JAN. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia accused Azerbaijan of killing two of its soldiers along the border to the dispute region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Separatists backed by Armenia control Nagorno-Karabakh but peace, or a relative peace, is only held by a 1994 UN-brokered ceasefire. There are weekly shootings along the border.
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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
JAN. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The new Mrs Clooney, wife of Hollywood superstar George, is adding a dash of glamour to a case going through the European Court of Human Rights involving Armenia. Amal Clooney has agreed to represent Armenia as it challenges an appeal against a Turkish politician who denied an alleged genocide against Armenia in 1915.
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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015
JAN. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — On his first major foreign trip of 2015, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev travelled to Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Reports from Berlin said the two leaders discussed the Ukraine war and developing business links.
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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
JAN. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The New York Times newspaper inadvertently highlighted the still relatively obscure nature of Central Asia by printing an article in which it referred to Kyrbekistan instead of Kyrgyzstan. Independent only since 1991, statehood and identity are important markers for Central Asian countries.
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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
JAN. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — At the first session of the lower house of parliament after an election, Uzbek president Islam Karimov said Uzbekistan will never join a group that tries to recreate the USSR. Mr Karimov’s comments appear to be a reference to the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union which includes Kazakhstan, Armenia and Belarus.
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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
DEC. 27 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — With gas supplies limited this winter, Kyrgyzstan has been reverting back to coal to keep its electricity and heating on, media reported. Media reported that state-owned coalminers produced 1.5m tonnes of coal in the first 11 months of last year, up by 22% from a year earlier.
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(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
DEC. 29 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Senior officials, and perhaps even heads of government, from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France have tentatively agreed to meet in Astana for talks later this month on how to resolve the ongoing civil war in Ukraine. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is keen to project Astana as a global centre for conflict disputes.
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(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
DEC. 17 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Villagers in north Afghanistan have threatened to attack Turkmen soldiers who have set up guard posts 30km inside Afghan territory as a buffer against attacks from the Taliban, media reported. Turkmen officials have said that their forces have repelled several Taliban attacks.
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(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
>>Former Guantanamo Bay inmates accepted as asylum seekers>>
DEC. 31 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has taken charge of five former prisoners from the US’ controversial Guantanamo Bay prison.
The three Yemeni and two Tunisian nationals were flown to Kazakhstan and officially recorded as asylum seekers. It’s unclear, though, if they were transferred to a Kazakh prison or if they are being held elsewhere.
US President Barack Obama has said he is eager to close Guantanamo Bay prison and moving inmates to other countries is considered a politically acceptable way of achieving this.
But it’s also politically sensitive for the countries that agree to take the prisoners. Kazakh officials were eager to explain that the five prisoners, who were alleged to have links to al Qaeda but were never charged with a crime, had chosen to come to Kazakhstan.
In New York Laura Pitter, who analyses the US’ security policies for Human Rights Watch, said: “Accepting them as free men is the correct practice for Kazakhstan. The US has been detaining them unjustly and if Kazakhstan can give them a chance at a new life this should be commended.”
Still, news of the move triggered speculation over what deal had been done between Kazakhstan and the US.
In December, Yerlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister, travelled to Washington for an official visit. Besides security issues, diplomatic talks were focused on economic bottlenecks such as the negotiations for Kazakhstan’s accession to the WTO.
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(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
JAN. 1 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — After a year long build up, Armenia joined the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU). The EaEU also includes Kazakhstan and Belarus. Kyrgyzstan will join in May. Critics of the project have said that it is a Kremlin power grab.
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(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)