Tag Archives: politics

Georgia questions Saakashvili ally

APRIL 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt summed up the reaction of the West when he said it smacked of “the politics of revenge”. He was talking about the questioning by prosecutors of Giga Bokeria, regarded as the brains behind the government of former President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Mr Bokeria is the latest in a line of officials from the Saakashvili era to be questioned about alleged crimes committed during their time in office.

The case is believed to relate to several articles in the international press last year that criticised billionaire ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili. Mr Ivanishvili, who unseated Mr Saakashvili, has accused Mr Bokeria of using state funds to spread false information.”

Although questioned as a witness, sources believe Mr Bokeria could face criminal charges.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)

Massimov returns as Kazakhstan’s PM

APRIL 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev re-shuffled his government, bringing back Karim Massimov as PM.

Nurlan Nigmatulin, formerly the Nur Otan head in parliament, was promoted to replace Mr Massimov as head of the presidential administration.

Mr Nazarbayev also gave his eldest daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva a boost by promoting her to head Nur Otan in parliament. Nur Otan is Mr Nazarbayev’s political party.

The re-emergence of Mr Massimov, who had been PM between 2007 and 2012, and the promotion of Ms Nazarbayeva set off speculation over who would eventually succeed Mr Nazarbayev.

Ms Nazarbayeva, 50, has enjoyed a resurgence back into public life after winning a seat in parliament in 2012. Until 2007 she had been prominent but fell from grace when her then husband, Rakhat Aliyev, argued with her father and then fled abroad.

Both Ms Nazarbayeva and Mr Massimov are among the favourites to succeed Mr Nazarbayev when he finally steps aside.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)

Armenian court says pension reform is illegal

APRIL 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the government’s flagship pension reforms were illegal, triggering a fresh crisis at the top of the Armenian political spectrum.

The ruling was a major blow to the government which has stubbornly stuck to its pension reform agenda despite increasing levels of public discontent. It also appeared to come as a surprise.

The following day Tigran Sargsyan resign as Armenia’s PM, although he did not link his resignation explicitly with the Court’s ruling. There have been perpetual rumours about his health and other job offers.

Later this month, the government also faces a vote of no confidence in parliament. Opinion polls have shown that its popularity has sunk to fresh lows.

And most of this unpopularity stems from the pension reforms.

Thousands have marched against changes which were introduced at the start of the year. The reforms stated that everybody born after Jan. 1 1974 would have to pay 5% of their salary into a state pension fund. The state has promised to match private contributions to the pension fund up to a maximum of $61 per month.

But now the Constitutional Court has ruled that the pension reforms introduced by the government restrict the rights of its citizens.

The problem for Armenia is, similarly to other countries in the former Soviet Union, it simply has to reform its state pension system to pay for its aging population and to compensate for the large grey economy.

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(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)

Georgian politician falls victim of kidnap attempt

MARCH 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Members of the political party of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused his enemies of trying to kidnap one of his allies. Nugzar Tsiklauri, an MP for the United National Movement party, said eight men tried to force him into a car after a night out. The political scene in Georgia is strained.

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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

FIFA chief visits Tajikistan

MARCH 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Sepp Blatter has spent much of his career as FIFA president fending off allegations of institutional corruption. Even so, Tajikistan must have come as a shock.

Mr Blatter visited Tajikistan as part of a tour of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan which culminated in a meeting of UEFA, Europe’s governing football body, in Astana (March 25-28).

He was greeted off the plane at Dushanbe airport by Rustam Emomali, son of President Emomai Rakhmon and head of the Tajik Football Federation. Mr Emomalii also owns and occasionally plays for FC Istiqlol, who thrashed FC Ravshan 5-0 in the Tajik Super Cup final with Blatter in attendance.

Not everyone is happy with FC Istiqlol’s dominance, though. In 2011 a match between the same two sides triggered a riot when FC Ravshan’s supporters concluded that FC Istiqlol had bought the referee.

Police arrested 20 people and at least 10 people were hospitalised during fighting between the Ravshan Ultras and the security forces.

Memories of a five year civil war (1992-97) limit opposition towards Mr Rakhmon’s presidency, although anger with the president does appear to be growing. One irk is that he directs much foreign investment towards his hometown of Danghara while other parts of the country struggle for electricity.

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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Kyrgyzstan picks a new PM

APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s parliament confirmed the new governing coalition would be made up of the same partners as the previous one — the Social Democratic Party, Ar-Namys and Ata-Meken.

