OCT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US military started withdrawing from the Manas airbase outside Bishkek. It has leased the base from the Kyrgyz government since 2001 and turned it into one of the biggest transit centres for forces flying to Afghanistan. The US has to complete its withdrawal from Manas by July 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — For a few weeks at least stamp collectors around the world were captivated by Kyrgyzstan. Online reports had emerged, with apparent photographic evidence, that Kyrgyzstan had issued stamps featuring pictures drawn by the 20th century American artist Eric Stanton.
Eric Stanton specialised in sexual fetish drawings, particularly of dominant women. The online photos of the Kyrgyz stamps showed scantily-clad women spanking men. On one of the six stamps, a man wore a dog collar and leash while he knelt on the floor and ate from a bowl.
For Central Asian watchers, news that Kyrgyzstan had issued these stamps came as a surprise. Kyrgyzstan is a predominantly Muslim country with traditional, fairly macho, conservative mores.
For collectors discussing the issue online, the reason Kyrgyzstan had apparently released the stamps was all too obvious; to make money from selling them.
Now, though, they have been revealed as fake. The head of the Kyrgyz department that issues stamps, Abdykadyr Abdallayev, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that this year Kyrgyzstan has released several sets of stamps. They featured mountains, animals, fruits and nuts.
Kyrgyzstan has not, Mr Abdallayev confirmed, issued stamps featuring women wearing stockings and brandishing canes.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Around 200 people protested in east Kyrgyzstan against a potential deal between the Kyrgyz government and Toronto-listed Centerra Gold over ownership of the Kumtor Gold mine. Media reported that the protesters kidnapped the regional governor briefly. Anti-government groups are likely to have organised the protests.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The IMF has predicted strong economic growth for Kyrgyzstan because of rising output at the Kumtor gold mine, Reuters reported. Kumtor is Kyrgyzstan’s largest industrial asset. Problems with the pit at Kumtor slowed production last year. This year, the IMF said, Kyrgyzstan’s GDP would grow by nearly 8%.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek soldiers are expected to withdraw from disputed territory on the border with Kyrgyzstan, media reported. Local Kyrgyz accused the Uzbek soldiers of occupying the land days earlier. Tension has been rising on the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan border for the past year.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
SEPT. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Centerra Gold, which is listed in Toronto, plans to look for another Kyrgyz mine to invest in once it has finalised an ownership deal for the Kumtor mine, its CEO Ian Atkinson told Bloomberg News. The Kyrgyz government and Centerra have been arguing over ownership of Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan’s largest industrial project.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed a deal to sell spare power to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The deal, signed in Islamabad, means building power cables from Central Asia. Hydropower stations in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan generate spare electricity in the summer while both Pakistan and Afghanistan suffer shortages.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The leaders of Russia, China and the Central Asian states except Turkmenistan met in Bishkek for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. The SCO, described by some as a counterbalance to NATO, agreed to support Russia on blocking a US attack on Syria after a suspected chemical weapons attack.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Osh, south Kyrgyzstan, arrested three Islamic militants — two Kyrgyz and one Kazakh — who had returned from fighting in Syria and were planning a series of attacks, the Kyrgyz National Security Committee said. Reports from Syria say that men from Central Asia were fighting for radical Islamist groups.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — After days of talks, Toronto-listed Centerra Gold said it had agreed a non-binding deal with the Kyrgyz government over ownership of the Kumtor gold mine. Under the deal, Kyrgyzstan would swap its 32.7% stake in Centerra Gold for a 50% stake directly in a company that would own Kumtor. It would also pay Centerra Gold $100m.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)