Tag Archives: international relations

Kazakhstan only wants Syria talks to help peace

ASTANA , JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s only ambition for its role in hosting peace talks focused on the war in Syria is to find a peaceful solution, deputy foreign minister Roman Vassilenko told The Bulletin in an interview.

He rejected views put out by some commentators that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev was using the process to burnish Astana’s image as an alternative to Geneva for peace negotiations.

“We are not doing this for reputation, this is secondary. The primary thing with Syria for us is to help end the bloodshed,” he said.

Officials from Russia, Turkey, Iran, the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian rebels are due to converge on Astana in June for a fifth round of talks, a process considered important for working towards peace in Syria because it brings together the main parties involved in the conflict.

Political talks under the United Nations are continuing in Geneva, with the Astana process concentrating on finding practical ways to stop the fighting.

Mr Vassilenko said that Kazakhstan had been asked by Turkish President Reccep Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin to host the talks, which started in January, because it had good relations with all the parties and was considered a neutral venue.

“We are not direct participants in the talks. Our role is to be as gracious a hosts as possible,” he said.

Regardless of its ambitions, though, the Syria talks have boosted Kazakhstan’s profile, a limelight that it has previously sought. Kazakhstan is currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, it hosted talks centred on Iran’s nuclear programme in 2013 and in 2010 it hosted the first summit meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Europe’s security and democracy watchdog, for 11 years.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Comment: Georgia needs to prove it cares about human rights

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JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — The Georgian authorities need to act and act fast if they are going to salvage their reputation from the mystery surrounding the kidnapping of an Azerbaijani journalist. He was kidnapped in Tbilisi on Tuesday evening, driven to the border with Azerbaijan and handed over to the authorities.

Human rights activists are, rightly, outraged at the kidnapping and have accused the Georgian government of being complicit, although it is still unclear who the kidnappers actually were.

Levan Asatiani from Amnesty International said the Georgian government allowed Azerbaijani security forces to kidnap Afgan Mukhtarli.

“Georgia must promptly and impartially investigate what happened and hold accountable all those involved in this gruesome operation,” he said.

Asatiani is not the only one to suggest that the kidnapping of an outspoken Azerbaijani journalist from Tbilisi must have had the backing of the Georgian authorities and the European Union and the United States, two key allies of Georgia, have also lodged strongly worded statements.

The timing is also important here.

A week before Mukhtarli’s disappearance, Georgia detained Emre Cabuk, a manager at a school in Tbilisi known to have links to the Gulen movement. Turkey has been trying to shut down the Gulen movement worldwide, ever since a coup attempt last summer, and this has included schools and universities its members had set up in Central Asia and the South Caucasus in the 1990s.

Azerbaijan, as expected, immediately fell into line with the demands from Turkey, its key ally but Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan ducked them.

Georgia had also been expected to avoid being dragged into the Gulen witch-hunt. Apparently not, though.

Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey from an energy pipeline axis that will be vital to European gas needs, adding to the oil pipeline the triumvirate already host. The gas will be produced in Azerbaijan and pumped through pipelines in Georgia and Turkey into Central Europe.

The dividends are likely to be high, drawing Georgia closer towards Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Both Azerbaijan and Turkey have, to put it mildly, a different perspective on human rights and media freedom to the European ideals that Georgia professes to yearn for. It wants to be part of the EU and NATO. There is no point in just paying lip service.

Georgia has to prove that it is worthy of meeting the high criteria demanded of EU and new NATO members.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

NATO deal to scrap unused vehicles in Armenia

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MAY 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — NATO has struck a deal with Armenia to pay for 130 unusable military vehicles to be decommissioned, media reported. The cost of decommissioning the vehicles is estimated at 1.3m euros. NATO deals with Armenia are important as they show that Armenia, one of Russia’s closest allies, is prepared to work closely with the West’s main military structure.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Kazakhstan makes extradition deal

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MAY 30 2017 (The Bulletin) — An extradition treaty between Kazakhstan and India has come into effect, Indian media reported. Kazakhstan and India signed the deal in 2015 and it was ratified by their parliaments a year later. The prisoner extradition agreement is significant because it again shows the improvement in relations between Kazakhstan and India. India has pushed to improve links with Central Asia over the past few years.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Tajik President takes on Trump’s handshake

