Tag Archives: politics

Kazakh police arrests another official

MARCH 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Kazakhstan arrested Bazarbai Nurabaev, chairman of the Committee for Geology and subsoil use within the ministry of investment and development, the latest high profile government official to be detained for corruption. The anti- corruption agency said that Mr Nurabaev and his deputies had been extorting bribes from several companies in return for licences.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Election campaign begins in Armenia

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MARCH 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia officially began campaigning for a parliamentary election set for April 2. There are five political parties and four blocs competing in the election which is being held under new rules. It is also the first parliamentary election held under a new constitution that shifts some power from the president to the parliament.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Kazakh parliament approves constitutional changes

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ALMATY, MARCH 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s parliament officially approved changes to the country’s constitution, changes President Nursultan Nazarbayev lauded as yet another step forward for Kazakh democracy but his opponents dismissed as tinkering necessary to impose a succession plan.

Unusually for Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Mr Nazarbayev didn’t opt to have his constitutional amendments approved by the populous through a referendum, as he has previously done. Instead, he presented them as minor changes to government that didn’t need to bother ordinary people.

“The government will strengthen its independence and responsibility for their decisions. Parliament will have new powers to control the activities of the Government and the executive bodies,” Mr Nazarbayev said in a statement on his website released after signing the changes into law. “The political system will gain a greater degree of democracy and stability. However, the basic foundation of the Republic of Kazakhstan is a presidential form of government.”

Analysts though have said that the changes are actually fairly substantial. The cabinet will report to parliament as well as to the president, it will also have greater influence over the hiring and firing of ministers and its executive will have more independence.

The division of responsibilities will also allow Mr Nazarbayev to concentrate on issues he is more comfortable with, such as foreign policy and security, rather than more troublesome issues such as education, health and social welfare.

Some observers said that behind these moves lay a strategy aimed at diluting power away from the presidency so that power can effectively be split with succession, rather than concentrating power in the hands of one person.

Mr Nazarbayev is 76-years-old and has ruled Kazakhstan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 but has yet to lay out a coherent succession strategy.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Trump’s opponents ask questions over Azerbaijan deal

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MARCH 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Opponents of US President Donald Trump verged on accusing him of corruption after they linked him to a hotel in Baku connected to Azerbaijani officials accused of taking bribes and of having links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

A report by the New Yorker said the Trump International Hotel and Tower Baku was linked to Azerbaijan’s former transport minister Ziya Mammadov who has been linked to a business partner who does business with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Some sanctions on dealing with Iran have been lifted but for US citizens it is still illegal to deal with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, directly or indirectly

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Uzbek ministers argue over reforms

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MARCH 7 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev is facing internal opposition from powerful members of the elite to liberal reforms he wants to push through, various sources told Reuters. They said that his plans to move the Uzbek som to a free float, cancel visas for tourists from some countries and restart a passenger flight with Dushanbe have all been delayed because of resistance from the powerful security services.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Protests weaken in Kyrgyzstan

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MARCH 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Protests continued in the southern town of Bazar-Korgon against the imprisonment of Omur Tekebayev, head of the Ata-Meken party, for corruption. Media reported that around 50 people holding placards marched through the town. Protests that broke out immediately after Tekebayev’s arrest on Feb. 28 in Bishkek, though, have dissipated. Bazar-Korgon is Mr Tekebayev’s hometown.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Kyrgyz opposition appoints Tekebayev as presidential candidate

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MARCH 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz opposition group Ata- Meken appointed Omur Tekebayev, arrested last week at the airport for alleged corruption around a telecoms deal in 2010, its presidential candidate for an election set for November (March 5). Ata-Meken have said that the corruption allegations against Mr Tekebayev and other members of Ata-Meken were politically motivated.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Kazakh president’s grandson becomes football vice-president

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FEB. 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Football Federation appointed 26-year-old Aysultan Nazarbayev, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s grandson, as its vice- president. Nazarbayev junior is keen on football and trained for six months with the English football club Portsmouth. He is the eldest son of Pres. Nazarbayev’s daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva and has even been spoken of as a future president.

