Tag Archives: politics

Kazakh president’s daughter goes against children

DEC. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Dariga Nazarbayeva, the eldest daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is a growing, some would say, looming, presence on Kazakhstan’s political scene.

Sidelined in 2007 after her husband, Rakhat Aliyev, fell out with her father, she has recently staged a comeback. From January 2012, Ms Nazarbayeva has been a member of Kazakhstan’s parliament and head of various committees.

Importantly for Kazakhstan-watchers, she’s also been spoken of in some circles as a potential successor to her 73-year-old father.

And that’s why comments she made on sex education in schools and the effectiveness of orphanages generated such a heated response. Kazakh media also reported that she described disabled children as “freaks” birthed from teenagers having premature sex.

“I think that from time to time children should be taken for excursions to orphanages, to institutions for disabled children, so that they see the results of a senseless, premature sex life,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty quoted Ms Nazarbayeva as saying at a parliamentary committee.

“Show them these children, these disabled freaks, let them look at them.”

Twitter caught fire with plenty of venom directed at Ms Nazarbayeva. If Ms Nazarbayeva does have presidential ambitions she will have to learn to be more discreet.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)

Uzbekistan picks new interior minister

DEC. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Islam Karimov replaced his long-serving interior minister Bakhodyr Matlyubov. Analysts said the new interior minister General-Major Adkham Akhmedbayev, was a member of the so-called Tashkent clan and that his promotion gave the security services extended reach.

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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)

Italy investigates ENI’s pressures on Kazakh case

DEC. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Italian officials are investigating whether the Kazakh government pressured energy company ENI to influence ministers in Italy into deporting the wife and daughter of fugitive opposition leader Mukhtar Ablyazov in May, media reported. An Italian TV interview with an anonymous ENI manager triggered the investigation.

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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)

Uzbekistan nominates new interior minister

DEC. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Islam Karimov sacked interior minister Bakhodyr Matlyubov, 62, and replaced him with his deputy, General-Major Adkham Akhmedbayev.

Gen-Maj Akhmedbayev becomes only the third interior minister in Uzbekistan’s 22 year history as an independent country.

His promotion, though, is more interesting than merely as an historical statistic.

In Uzbekistan, the interior minister is an important position, and Mr Karimov’s decision to promote Gen-Maj Akhmedbayev has an intriguing sub-plot. Gen-Maj Akhmedbayev is a member of the so-called Tashkent Clan which is competing for influence with the Samarkand Clan.

The most powerful member of the Tashkent Clan is Rustam Inoyatov, head of the Uzbek security service.

After Gen-Maj Akhmedbayev’s promotion, commentators and analysts immediately said that they detected the hand of the increasingly powerful Mr Inoyatov behind the scenes. Gen-Maj Akhmedbayev is a former member of the Uzbek security services. His control of the interior ministry now extends the power and influence of the Uzbek security services.

It’s also important for the apparent power struggle unfolding in the background. Mr Inoyatov is considered the main protagonist of the fall from grace of Gulnara Karimova, Mr Karimov’s eldest daughter and a potential successor.

Various scenarios could continue to play out in Uzbekistan ahead of a presidential election in 2015. All, though, it seems include a stronger Tashkent clan influence over the country and a weaker president.

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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)

Azerbaijan arrests rights activist

DEC. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Baku arrested Anar Mammadli, a relatively high-profile election monitor who had criticised the government, for tax evasion illegal entrepreneurship and falsifying vote results.

A government crackdown on dissidents has characterised the last few years in Azerbaijan and opposition leaders were quick to describe the arrest of Mr Mammadli as political.

They could also have described it as clunky.

A few days after police arrested Mr Mammadli, foreign dignitaries, including Britain foreign minister William Hague were in Baku to witness the final signing of a new investment project by a consortium of foreign energy companies led by Britain’s BP to develop the second phase of the giant Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian Sea.

Human rights groups didn’t miss an opportunity to criticise Western countries for buying energy from Azerbaijan.

Mr Mamadli was head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center which receives funding from the US’ National Democratic Institution. His supporters said that the government has been trying to silence him for years.

The day before his arrest, the Azerbaijani authorities sanctioned a seemingly anti-government rally. It was attended by a few hundred people in a square on the outskirts of Baku. They demonstrated against rising prices and shouted support for pro-EU demonstrators in Kiev.

The authorities may have sanctioned the protest to show visiting foreign dignitaries that dissent has a voice in Azerbaijan. If that was their aim, the arrest of Mr Mammadli severely dents that perception.

