the standoff, highlighting the frustration with the government.

Armenia’s economy has flatlined and promised improvements in relations with neighbours have not materialised. In the summer of 2015, protesters clashed with police when the government tried to increase prices for electricity. In April, too, fighting broke out between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

Kazakh president enjoys his G20 visit to China

ASTANA, SEPT. 4/5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — China handed Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev an A-grade PR opportunity when he attended the G20 summit, as a guest, in Hangzhou.

Not only was his press team able to release a series of photos of Mr Nazarbayev meeting other global leaders such as US President Barack Obama and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, but China positioned him at the centre of the standard G20 team photo, directly behind German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese president Xi Jinping.

The positioning of leaders at the team photo is important and underscores the regard that the hosts hold each leader in.

It is usual for the G20 host to invite allies to the meeting of the world’s top global leaders as guests but unusual to position them so prominently in the team photo.

And for Mr Nazarbayev, this sort of opportunity is PR gold dust. He clearly enjoyed the occasion too with his official photographer releasing photos of him laughing with Mr Obama and other leaders.

Other invited guests were the leaders of Egypt, Singapore, Thailand, Spain, Chad (representing the African Union), Senegal (representing the New Partnership for African Development) and Laos (representing South-East Asia countries).

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

IS promotes ex-Tajik police chief

SEPT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gulmurod Khalimov, the former head of Tajikistan’s special police force and a US-trained sniper, was named top commander in Iraq by the extremist IS group. Khalimov defected to the IS last year. In August, the US State Department placed a reward of up to $3m for information on the location of Khalimov.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

Georgia’s parliamentary election likely to be fraught

TBILISI, SEPT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s Central Election Commission said that 41 political parties had registered to compete in the country’s Oct. 8 parliamentary elections, highlighting the potentially fraught and unpredictable nature of the vote.

It also said that the 41 political parties had formed seven blocs, including the current governmental Georgian Dream and the United National Movement (the party of former President Mikheil Saakashvili).

Pollsters have said the election is going to be too close to call. A poll by the US’ National Democratic Institute (NDI) in July said 58% of voters were still undecided.

“This level of undecided people just weeks before an election should be a wake up call for all the contesting parties,” said Laura Thornton NDI senior director.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

FDI grow in Georgia

SEPT. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Georgia in the first half of 2016 grew by 10% compared to the same period last year. In Q2, FDI declined by 3.8% to $445m. Azerbaijan, Britain and the Czech Republic were the three largest investors in Georgia in Q2. FDI in the transport and communications sector made up more than a third of the total inflow.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

Kyrgyzstan blames Uyghurs for Chinese embassy attack

BISHKEK, SEPT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — – Kyrgyzstan’s Security Service accused Uyghur militants of organising an attack on the Chinese embassy in Bishkek in last month.

Specifically the Security Service said the Uyghur group that financed the attack was based out of Syria, suggesting a potential link with the extremist IS group.

The attacker, the only casualty of the attack, was identified as an Uyghur with a Tajik passport who was linked to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) separatist group.

Chinese officials said they were satisfied with Kyrgyzstan’s findings and that they consider militant Uyghurs, an ethnic group based mainly in China’s western region of Xinjiang province, to be a terrorist organisation.

“I want to stress that East Turkestan terrorist forces representing ETIM have planned and carried out many terrorist incidents targeting China inside and outside the country and committed bloody crimes,” Reuters reported Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying as saying.

Uyghur groups have said that they are now worried that China will use the attack in Bishkek to crackdown on Uyghurs. They say that the Chinese repress them and their culture.

There are significant Uyghur groups living in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. A Canadian diplomatic report in 2012 said that 50,000 lived in Kyrgyzstan.

Last week, a suicide bomber drove a car through the gates of the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, the first direct attack against China’s diplomatic missions in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

The Security Service said that the support network for the attacker was local, as the car belonged to an ethnic Uzbek with a Tajik passport living in Osh, southern Kyrgyzstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

Comment: Mirziyoyev promoted to acting Uzbek president

SEPT. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s parliament named PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev as interim president, another step towards confirming him as Islam Karimov’s successor.

Two days earlier, Mr Mirziyoyev had appeared to win the endorsement of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the region’s real kingmaker, when he visited Karimov’s grave in Samarkand.

Mr Mirziyoyev fills a power vacuum left by the death of Islam Karimov, independent Uzbekistan’s only president, last week.

According to Uzbekistan’s Constitution, the next-in-line for the top job, at least on a temporary basis, was the speaker of the Senate, Nigmatilla Yuldashev.

During a parliament session to name the acting president, though, Mr Yuldashev declined to take the job, saying that wasn’t experienced enough. Instead he endorsed Mr Mirziyoyev.

PM since 2003, the 59-year-old Mirziyoyev was born in Samarkand, also Karimov’s birthplace.

He was considered Karimov’s righthand-man and a like-for-like successor. Mr Mirziyoyev had already acted presidential during the mourning ceremonies after Karimov’s death, meeting with the world leaders who visited Samarkand for the funeral.

The last to visit was Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who said that stability and good relations were the chief objectives of his country’s relations with Uzbekistan (Sept. 6).

In Samarkand, Mr Putin appeared to endorse Mr Mirziyoyev, making all-but-certain that he would take over the top job.

“Of course, we hope that everything Islam Abduganiyevich (Karimov) had started will be continued,” he was quoted by Russian media as saying. “For our part, we will do everything to support this path of mutual development and the people and leadership of Uzbekistan. You can fully count on us as your most reliable friends.”

And Mr Mirziyoyev is likely to continue many of his predecessor’s policies which will worry human rights groups who have criticised the Uzbek leadership for presiding over one of the most repressive regimes in the world.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

Telia sells Tajik assets

SEPT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Sweden’s Telia Company sold its 60% stake in Tcell to the Aga Khan Fund, which owned 40% of the Tajik telecoms operator . Telia said it will earn $39m from the sale. The sale is in line with Telia’s goal of dropping stakes in companies it owned in Central Asia and the South Caucasus after investigations into corruption practices in the region were launched.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

Russia temporarily cuts gas supplies to Armenia

SEPT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s gas distributor said that it will cut Russian gas supplies to Armenia for one week from Sept. 7 to carry out maintenance work on a section of the pipeline that crosses the country from the Caucasus. This is the second time in two months that the pipeline has been closed for maintenance and the cuts highlight the importance of Armenia’s negotiations with Iran to boost supplies from the south.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)