AUG. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US state of Iowa issued a proclamation recognising the killing of up to 1.5m Armenians at the end of the First World War by Ottoman Turks as “the first modern genocide”. Turkey has always denied the genocide and said that Armenians were killed in the general chaos at the end of the war.
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(News report from Issue No. 341, published on Aug. 27 2017)
AUG. 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Turan news agency, described as the last independent news outlet in Azerbaijan, said it would close on Sept 1 after its director and owner was detained on tax evasion charges.
Human rights groups said that the charges levelled at Turan’s director, Mehman Aliyev, were false and should be dropped. He was detained and officially charged with tax evasion on Aug. 24.
“Who at this point can seriously believe that this is not a politically motivated case to silence a strong, independent voice in Azerbaijan’s deserted independent media landscape,” Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Turan and Aliyev, no relation to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, are accused of owing around $21,500 in unpaid taxes from 2014/16.
Azerbaijan has one of the worst records for independent media in the world. It has clashed with the European Union and the US, who accuse the Azerbaijani government of a systematic campaign to subvert the media, over the past few years.
And the US released a strongly worded statement describing the arrest of Aliyev, considered to be one of the post-Soviet pioneers of journalism in Azerbaijan, as an “Assault on media freedom”.
“These actions by the government of Azerbaijan to curtail freedom of press and to further restrict freedom of expression are the latest in a negative trend that includes the government’s May decision to block access to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other independent media websites,” the statement said.
“We urge the government of Azerbaijan to immediately release Mehman Aliyev, and all those incarcerated for exercising their fundamental freedoms, in accordance with its international obligations and OSCE commitments.”
The Azerbaijani government has not commented.
There are dozens of Azerbaijani journalists in jail for various reasons including various financial crimes, drug smuggling and gun possession.
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(News report from Issue No. 341, published on Aug. 27 2017)
AUG. 16 2017, BISHKEK (The Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan accused Turkey of trying to pressure it into declaring a network of schools linked to the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen as a terrorist organisation, knocking back attempts by Turkish officials to persuade governments in Central Asia and the South Caucasus to extradite so-called Gulenists.
Risking important Kyrgyz-Turkish relations, Kyrgyzstan’s education ministry released a statement that praised the Sebat school network, which it said has educated 10,000 Kyrgyz since 1992.
“Equating Sebat schools to terrorist organisations and imposing certain sanctions on students and members of their families only on the grounds that they are studying in Sebat schools is unacceptable and the statements of Turkish officials are irresponsible,” it said in a statement.
Five days before the Kyrgyz statement, Turkey’ deputy education minister, Ophan Erdem, told a group of Kyrgyz academics visiting Turkey that graduates from Sebat schools would be denied Turkish visas.
“Please ask your acquaintances, friends and brothers not to go to these terrorists’ schools because it is highly likely that we will deny visas to those who study at such schools. We do not even want to see their families in Turkey,” he was quoted as saying.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan has blamed Mr Gulen and his followers for a failed coup in July 2016. Since then, his forces have arrested thousands of Gulenists.
Turkey has persuaded Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to detain and start extradition proceedings against several people linked to Gulenist businesses and education institutions but has been less successful in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Turks linked to the Gulenists’ movement set up schools in Central Asia and the South Caucasus in the 1990s, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, which are now highly regarded.
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(News report from Issue No. 340, published on Aug. 20 2017)
AUG. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkey’s economy minister, Nihat Zeybekci, said that the country was interested in joining the Eurasian Customs Union, the customs-free zone that includes the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The comments underline Turkey’s drift away from Europe towards Russia and Central Asia. The Eurasian Economic Union is led by Russia and also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Importantly, Turkey did not say it wanted to join the EEU.
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(News report from Issue No. 341, published on Aug. 27 2017)
AUG. 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — A documentary aired on state TV in Tajikistan accused Iran of meddling in a civil war in the 1990s by sending in assassins to kill various political leaders. Iran immediately denied the allegations which threaten to undermine important Tajikistan-Iran relations. Tajikistan has been holding a series of events commemorating the end of the civil war that led to the rise of Emomali Rakhmon as president.
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(News report from Issue No. 339, published on Aug. 13 2017)
AUG. 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov flew to Baku for talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that focused on efforts to feed Turkmen gas into the South Caucasus Energy Corridor that will pump supplies to Europe from the Caspian Sea. Turkmenistan is looking for more export routes for its gas. Officially the two leaders signed a document promising to further their strategic partnership.
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(News report from Issue No. 339, published on Aug. 13 2017)
AUG. 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili embarked on a high-profile tour of eastern European states opposed to Russia only a few days after being stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship. Mr Saakashvili first visited Warsaw and Vilnius, delivering staunchly anti- Russian speeches in both cities. Mr Saakashvili was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship last month after falling out with President Petro Poroshenko.
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(News report from Issue No. 339, published on Aug. 13 2017)
AUG. 1 2017 (The Bulletin) — On a visit to Tbilisi, US Vice- President Mike Pence pledged to support Georgia’s territorial integrity and also to back Georgian aspirations to join NATO Mr Pence’s visit was the most high- profile US visit to Georgia since Joe Biden, Vice-President under Barack Obama, visited in 2009. Georgia has increasingly pushed to join NATO and the EU.
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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on Aug. 5 2017)
AUG. 4 2017 (The Bulletin) — A Georgian soldier was killed in an ambush outside the Bagram Airbase near Kabul, Georgia’s ministry of defence said. Three other soldiers were injured, one badly, in the ambush. Georgia has been a strong supporter of US military action in Afghanistan. 32 Georgian soldiers have now died since 2002 in Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on Aug. 5 2017)
JULY 19 2017 (The Bulletin) — Tajikistan said that China had agreed to give it $230m to build a new parliament building in Dushanbe, more evidence that Beijing is exerting increasing influence in Central Asia by spending billions of dollars on various infrastructure and investment schemes. Earlier this year Tajikistan said that Saudi Arabia was prepared to pay $200m to fund the new parliament building.
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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)