Tag Archives: politics

Kyrgyz special forces capture Atambayev after siege

BISHKEK/Aug. 8 (The Bulletin) — Kyrgyz special forces arrested former president Almazbek Atambayev after a 24-hour siege at his fortified compound outside Bishkek in which at least one soldier died and dozens more were injured.

Shortly after his arrest, Mr Atambayev, president in 2011-17, was charged with corruption and his police mugshot was published.

Mr Atambayev and his supporters have called the charges politically motivated. Atambayev has fallen out with his handpicked successor Sooronbai Jeenbekov. Earlier, before his capture, Mr Jeenbekov called Mr Atambayev a criminal at an emergency session of Parliament.

“By putting up fierce armed resistance to the investigative measures undertaken within the framework of the law, Almazbek Atambayev heavily trampled upon the constitution and laws of Kyrgyzstan,” he said.
The two men fell out because Mr Atambayev had wanted to retain some backseat power after retirement, a move that Mr Jeenbekov rejected.

Police flooded central Bishkek on Thursday night, hours after Mr Atambayev’s arrest, expecting angry crowds, but although it was tense, it was also quiet.

Analysts though said that the arrest and the violence around the arrest, with an estimated 200 supporters of Mr Atamayev holding off the special forces soldiers, had pushed Kyrgyzstan, considered the most fragile country in Central Asia, into a period of instability.

Much depends on how Russia reacts. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Mr Atambayev to the Kremlin. Afterwards, he told the two men to make their peace as he didn’t want to see more instability.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 418 of the weekly Bulletin

Pashinyan stirs up Karabakh tension

Leave a Reply

YEREVAN/Aug. 5 (The Bulletin) — Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan called for Armenia’s unification with the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, hardline language that immediately drew condemnation from neighbour Azerbaijan.

He made the comments during a visit to the Armenian controlled section of the region which is called Artsakh. During his speech, Mr Pashynian said: “Artsakh is Armenia and that’s it.”

He also led the crowd in chants of “miatsum” which means unification, used as a slogan during the 1990s when the region broke away from Azerbaijan.

A shaky UN ceasefire has held since then, although there are sporadic outbreaks of violence.

Azerbaijan, which has accused Mr Pashinyan of blocking peace negotiations since he took power in a revolution in 2018, issued an immediate rebuke, calling his statements a provocation.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 418 of the weekly Bulletin

New video dispels Berdy death rumours

Leave a Reply

Aug. 5 (The Bulletin) — In a move designed to dispel rumours swirling around the internet that Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov had died, Turkmenistan’s state TV published a video of him driving a rally car around a flaming crater in the desert. Mr Berdymukhamedov has cultivated something of an action-man reputation, releasing videos of himself leading gym workouts and firing range practice with the army.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 418 of the weekly Bulletin

Atambayev flies to the Kremlin to meet Putin

Leave a Reply

BISHKEK/July 24 (The Bulletin) — Russian President Vladimir Putin intervened in a standoff in Kyrgyzstan between a former and current president that had threatened to destabilise the country.

Although he had barricaded himself into his residence outside Bishkek, refusing to submit to an arrest warrant over corruption charges, former Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev was allowed to fly to Moscow by the Krygyz authorities for a meeting with Mr Putin, highlighting just how much clout Russia has in domestic Kyrgyz affairs.

He flew to Moscow from the Russian air base at Kant, near Bishkek, on a specially chartered Sukhoi Superjet 100 operated by Rusjet.

After their meeting, Mr Putin told journalists that he stepped in because he didn’t want any more internal conflict in Kyrgyzstan.

“Kyrgyzstan has already experienced several serious internal political upheavals, specifically, there were two upheavals at least. And this should stop, to my mind, for the sake of the Kyrgyz people,” he said. “The country is in need of political stability and everyone should unite around the sitting President and help him in developing the state.”

Violent revolutions in 2005 and 2010 overthrew two presidents in Kyrgyzstan. In 2005, Kyrgyzstan’s first post-Soviet leader Askar Akayev was given asylum in Russia. Five years later his successor, Kurmanbek Bakiyev was also overthrown and Russia organised for him to go into exile in Belarus.

After landing back in Kyrgyzstan, Mr Atambayev, Kyrgyz president from 2011-17, said Mr Putin didn’t want to see President Sooronbai Jeenbekov targeting his opponents.

“Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin intends to talk about this with Sooronbai Jeenbekov,” he said.
The Kyrgyz government has not commented.

Mr Atambayev has clashed his former protege and handpicked successor Jeenbekov since handing over the presidency to him. He has seen several of his allies and former senior government members arrested on corruption charges and last month Parliament withdrew his immunity from prosecution.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 417 of the weekly Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

TBC Bank chairman and founder charged with money laundering

Leave a Reply

TBILISI/July 24 (The Bulletin) — Prosecutors in Georgia charged the chairman and deputy chairman of TBC Bank, the country’s biggest bank, with money laundering.