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(News report from Issue No. 319, published on March 3 2017)

Kyrgyz protesters gather after arrest of opposition leader

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BISHKEK, FEB 27/28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hundreds of people in Kyrgyzstan protested against the arrest of opposition leader Omurbek Tekebayev, sparking worries of pro-tracted anti-government street demonstrations.

By the end of the week, the crowds had dissipated from a peak of 300 in Bishkek and 200 in Bazar Korgon, the town in southern region of Jalal-abad where Mr Tekebayev was born.

Even so, the sight of angry protesters, mainly young men, marching through the streets of Bishkek to the White House, the presidential office, noisily airing their grievances brought back memories of 2005 and 2010 when violent revolutions over- threw two governments.

Mr Tekebayev has been charged with corruption linked to the telecoms company Megacom in 2010. His supporters have said that the charges are politically motivated, designed to scupper any chances that Mr Tekebayev has of winning a presidential election set for November.

Addressing the crowd, Rosa Otunbayeva, a former Kyrgyz president and one of Mr Tekebayev’s most high-profile supporters, described his arrest as political persecution.

Kyrgyzstan’s society is increasingly polarised and November’s election is likely to be a tense affair. President Almazbek Atambayev is stepping down after one term in power, as stipulated by the constitution. He has not yet named a preferred successor.

Murat Borombai, a resident of Bishkek, said he went to the demonstration to support the opposition and not Mr Tekebayev in particular.

“These people are opposed to the state authorities who have started to repeat the way of authoritarianism, violations of civil rights the move to lawlessness and arbitrariness,” he said.

The authorities have denied that there was any political motivation behind the arrest of Mr Tekebayev or any of his colleagues.

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(News report from Issue No. 319, published on March 3 2017)

Comment: The Aliyev dynasty just got stronger, says Kilner

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FEB. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan, under Ilham Aliyev, has lead the way in creating a regional royal family, a dynasty that rules the country unimpeded. By appointing his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, as his First Vice-President, Aliyev reinforces this impression.

He must, though, have been prepared for the cries of nepotism hurled at him after he made the announcement. Prepared and not particularly bothered, was probably his attitude.

Aliyev has always done things his own way, waving a proverbial two fingers at critics, including large parts of the European Parliament. He virtually inherited the presidency himself from his ailing father in 2003. Of course, there was an election to garnish his rise to the top but in essence it was a coronation job.

Since then Aliyev has crushed dissent, imprisoning most of the country’s opposition activists and independent journalists. Those who haven’t been imprisoned or fled into exile, keep their heads down or are pliant. And that’s why reaction to Aliyeva’s promotion to First Vice-President has been muted in Azerbaijan.

As for the international community, there have been the predictable accusations of foul play from human rights groups and others but, in general, this has been glossed over. Azerbaijan is now an important partner for Europe. It

wants to source its gas from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea and has built a pipeline across the South Caucasus and Turkey to pump gas to its people. It needs a stable Azerbaijan. Aliyev appointing his wife as his deputy is not a big enough issue for EU countries to complain about.

What exactly Aliyeva’s roles are likely to be, remains to be seen. Perhaps, though, they are less important than the impression her promotion has created of the omni-powerful Aliyev clan, ably supported by the Pashayevs, Aliyeva’s family. The Pashayevs have business interests stretching across the spectrum, from banking to insurance, mining to luxury car dealerships.

The Aliyevs also have a string of business interests. Protecting these interests and the interests of his wife’s family, will have been a major concern of Aliyev before he handed his wife the of First Vice-President. These interests are now a little more secure and Azerbaijan’s reputation
as a partner to do business with is a little more tarnished.

By James Kilner, Editor, The Conway Bulletin.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)