Category Archives: Uncategorised

Kazakhstan’s Court blocks anti-gay laws

MAY 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Court blocked a bill that would have banned so-called gay propaganda, only a few days after Olympic athletes said it contradicted the spirit of the Olympic Games.

In their letter to the International Olympic Committee, the athletes criticised he law, similar to one brought in by Russia in 2013, and asked the Games’ governing body to pressure Kazakhstan into reconsidering the law.

The strategy now appears to have worked.

As ever, timing is everything. Kazakhstan is competing with Beijing to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. A decision is due in July and Kazakhstan would have been very keen to avoid any negative publicity surrounding its bid in the run-up to that announcement.

According to media reports, the Constitutional Council rejected the bill because if considered it vague and legally incorrect.

That, though, may not be the end of it. The promoter of the bill, MP Aldan Smayyl, said amendments to the current draft will be made and the bill will be submitted to the Parliament again soon.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Parliament approves Tajik-China extradition pact

MAY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s parliament unanimously approved a Tajik-China extradition law. China is increasing its influence across Central Asia, a region it considers to be its backyard.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Turkmenistan approves Caspian deal

MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s parliament, the Majilis, approved a decree on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea bed with Kazakhstan an important step, to smoothing out the ongoing row between the countries which ring the Caspian Sea on how to divide up its potential hydrocarbon riches.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Kazakhstan’s consumer credit slows

MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The growth of the consumer loan market in Kazakhstan has stalled, media reported quoting a rankings website, another sign of the economic slowdown. Data from ranking.kz showed that year-on-year consumer credit grew by 7% to end-March, down from 45% the year before and 48% the year before that.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Armenia signs declaration with EU

MAY 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – At an EU summit in Riga which included former Soviet states in the South Caucasus, Armenia signed a declaration supporting improved cooperation with Brussels. The Armenian delegation, though, declined to support a communique that was negative of Russia’s interference in Ukraine.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Azerbaijan backs Caspian route

MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a boost for EU aspirations to pump gas from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan said that although the countries which ring the Caspian Sea still argue over ownership, it didn’t see any problems building a pipeline across it, media reported. The EU is keen to diversify its gas supplies away from Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Tajik paramilitary police chief defects to IS

MAY 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Wearing a black scarf wrapped around his head and cradling a sniper rifle, Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov, Tajikistan’s paramilitary police chief, appeared in a video for IS to confirm that he had defected to the extremist group.

Colonel Khalimov’s defection is a major blow to Tajikistan and a major victory for IS. It has targeted Central Asia as a prime recruiting ground and has released videos showing Central Asian recruits training and also of a Kazakh boy shooting dead Russian captives.

In the slickly-made 12 minute video, 40-year-old Colonel Khalimov explained that he had defected from Tajikistan because of the authorities’ crackdown on Islamic dress and prayers.

He called on other Tajiks to join him in Syria and described Americans as pigs.

“Listen, you dogs, President and ministers, if only you knew how many of our boys, our brothers are here, waiting, eager to return to Tajikistan to establish sharia law,” he said.

At the end of the video, Colonel Khalimov shows off his skills as a trained sniper by shooting a ripe tomato.

Colonel Khalimov has been missing since late April and rumours had been flying around Dushanbe that he had headed to Syria to join IS.

And he is high-profile recruit for IS. As head of Tajikistan’s paramilitary police force, Colonel Khalimov wielded large powers and responsibilities.

His defection poses more problems for Central Asian states which say they are already struggling to fight against the IS recruitment drive.

The International Crisis Group has estimated that there are 4,000 men from Central Asia fighting for IS in Syria.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Kyrgyzstan’s gold reserve falls

MAY 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s gold and currency reserves have dropped to $1.8b, down from 2.1b in March 2014, media reported quoting the Central Bank chief Tolkunbek Abdygulov. The drop is due to Kyrgyzstan selling gold and cash to prop up its currency. Like its neighbours, Kyrgyzstan has been struggling to deal with a steep decline in the Russian rouble and the Russian economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Turkem President statue unveiled in Ashgabat

MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – To rapturous applause from watching Turkmens, officials in Turkmenistan unveiled a golden statue of President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov riding a horse on a 21m high white marble plinth.

When Mr Berdymukhamedov came to power in 2007 he set out deriding his predecessor’s personality cult and opening the country up to the world. Over the past few years, though, his own brand of cult has mushroomed.

According to media reports hundreds of people sang and chanted as they watched the statue being unveiled in a central square in Ashgabat.

Britain’s Independent newspa- per quoted a man saying: “Arkadag works for the glory of our people from dawn to dusk.”

Arkadag means protector and is the people’s nickname for Mr Berdymukhamedov. Reports over the past few years, from winning horse races against obviously planted opponents to shouting at officials on TV, have painted Mr Berdymukhamedov as an increasingly autocratic and eccentric leader.

Europe, China and countries in the Middle East are trying to woo Turkmenistan and persuade it to sign various gas supply deals. Turkmenistan holds the world’s fourth largest gas reserves.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Nearly half of Kazakhstan’s saigas died

MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Officials in Kazakhstan said 127,000 saiga antelopes out of a herd of 300,000 had now died from an outbreak of a respiratory disease. Kazakhstan has the largest herd of the endangered saiga antelopes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)