Tag Archives: politics

Georgian MPs vote against veto

SEPT. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament voted to overrule a veto by President Giorgi Margvelashvili that would have blocked the adoption of a controversial bill that stripped the Central Bank of its supervisory powers over the commercial banking sector. International organisations have criticised the bill as politically-motivated. The Central Bank has argued with the government over economic policy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Kazakh president defends democratic record

AUG. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a speech to mark the 20th anniversary of the Kazakh constitution, President Nursultan Nazarbayev defended his democratic record and said Kazakhstan’s particularly diverse ethnic make-up made full democracy difficult to achieve.

Mr Nazarbayev, who won a presidential election in April with 98% of the vote, said that it was unfair to accuse him of being an autocrat.

“I know that we are sometimes accused of autocracy,” media quoted him as saying.

“How can we talk about autocracy when every four to five years the people vote in free elections to choose a president and elect a parliament?”

Western vote monitors have never judged an election in Kazakhstan to be either free or fair and Mr Nazarbayev’s opponents have previously accused him of being an autocrat, an accusation that clearly irks him.

Mr Nazarbayev who is 75-years- old and has yet to name a successor, has ruled over Kazakhstan since 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed and the Central Asian states became independent countries for the first time.

He has often defended his record and said that Western-style democracy takes time to build.

“We need to consider that we are an Asian society, we have different traditions from the West,” Mr Nazarbayev said in his speech.

“We have other religious and cultural views, therefore we need to move carefully.”

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(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Comment: Growing dissent crack down in Azerbaijan

SEPT. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has disgraced itself, yet again, in the eyes of the West by locking up for 7-1⁄2 years, journalist Khadija Ismayilova.

Perhaps it is about of paranoia triggered by the Arab Spring of 2011 or perhaps it’s the whispering from Russia to clamp down on dissenters, but over the last few years the authorities in Azerbaijan have developed an unfortunate habit of jailing dissidents on various financial and drug-running charges.

Although Ismayilova and other dissenters may now sit in jail, it is the authorities in Azerbaijan who look foolish.

It’s impossible to take seriously all the charges thrown at the dissenters over the past few years. There have been too many of them, from similar backgrounds, facing similar charges.

Instead, the intrigue is just what has spooked President Ilham Aliyev and the authorities in Azerbaijan? Why does the country feel so insecure?

And there is also the worrying precedent that has been set. Last month a sports journalist was attacked and killed after criticising an international Azerbaijani footballer on Facebook. Journalists in Azerbaijan, it seems, who challenge the establishment are in great peril.

This is important for investors looking at Azerbaijan from a business viewpoint. There comes a tipping point when it becomes just too negative for a company or persons to invest in a country. The reputational damage outweighs any potential profit.

If it hasn’t done so already, Azerbaijan may fast be approaching this point.

By James Kilner, Editor, The Conway Bulletin

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(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Turkmen president orders economic policy

AUG. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a government meeting, Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered his ministers to investigate how they could pursue a more aggressive import substitution policy. This is a policy that Turkmenistan’s neighbours have also talked of introducing.

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(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Kyrgyzstan begins campaigning

SEPT. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s parliament cancelled plenary sessions until after an election which is set for Oct. 4. Cancelling plenary sessions effectively marks the start of campaigning for the parliamentary election.

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(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

OSCE to send monitors to Azerbaijan

SEPT. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The OSCE, Europe’s democracy and civil rights watchdog, said it was going to send 30 long-term and 350 short-term observers to monitor Azerbaijan’s parliamentary election set for Nov. 1. Relations between Europe and Azerbaijan are at a low. Europe has accused Azerbaijan of cracking down on human rights; Azerbaijan has accused the West of trying to organise a coup.

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(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Labour unions in Kazakhstan criticise draft labour law

AUG. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh government has drawn up a draft bill which is says will do more to protect workers’ right although trade unions have said that it will reduce overtime pay and strain worker-company relations further.

The oil workers trade unions in western Kazakhstan have written to the government to ask it to change the draft labour law, setting up a stand-off between workers and the government.

Birjan Nurymbetov, the deputy minister for health and social development, told media that the new labour code was good for workers because it defended their rights and increased the criteria that an employer needs to test before he can sack an employee to 25 from 20.

“The new Labour Code fully protects the rights of employees against unfair dismissal,” he said.

The trade unions had a different view.

“The current project rate for overtime, holidays and weekends, is no less than 1-/12 to two times. This will be reduced to 1-1/4,” said Berdy Otebay, deputy head of the Aktau-based trade union Karazhanb- asmunaigas.

Relations between companies and workers have been strained since a protest in 2011 in the western oil town of Zhanaozen ended in clashes that killed at least 15 people. Companies have become increasingly wary of unions who have started to orgsanise workers more effectively, often securing pay rises.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Tajik leader talks of crisis

AUG. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon ordered his government to take urgent action to mitigate the impact of the worsening economic crisis hitting Central Asia. In one of his most frank omissions that Tajikistan’s economy is rapidly worsening, Mr Rakhmon told his ministers to adopt import substitution policies. Tajikistan has been hit by the drop in remittances from Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Petrol price controls cut in Kazakhstan

SEPT. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh government said that it was abandoning price controls on petrol. Heavy fluctuations in currency and oil prices have put these price controls under pressure.

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(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Tajik government pressures IRPT

AUG. 28 2015, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik government warned the Islamic Renaissance Party, the last remaining opposition parties, that it is now operating illegally because it was no longer active in enough cities to merit being called a political party.

Analysts said that this was another attempt by the government to disband one of its biggest critics.

In a statement published by the state news agency Khovar, the justice ministry said: “The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan is no longer a republican party.”

Officials said that according to the law, a republican party must have representative cells in most cities and district.

The statement says that the IRPT has cut its activities in 58 cities and districts, and cannot be considered an all-republican party able to hold a national congress.

The Tajik justice ministry gave IRPT 10 days to respond to the statement.

IRPT plans to hold a congress on Sept. 15 to choose new leaders to replace its self-exiled leader.

Mahmadali Hait, the deputy head of IRPT, told local media that the party is going to answer the government’s statement soon.

“Our answer to the justice ministry is almost ready, but we can disclose it only after the ministry receives our answer,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)