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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)

Uzbek president’s daughter gives interview

DEC. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an interview with the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, denied she ever wanted to be Uzbekistan’s next president. Analysts have speculated that a recent clampdown on Ms Karimova’s businesses in Uzbekistan was part of a struggle for power.

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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)

Kazakh president’s grandson becomes CEO

DEC. 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Apparently unconcerned about potential nepotism allegations, Temir Zholy, Kazakhstan’s national railway company, appointed Nurali Aliyev, the 28-year-old grandson of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to be the CEO of TransTelecom, one of its subsidiaries. AO TransTelecom owns mobile communication infrastructure.

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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)

High-profile officials on trial in Kazakhstan

DEC. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor-General has accused Bergei Ryskaliyev, the former governor of the Atyrau region, of stealing 71b tenge ($460m).

But the charges against Mr Ryskaliyev don’t stop there. The latest allegation is that he illegally allocated land for the construction of mosques and that he had links to unspecified terrorist groups.

It been a fast fall from grace for the 46-year-old Mr Ryskaliyev. He was governor of the Atyrau region until August 2012 when he, officially at least, was moved aside because of ill health. Since then Mr Ryskaliyev has been on the run with his brother, dodging the Kazakh authorities.

It was also in August 2012 that his main ally, Aslan Musin lost his job as head of the Kazakh presidential staff, one of the most influential jobs in Kazakhstan.

In Kazakhstan’s rough and tumble world of politics and business, your so-called “krisha” or roof is one of your most important defences.

And if your krisha goes, you’re in trouble, analysts said. “The legal action against the Ryskalievs might be a power play towards the more prominent Musin,” said an Almaty-based analyst who wished to remain anonymous.

Also in August 2012, Mr Ryskaliev’s sister Gulzhanar was accused of a high-profile murder and the family assets in Switzerland were frozen upon allegations of money laundering.

The case of Mr Ryskaliev is important to foreign investors as it shows how closely aligned politics, corruption and crime is in Kazakhstan.

It’s not the only high-profile corruption against officials, though.

A court in Geneva froze the assets of former mayor of Almaty, Viktor Khrapunov, in November 2012 on suspicion of money laundering and in Astana, Anar Meshimbayeva, former chairwoman of the statistics agency, is facing charges of stealing 750 m tenge ($4.9m) in 2009.

(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)

Uzbekistan’s power struggle continues

DEC. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gulnara Karimova, the flamboyant and outlandish eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, appears to be locked in a power struggle in Uzbekistan.

The authorities have closed down her various businesses and organisations and prosecuted her allies, leaving analysts wondering who her rivals are and who actual has the final say on succession issues.

Certainly not Mr Karimov, an exiled Uzbek human rights activist said. “The National Security Service controls everything in the country,” she said. “If a major power crisis hit the country it (the Uzbek security service) would decide who fills all the leading positions. They know who the next president will be.”

The head of Uzbekistan’s National Security Service is Rustam Inoyatov. He has held the position since 1995, accumulating much power and patronage. Analysts and media have said that Mr Inoyatov may be behind Ms Karimova’s recent problems.

A Central Asia security analyst also said that various external players may be able to influence who became Uzbekistan’s next president.

“Uzbekistan has significant gas and oil supply commitments to China, so Beijing will want to make sure that the next head of Uzbek state would not only honour those commitments but will also remain in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation,” he said.

The Kremlin would also try to influence the decision-making process in Uzbekistan, the analyst said, just as it had in Ukraine and Georgia.

Conspicuously absent from this short list are the EU and the US. They just don’t have the same cache in Uzbekistan.

(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)

Kyrgyz government sacks mayor

DEC. 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz authorities sacked the powerful mayor of Osh, Melis Myrzakmatov, a few days after he attended a major anti-government rally.

It’s a bold, but also risky, move by the government.

The 44-year-old Mr Myrzakmatov is a firebrand nationalist, known for ignoring the central government in Bishkek. He’d held power in Osh since January 2009 and has been a headache for the national government ever since the ouster of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in 2010.

Since then the southern power groups have jostled for influence with their northern adversaries. In June 2010 this came to a head with inter-ethnic fighting between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. Some analysts blamed local regional chiefs, including Mr Myrzakmatov, for stirring the trouble.

On Dec. 3, a few days after clashes with police, a reported 3,000 demonstrators gathered in Osh to call for the release of popular southern politician, Akhmatbek Keldibekov. Police had arrested Mr Keldibekov, a former Speaker of the parliament, in November on corruption charges.

By deposing Mr Myrzakmatov, who attended the rally, the government probably hopes to cut a major agitator out of the equation and take the momentum out of the protests. Mr Myrzakmatov, though, is a wily opponent and has already said that he will return to front-line politics.

(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)