Mamuka Khazaradze, founder of TBC Bank and chairman of the corporation that owns the bank, and deputy chairman Badri Japaridze denied the charges and said that they were politically motivated.

Prosecutors have been investigating the two men since August last year over payments made through TBC Bank in 2007 and 2008.

They said that there was now enough evidence to charge them with laundering $16.6m “followed by a gain of particular large amounts of income”.

On the London Stock Exchange, TBC’s shares fell more than 11% to a five-month low.
In response, TBC Bank said that Mr Khazaradze and Mr Japaridze had resigned from TBC Bank Group PLC, the company that owns TBC Bank.

Mr Khazaradze had also quit as chairman of the banking unit earlier this year, when news of the investigation became public.

“The Board has full confidence in the integrity of Mr Khazaradze and Mr Japaridze and looks forward to the gentlemen quickly and fully clearing their names of any claims, including alleged money laundering,” TBC said in a statement.

The outspoken Mr Khazaradze, one of Georgia’s most recognisable businessmen, is known to have clashed with Bidzina Ivanishvili, the richest man in Georgia and the power behind the Georgian Dream Coalition government. He has also threatened to go into politics against Mr Ivanishvili and his supporters have said that the money laundering charges are a form of punishment.

ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 417 of the weekly Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin on July 25 2019

Nazarbayev sets off succession speculation

Leave a Reply

ALMATY/Feb. 4 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev set off speculation over an early presidential election and possibly the start of a succession process when he asked the Constitutional Court for clarification over the implications of cutting short his 5-year presidential term.

The 78-year-old leader has been Kazakh president since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union but has not named a successor or laid out how his succession issues are to be dealt with.

In a Feb. 5 broadcast on national TV, though, Mr Nazarbayev said that he simply wanted to know how a president is released from office and that he had no intention of quitting.

“The president has a right to announce an early presidential election, but that is not the case at this point,” he said.

Mr Nazarbayev won an election in 2015 with 97.7% of the vote.
END

>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Kazakh court acquits woman of call for revolution

Leave a Reply

ALMATY/Feb. 6 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in west Kazakhstan surprised observers by acquitting a woman of using social media to promote the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan opposition party.

The acquittal of 39-year-old Aigul Akberdiyeva came five months after her husband 45-year-old Ablovas Zhumaev was sent to prison for four years on similar charges. Human rights activists had highlighted both their cases as evidence of Kazakhstan’s lack of freedom and how the security services were monitoring Facebook and other sites for anti-government comments.

It is rare in Kazakhstan for an accused person to be acquitted of their alleged crimes by a judge. The sentencing of her husband on similar charges makes it even more remarkable that Ms Akberdiyeva was allowed to walk away from the court a free woman.

The Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan is the party of opposition fugitive leader Mukhtar Ablyazov.

During her trial, Ms Akberdiyeva, a mother of four, said that she thought the social situation in Kazakhstan was dire and that she did not support the government. She argued, though, that she had not called for the overthrow of the government and that instead all she had done was express her opinion through Facebook.

And there were other signs this week that other ordinary Kazakhs agreed with Ms Akberdiyeva’s assessment of the economy in Kazakhstan and the quality of life for ordinary people. Media reported that several protests, rare in Kazakhstan, had broken out in cities across the country against the government’s attitude towards working parents after five young girls died in a house fire in Astana on Feb. 4 while both their parents were away working nightshifts.

Dozens of people attended the girls’ funerals the following day and on Feb. 6 hundreds of demonstrators rallied in Astana to demand the resignation of labour and social protection minister Madina Abylqasymova.

They also want more benefits for working mothers and were frustrated that no national day of mourning was called.
END

>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Georgia arrests 16 people for spreading sex tape of MP

Leave a Reply

FEB. 1 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Georgia arrested 16 people for allegedly leaking a sex video of senior Georgian Dream parliamentarian Eka Beselia. Ms Beselia had been head of Parliament’s legal affairs committee until she resigned last month over a row about the appointment of new members of the Supreme Court. She accused the nominees of being too close to former president Mikheil Saakashvili.
END

>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Georgians think country is moving in wrong direction

Leave a Reply

JAN. 28 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a poll conducted in December 2018 for the US’ National Democratic Institute (NDI), 38% of Georgians said that the country was moving in the wrong direction, compared to 29% of Georgians who said it was moving in the right direction. These proportions have remained fairly consistent since June 2017.
END

>This story was first published in issue 398 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 31 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Calls to rename Kazakhstan as the Kazakh Republic

Leave a Reply

JAN. 24 (The Conway Bulletin) — A pro-president Kazakh parliamentary party tabled a motion to rename Kazakhstan as the Kazakh Republic, as the country had been known in the first few months after the break up of the Soviet Union in December 1991. Proposals made by pro-president parties are often, but not always, approved by the Presidential Administration on behalf of Pres. Nursultan Nazarbayev before they are aired.
END

>This story was first published in issue 398 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 31 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019