APRIL 23 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan, now a temporary member of the UN Security Council, asked the UN to close the nuclear power station in Armenia because it was unsafe, media quoted Agshin Mekhdiyev, Azerbaijan’s UN envoy, as saying. Armenia dismissed the demand as propaganda.
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(News report from Issue No. 085, published on April 27 2012)
APRIL 14 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Underlining its global ambitions, Baku was one of five cities to present a bid for the 2020 summer Olympic Games. This initial presentation to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) played on Baku’s ancient heritage. The IOC will pick between Baku, Tokyo, Madrid, Doha and Istanbul in Sept. 2013.
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(News report from Issue No. 084, published on April 20 2012)
APRIL 16 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan restarted pumping gas to neighbour Tajikistan after a 15 day break, the Uzbek energy monopoly, Uzbekneftegaz, said on its website. The resumption of gas supplies eases pressure on Tajikistan’s economy and foils rising Uzbek-Tajik tension. The new contract rolls through to the end of the year.
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(News report from Issue No. 084, published on April 20 2012)
MARCH 31 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan lurched towards breaking point after Dushanbe accused Tashkent of imposing an economic blockade around the country and trying to destabilise it. Uzbek PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev denied the accusations. Relations between the two neighbours have been strained for the past 2 years.
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(News report from Issue No. 082, published on April 6 2012)
MARCH 30/31 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking for an investment boost, Kyrgyzstan’s new president, Almazbek Atambayev, visited Baku for the first time in 21 years for a talks with Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev. Mr Atambayev has already been successful in pursuing Azerbaijani investment. Azerbaijan has pledged to build a $250m refinery in Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 082, published on April 6 2012)
APRIL 4 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian PM, Tigran Sargsyan, suggested that Russia could move its missile defence radar station in the South Caucasus from Gabala in Azerbaijan to Armenia. His suggestion is certain to stir strained Armenia-Azerbaijan relations as Baku is re-negotiating Russia’s rent on the important Soviet-era radar.
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(News report from Issue No. 082, published on April 6 2012)
MARCH 28 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan swiftly denied a report in the Foreign Policy magazine that it had agreed to allow Israeli fighter jets to use its airbases if Iran ever attacked Israel. Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have deteriorated over the past year as Azeri-Israeli relations have developed.
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(News report from Issue No. 081, published on March 30 2012)
MARCH 22 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The boorish fictional character Borat continues to undermine the serious, grown-up image that Kazakhstan wants to project. Officials in Kuwait accidentally played Borat’s spoof anthem featuring lyrics about the cleanliness of Kazakh prostitutes instead of the sombre tones of the real national anthem at an international rifle shooting tournament.
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(News report from Issue No. 081, published on March 30 2012)
MARCH 26 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan said it will cut gas to Tajikistan as soon as the current 3-month contract ends on April 1. Uzbekistan is Tajikistan’s main gas supplier and the warning has forced Dushanbe to ask Ashgabat to fill the deficit. Relations between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have been strained for years.
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(News report from Issue No. 081, published on March 30 2012)
FEB. 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – British ministers flew to Central Asia this week to secure military exit routes from Afghanistan.
Starting in 2014 NATO wants to withdraw kit from Afghanistan. Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, spent days in Central Asia last year hatching deals to secure the US exit.
Now the British are ramping up their effort. They plan to withdraw an estimated 11,000 containers and 3,000 vehicles from Afghanistan.
Building on low-key trips by military commanders to Central Asia last year, Philip Hammond, British minister for defence, visited Astana and Tashkent. In Kazakhstan he secured an agreement for British flights through Kazakh airspace and started talks on a land access deal.
After Astana, Mr Hammond visited the Uzbek government in Tashkent, a more controversial partner in the NATO logistics route because of its alleged human rights abuses. He left his more junior colleague Nick Harvey, minister for the Armed Forces, to journey to Bishkek, Ashgabat and Dushanbe. An indication, perhaps, of priorities.
In the 19th century British military officers played a Great Game of cat and mouse with their Russian rivals in Central Asia.
Their mission then was to impede Russia’s advance into Afghanistan and beyond to India. Britain’s new Great Game is to secure an exit for its own military from Afghanistan through Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 079, published on March 1 2012)