NOV. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia will upgrade and strengthen its military base in Tajikistan to coincide with the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan, media reported quoting Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister. Russia has said it is worried about the spread north of the Taliban once US-led forces leave Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
OCT. 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia will double the number of warplanes at its base at Kant outside Bishkek, media quoted Viktor Sevastyanov, a senior Russian air force commander, as saying. Earlier this month the US started withdrawing its forces from its own base in Kyrgyzstan. It will end operations at the Manas air base by mid-2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
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. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s base in Tajikistan is essential for regional security Russian parliamentarian Sergei Naryshkin said on an official visit to Dushanbe. After a one year delay, Tajikistan’s parliament on Oct. 1 ratified a deal to extend by 30 years Russia’s lease on the base, its largest overseas operation.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
SEPT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hassan Rouhani’s presidency in Iran is still in its infancy but there are signs that relations with Azerbaijan are improving.
This is important because over the past couple of years ties between the two neighbours have worsened dramatically and have, at times, threatened to destabilise the region.
Azerbaijan has moved increasingly close to Israel, Iran’s sworn enemy, supplying it with oil and buying military kit. Last year Azerbaijan-Iran relations hit a nadir when a leaked report suggested that Israel had negotiated a deal to use Azerbaijan as a base for its warplanes if a war with Iran broke out.
Azerbaijan’s government denied the report but the diplomatic damage had already been done. A series of spy scandals on either side of the border also added to the increasingly toxic relations.
This appears to have changed with Mr Rouhani’s election victory on June 15 and inauguration as president on Aug. 3.
Reports said the number of people using a major border crossing between Iran and Azerbaijan has increased this year. Official visits between the two sides have also accelerated. On Sept. 18, the head of Iran’s border police was in Baku. There he said that Iran supported Azerbaijan’s position on Nagorno-Karabakh, the region of the South Caucasus it disputes ownership of with Armenia.
2013 is an election year for both Azerbaijan and Iran and improved cross-border relations appears to be in the interests of both governments.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
AUG. 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A conscript in Azerbaijan’s army hanged himself at a military base, media reported. Human rights groups have previously criticised conditions for conscripts in Azerbaijan’s army which has seen a number of suicides in the past few years. They have said bullying is a common feature of life in Azerbaijan’s armed forces.
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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)
AUG. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon promised that Tajikistan’s parliament would soon ratify an agreement that will allow Russia’s military to remain in the country until 2042. Delays in ratifying the deal, made in 2012, have strained relations with Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 146, published on Aug. 5 2013)
JULY 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia will upgrade its military base in Armenia and help modernise the Armenian army, local media reported. The move was probably designed to balance out increased Russian arms exports to Azerbaijan, Armenia’s main enemy. Armenia and Azerbaijan are officially at war over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JUNE 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s parliament voted to close a US airbase outside Bishkek by July 2014. Kyrgyzstan has threatened to close the airbase for years but the decision will still irritate the US ahead of a planned military withdrawal from Afghanistan through Central Asia in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
JUNE 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Irakli Alasania, Georgia’ defence minister, said the two military bases in Afghanistan where suicide bombers have killed 10 Georgian soldiers in the past month would close. He said the closures would improve security but none of the 1,500 Georgian soldiers would be withdrawn.
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(News report from Issue No. 139, published on June 17 2013)