The only apparent difference is the PM who is likely to be Djoomart Otorbayev, a deputy prime minister in the last two coalition governments.

But Mr Otorbayev is already a divisive choice. He is a former World Bank technocrat and in Kyrgyzstan’s partisan politics that sits uncomfortably with many.

What he lacks, decried Kyrgyz MP Jusupali Isayev, is a certain Kyrgyz-ness. Mr Isayev said that his World Bank training is all very well but Mr Otorbayev is out-of-touch with ordinary Kyrgyz as he doesn’t know how to keep livestock or dry apricots.

Indeed, Mr Otorbayev has already signalled where he lies on the central debate in Kyrgyzstan between nationalist policies and attracting essential foreign investment, when he said that he would not look to re-negotiate a new deal with Toronto-based Centerra Gold over the Kumtor gold mine.

In February, the Kyrgyz government and Centerra Gold agreed a 50:50 ownership deal of the gold mine.

Kumtor is key to the Kyrgyz economy. It currently accounts for 10% of GDP.

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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Turkmenistan opens all-women prison

MARCH 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Turkmen authorities opened an all-women prison, the Central Asia Online website reported quoting a prison official. The prison will hold 850 women and include a 30-bed maternity ward. Soviet-era prisons in Central Asia are regarded as some of the harshest in the world.

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(News report from Issue No. 177, published on March 26 2014)

Gulnara Karimova says she is under house arrest in Uzbekistan

MARCH 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, reportedly managed to send a letter to the BBC alleging that she has been held under house arrest for the past five weeks.

If true, the email will confirm rumours that she has been held in her Tashkent apartment since a raid last month. Police reportedly also detained three of Ms Karimova’s close friends and business associates during the raid.

In the email Ms Karimova described how she has been beaten.

“I am under severe psychological pressure, I have been beaten, you can count bruises on my arms,” she wrote, according to the BBC.

Ms Karimova had been discussed as a successor to her father but over the past year her power and influence has, waned. She has lost various businesses in Uzbekistan to rivals and is now under investigation by the authorities in Switzerland for corruption and money laundering.

Ms Karimova is normally active on twitter but since the raid on her home in Tashkent in mid-February, her account has been quiet. This has fuelled speculation that she is under arrest.

The BBC said that they couldn’t confirm 100% that the letter was genuine. They did quote a hand-writing expert, though, saying that she thought there was high probability that the letter was written by Ms Karimova.

Most Uzbeks strongly dislike Ms Karimova who has promoted herself as an international fashion designer and pop singer. Even so, in the letter to the BBC she tried to project herself as a woman of the people defending them against corruption.

“The reason for this Pinochet-style persecution is that I dared to speak up about things that millions are quiet about,” she wrote of her house arrest in a reference to former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

(News report from Issue No. 177, published on March 26 2014)

Georgia orders Saakashvili to return

MARCH 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It was only ever a matter of time.

Georgia’s government, a coalition called Georgian Dream that first won the 2012 parliamentary election and then the 2013 presidential election, has been going after former government ministers.

That’s the line taken by member of former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s government although the current government has said it is simply following its obligation to investigate alleged crimes.

Former ministers have been tried, and some found guilty, of corruption in what many observers have said is a witch hunt by rivals.

Now Georgia’s prosecution service has called up Mr Saakashvili for question on various cases ranging from the poisoning of a former PM to alleged government misspending and presidential pardons for convicted murderers.

The intent appears clear — to prove that Mr Saakashvili was corrupt and involved in various crimes. Last month his close ally, former PM Vano Merabishvili, was convicted of corruption and abuse of power and sentenced to five years in prison.

Mr Saakashvili has until March 27 to present himself at the prosecutor’s office in Tbilisi for questioning. He is currently in Brussels and has said that he has no intention of attending the hearing.

The United States which has been a long-term ally of Mr Saakashvili has said that it is concerned about the summons. As the United States is also a key ally of Georgia, this makes it harder for the government to pressure Mr Saakashvili into returning to Tbilisi to face awkward questions.

(News report from Issue No. 177, published on March 26 2014)

Old video of dead Georgian PM leaked

MARCH 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A video of former Georgian PM Zurab Zhvania lying dead in a Tbilisi flat in 2005 has surfaced on the internet, rekindling debate over how he died. A court decreed Zhvania died of carbon monoxide poisoning but this has been refuted.

(News report from Issue No. 177, published on March 26 2014)