MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Apparently recognising that more needs to be done to encourage private commerce in Uzbekistan, the government is considering introducing a new law on privatisation, media reported. Over the past couple of years, Uzbekistan has privatised a number of state-owned assets.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s an unusual but, apparently, mutually beneficial deal. For the second year, Azerbaijan has agreed to sponsor the shirts of Spanish football team Atletico Madrid.
The new deal, for an unspecified amount, will mean that Atletico Madrid’s shirts carry the slogan “Azerbaijan: Land of Fire” until June 2015.
“In just one year, we have been able to project the image of Azerbaijan for the world and promote bilateral relations between our countries,” said Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo at a press conference.
It’s a relatively unusual approach for a sovereign state to sponsor a football team but Azerbaijan seems happy with the deal. The Qatar Foundation, run by the wife of Qatar’s ruler, sponsors Barcelona.
But, as is often the case with Azerbaijan, its sponsorship of Atletico Madrid has been mired by recent controversy.
Some Atletico Madrid players were encouraged to make youtube clips commemorating an alleged massacre by Armenian forces in 1992. A plan was also reportedly hatched by Azerbaijani officials for Atletico Madrid players to wear black armbands too. This was later scrapped.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s parliament has ratified a 370m euro loan from Germany that will be used to improve various infrastructure including drinking water in some rural regions, media reported. Azerbaijan is looking for both financial and technical help in developing its Soviet-era infrastructure.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in France ruled against extraditing Georgia’s former defence minister, Davit Kezerashvili, because the corruption case against him is potentially politically motivated. The ruling is a blow for Georgia’s government which has been pursuing ministers who worked under former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, and her daughter have not been heard from since a raid on their Tashkent home on Feb. 17. Exiled opposition website uznews.net quoted an Uzbek intelligence officer saying Ms Karimova was under house arrest. The accuracy of this report cannot be independently verified.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Turkmenistan accused Taliban fighters of killing three border guards on the Turkmen-Afghan border, media reported. The Taliban later denied the accusation. Central Asian states are concerned about the spread north of the Taliban once NATO forces leave Afghanistan in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s parliament has pass a bill to tighten military ties with Armenia, local media reported. The bill is likely to mean an increase of military kit for Armenia from Russia. It is important for Armenia as it underlines Russia as one of its main backers.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh interrogated the city’s powerful former mayor Melis Myrzakmatov over his involvement with holding illegal rallies. Mr Myrzakmatov is considered a potential figurehead for opposition forces. Kyrgyz PM Jantoro Satybaldiev sacked him as Osh mayor in December.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Anti-government rallies in Kazakhstan are rare, making a planned demonstration in central Almaty an ideal opportunity to gauge the public’s appetite for protest.
If you blinked, you would have missed it. It felt like that, anyway.
Around two dozen protesters, out-numbered by plainclothed police, gathered under a statue of Abai, Kazakhstan’s national poet, in a square in central Almaty.
Passers-by hurried on with barely a glance at the gathering. The normally ever-present uniformed police hadn’t bothered to monitor the protest.
There was, frankly, a lack of momentum.
One of the protesters shuffled his feet and said that people were afraid to turning up because of the fear of being arrested.
Certainly the authorities in Kazakhstan don’t tolerate dissent, they arrested several bloggers last month after they protested, but, even so, this was a poor turnout.
Yerlan Kaliyev, an opposition activist acting as a figurehead, tried to inject substance into the rally by referencing Abai, the poet.
He said: “His call to be wary of rich people is more than one hundred years old but could be directly applied to the current situation in our country.”
The protesters agreed with Mr Kaliyev.
They mixed political slogans with poetry recitals for about an hour. Then they all went home.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan is not known as a global football powerhouse but Sepp Blatter, the president of the game’s global governing body FIFA, is due to visit for two days on March 24/25, media reported. During his visit, Mr Blatter will watch a local football match.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)