JUNE 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Khalida Ismayilova, an Azerbaijani academic, and Shamkhal Huseynov, her driver, returned to Azerbaijan after weeks in Iranian detention. The Iranian authorities detained Ms Ismayilova and Mr Huseynov in Tabriz on April 30. Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have been increasingly strained.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)
JUNE 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has made joining NATO, the US-led military alliance, one of the cornerstones of his foreign policy.
Mr Saakashvili has vigorously supported NATO’s war in Afghanistan. There was no internal threat to Georgia from Islamic radicals trained by the Taliban, the initial reason for Western armies to march into Afghanistan. Mr Saakashvili’s motive was purely geo-political.
Georgia has 1,600 soldiers in Afghanistan, the highest number of all non-NATO members, stationed mainly in Helmand province, one of the more restless areas. Considering the commitment, Georgian casualties had been relatively light. That, though, has changed.
On June 6, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Georgian military base, killing seven soldiers. This was the largest single loss of life to NATO forces this year. Last month three Georgian soldiers died in a similar attack. Since 2010, 27 Georgian soldiers have died in Afghanistan, according to the website icasualties.org.
The official reaction was one of defiance and Georgia’s defence minister Irakli Alasania broke off a trip to Brussels to visit soldiers in Afghanistan. On the streets of Tbilisi support for the war is still strong too but this may be beginning to change.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)
JUNE 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh security forces have interrogated Alma Shalabayeva, the wife of fugitive ex-banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, media reported. Italian police deported Ms Shalabayeva last week on allegations of holding an illegal passport. The Kazakh authorities accuse Ablyazov of plotting to overthrow the Kazakh government.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)
JUNE 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan started construction on a new rail link that should boost trade between the three neighbours, media reported. The 400km route will run from Panj on the Tajik-Afghan border, across northern Afghanistan to Atamyrat in central Turkmenistan and cost $1.5b to build.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)
MAY 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — On a trip to Ashgabat, Turkish President Abdullah Gul signed a framework deal with his Turkmen counterpart Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to transport gas from Turkmenistan to Europe. Turkmenistan is looking for additional transport routes to pump gas to clients in Europe, China and the Middle East.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has scrapped a plan to build a grain silo in Iran, media reported quoting an official at the Kazakh agriculture ministry. Kazakhstan is one of the world’s biggest grain producers and Iran is one of its biggest markets. The Kazakh agriculture ministry blamed political instability in Iran for pulling the plan.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh authorities have stepped up their hunt for Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former chairman of BTA Bank.
First, in April, police in Almaty arrested Ablyazov’s former business partner Erlan Tatishev. Now, on May 29, Italian police swooped on Ablyazov’s wife, Alma Shalabayeva, and their 6-year-old daughter who were living in Rome.
The actual whereabouts of Ablyazov, wanted by British police for lying in court, is unknown, although media reports said Ms Shalabayeva was carrying a Central African Republic passport with a fake name when she was detained.
Lawyers for Ms Shalabayeva said the raid was illegal and that she held a Kazakh passport with a Latvian residency permit allowing her to stay in the EU. The Kazakh prosecutor-general has accused Ms Shalabayeva of being involved in various crimes.
Regardless, it appears defeating Ablyazov in court was not enough for Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev.
He has long considered Ablyazov to be dangerous. After fleeing Kazakhstan in 2009, Ablyazov set himself up in London. He funded political parties and media projects with the thinly disguised aim of unseating Mr Nazarbayev.
The Kazakh authorities accuse Ablyazov of stealing billions of dollars from BTA Bank, trying to overthrow the government and plotting to bomb public buildings.
This year a British court ruled against Ablyazov and ordered him to repay the Kazakh state billions of dollars.
British judges also decided that Ablyazov had lied in court. He has been on the run since 2012.
The net is tightening and the Kazakh authorities may soon have their man. This might, though, be the easy bit.
What to do with Albyazov then is possibly more complicated.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Over the past couple of years, NATO has slowly been building relations with Uzbekistan. The Western military alliance needs Uzbekistan’s help to pull kit and equipment out of neighbouring Afghanistan.
Deals have been made ahead of the military pull-out, scheduled for 2013 and 2014, and promises of friendships pledged.
Now NATO plans to open an office in Tashkent, media reported. NATO said the move was planned as part of a rotational policy and the office was simply moving from Astana to Tashkent. Maybe, but the timing is also good for NATO. They have to coordinate pulling out hundreds of military vehicles across Uzbekistan to Russia over the next couple of years. They also have to work out what kit to leave behind in Uzbekistan.
Dealing with Uzbekistan is tricky. It was only a few years ago, when the West didnít need its support for their war in Afghanistan, that Uzbekistan was considered a pariah state with a distasteful human rights record.
Eurasianet quoted a NATO spokesperson as saying that the office in Tashkent would open up in either June or July and that it would have diplomatic status.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Italy detained and deported back to Kazakhstan the wife and daughter of fugitive billionaire banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, media reported. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev considers Ablyazov, ex-chairman of BTA Bank, to be one of his biggest enemies.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Austria’s OMV has agreed to sell a 9% stake in the company planning to build the proposed Nabucco gas pipeline from the Shah Deniz II gas field in Azerbaijan to Europe. France’s GDF Suez agreed to buy the stake for an undisclosed amount. The consortium developing Shah Deniz II will decide whether to use Nabucco or a rival to deliver gas to Europe.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)