AUG. 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Members of Armenia’s Yezedi community have been holding protests in Yerevan calling for more support to stop the attacks by them in Iraq. Armenia is home to around 50,000 Yezedi, one of the largest groups outside Iraq. Fighters from the Islamic State have been attacking and killing Yezedi members.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)
AUG. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Along with Azerbaijan’s economy its real estate market is growing in size and maturity.
Media reports quoted figures released by the Central Bank saying that turnover in the real estate sector had grown by nearly 30% in the first six months of the year compared to the same time last year.
These figures are important, and they generally follow a trend across all the macro-economic data in Azerbaijan, but there is also more to the story.
In an interview with the abc.az news website, Yalchin Osmanov, a real estate manager in Baku, explained how the market was maturing.
“Previously, the market was more chaotic, as far as the prices are concerned,” he said. “Now the prices are distinctly graded by real estate location, quality of buildings and many other factors.”
So, the market is more organised with more transparent prices, but what about the buyers?
Mr Osmanov, again, explained.
“Previously people preferred to purchase real estate by cash, now most people rely on long-term credit or purchase in instalments with an initial contribution and subsequent monthly payments,” he said.
Again, this correlates with a general rise in consumer borrowing in Azerbaijan. The main risk to the economy from the real estate sector is unchecked or poorly planned consumer borrowing. International analysts have already warned Azerbaijan that is needs to rein this in.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)
AUG. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a boost for Georgia’s chances of joining NATO, or at least making serious progress towards joining, US vice-president Joe Biden said that he supported the Georgian ambition of joining the Western military alliance, media reported. NATO is due to meet for its annual conference in September.
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(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)
AUG. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has signed another major gas supply deal, underlining its growing status as a regional energy super-power. A Turkish-Japanese consortium will build a $1.7b gas plant in Turkmenistan that will process natural gas into high quality fuel for export. Most of Turkmenistan’s natural gas it pumped to China.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)
AUG. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Two Tajiks — a civilian and a soldier — died in a shootout with Kyrgyz forces on the Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border, the most serious violence along the disputed boundary this year. The row between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan threatens to destabilise the region.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)
AUG. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The rebel Georgian region of Abkhazia voted in Raul Khajimba as its new president. Bucking expectations, Mr Khajimba won the vote in the first round, providing Abkhazia and Russia, its patron, with a show of unity. Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia in 2008. Georgia described the vote as illegal.
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(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)
AUG. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that another independent journalist has been beaten up in Azerbaijan. HRW said that several men attacked Ilgar Nasibov in his office in the Nakhchivan province. Mr Nasibov was left unconscious. HRW linked the attacked to Mr Nasibov’s anti-government stance.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)
AUG. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s second largest lender, increased its full year profit estimate by 10% to 100m tenge ($550m) after a strong first half of the year. The data is positive for Kazakhstan’s banking sector which is looking to rebound from the Global Financial Crisis.
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(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)
AUG. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Human rights groups have criticised former British PM Tony Blair for penning a letter in 2012 to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev giving him advice on how to refer in a speech to deadly clashes between police and anti- government demonstrators. Mr Blair has been an adviser to Mr Nazarbayev since 2011.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)
AUG. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – For human rights workers and freedom of speech activists, these are increasingly worrying times in Kyrgyzstan.
Once considered a bastion of political and social pluralism, Kyrgyzstan appears to be retarding. Earlier this year politicians prepared the ground to implement harsh anti-gay laws, now reports have emerged that say the intelligence services are prosecuting two journalists for alleged defamation.
Eurasianet reported that Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (GKNB) has demanded damages of nearly $20,000 from Shorukh Saipov, a journalist who writes for the independent Fergana News website.
In an article in May, Mr Saipov said that the GKNB was extorting money from Muslims by threatening to prosecute them for extremism. The GKNB has said that the article deliberately tried to tarnish its reputation, charges that Fergana News has denied.
Highlighting the pressure on the media in Kyrgyzstan, Mr Saipov’s brother, also a journalist, was murdered in the southern city of Osh in 2007. His killers were never found.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)