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MAY 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon gained notoriety on the internet after he was filmed strong-arming US President Donald Trump’s famously dominating handshake. In the video taken at a meeting between President Trump and heads of states of countries with a predominantly Muslim population, Mr Rakhmon clearly relishes the moment when he pulls Mr Trump’s hand towards him.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)

Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan plan to develop oil and gas fields

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MAY 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In yet another sign of improving Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan relations, the countries’ state-run energy companies pledged to jointly develop Caspian Sea oil and gas fields. It’s unclear if this deal has a practical bent to it or if it is designed simply to be an eye- catching bilateral deal.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)

Kazakhstan develops ties with UEA

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MAY 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Businessman from the UAE and Kazakhstan signed an agreement to set up a forum to develop ties and deals between the countries. The Atameken group that signed the deal on the Kazakh side is a quasi-government business group. Kazakhstan has said that it has aspirations to start exporting Halal meat to nearby Arab countries.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)

Armenia and Iran sign farm deal

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MAY 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia and Iran signed a deal to jointly develop their agricultural potential, highlighting just how improved relations between the two neighbours has become. The joint development will focus on fighting pests together and quarantines. Trade between Iran and Armenia has increased as both countries have steadily tried to attract new allies.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)

Georgia detains manager of Gulen-linked school in Tbilisi

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TBILISI, MAY 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — On Turkey’s request, police in Georgia detained Mustafa Emre Cabuk, manager of a Gulen- linked school, for allegedly having connections with terrorist networks.

Mr Cabuk’s detention came the day after a visit to Tbilisi by Turkish PM Binali Yildirim, triggering accusations that the Georgian government was more interested in boosting relations with its neighbour than human rights.

Turkey has been pressuring its neighbours to close Gulen-linked schools and universities and to extradite their key staff since a failed coup attempt last summer, which it blamed on the exiled cleric Fetullah Gulen.

In court, media reported that Mr Cabuk sobbed.

“These tears come because they badly touch my self-esteem. I’ve not had even a small knife in my life,” media quoted him as saying.

“Unfortunately, there is no justice in Turkey and therefore I ask not to extradite me.”

Mr Cabuk was the manager of the private Demirel College in Tbilisi. As reported in the Bulletin in February, the Georgian government closed down a Gulen-linked school in Batumi on Georgia’s Black Sea coast.

Like the rest of the Central Asia and South Caucasus region, Gulenists set up a network of schools and universities immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Then, the newly independent countries turned to Turkey for support. Russia was too weak and China had yet to develop a strategy towards its near-abroad.

And the Gulenist educational institutions have become some of the best in Central Asia. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have resisted Turkish moves to shut down these institutions but Azerbaijan and Georgia have acquiesced. Turkey is Azerbaijan’s most loyal ally and Georgia is increasingly currying favour with its neighbour through trade and military deals.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)

Georgia and China sign free trade deal

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TBILISI, MAY 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A new free trade deal with China will allow Georgia to position itself at the centre of global commerce, Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said .

He was commenting on a deal signed by officials with their Chinese counterparts a few days earlier, the first Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China by any former Soviet State.

Both the Georgian and the Chinese parliaments still have to ratify the agreement which is expected to enter into force by the end of the year.

“Georgia is gradually reclaiming its geostrategic function, which the country has enjoyed historically,” Mr Kvirikashvili was quoted as saying.

China has become an increasingly important trading partner for Georgia. According to Geostat, between 2009 and 2016 the value of exports to China tripled.

Nikoloz Khundzakishvili, head of the Georgian branch of the International Chamber of Commerce, told the Bulletin that the free trade deal with China will also be important for the wider region.

“This is a huge market with more than 1b customers. This will be a tremendous opportunity for Georgian products,” he said.

“Georgia will be like a link between China and our neighbourhood.”

Agricultural products, wine and mineral water are the main items exported from Georgia to China. The agreement will scrap custom duties for about 94% of Georgian products exported to China.

And it works both ways. Maya Grigolia, senior researcher, at the ISET Policy Institute in Tbilisi, said Georgia was also hoping for an increase in Chinese investment once the free trade deal comes into law, as China’s companies look to take advantage of Georgia’s liberal trade laws and deals with the European Union.

“Because of its unique geographical location, Georgia has been a hub for transport and international trade since ancient times,” she said.

China has already become a major investor in Georgia’s telecoms, tourism, financial and construction sectors.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)