Tag Archives: politics

Azerbaijan spars with US

MAY 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with local media, Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov compared Azerbaijan’s sparring with the United States to a new Cold War.

Mr Mammadyarov’s comparison may highlight how relations between the West and Azerbaijan, a key energy provider, have worsened although the anti-US rhetoric may be designed to appeal to a local audience.

“Bearing in mind the growing media interest on Azerbaijan with regards to the first European Games some people are trying to exploit the current situation for their nefarious purposes with Cold War style propaganda,” Mr Mammadyarov said.

The main sticking point is the heavy-handed suppression of civic rights in Azerbaijan over the past couple of years. Free media has been all but chased out of the country, human rights defenders and opposition leaders have been locked up.

Azerbaijan is particularly sensitive to criticism from the West at the moment. Next month it hosts the European Games which it desperately wants to use to showcase the country.

Azerbaijan’s media has hit back, though. A Bulletin correspondent said progovernment media in Azerbaijan had posted a series of articles attacking the United States’ reputation.

But Zardusht Alizade, Baku based political analyst told RFE/RL the anti-America campaign is targeted at a local audience to show that the government is powerful enough to criticise the US. The row, he said, may not be that serious.

“I think the real politics between the two countries is still great,” he said. “Gas flows, oil flows and this is the real politics.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

Nazarbayev re-casts Kazakh history in his own image

ASTANA/Kazakhstan, APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Keen to build his everlasting legacy, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has create a museum in Astana to furnish his image as the Leader of the Nation.

A few days before the 74-year-old Nazarbayev won his fifth presidential election on April 26, The Conway Bulletin had a look around the National Museum, a futuristic building of marble and glass set at the heart of the new city.

It is the largest museum in Central Asia and was opened on July 6 last year, the 17th anniversary of Astana’s designation as Kazakhstan’s capital, a crown it took from Almaty in the south.

As if to underline its superiority over the far more louche Almaty, the new National Museum in Astana has taken the best from the old National Museum. All the national treasures are here from a huge 1-tonne bürkit, the national eagle to the Altyn Adam, so-called golden man, symbol of the nomadic warring times of the Kazakh civilisation.

Two grandiose light shows are shown every hour, with videos featuring the President. His words are engraved at each corner. “One people, one civilization, one future,” read one.

A couple of hundred visitors on a Sunday afternoon felt barely visible in this vast museum. Directing staff pointed the way, ensuring that tourists and locals both experience Nazarbayev’s own reading of Kazakhstan’s history.

In the Astana Hall, countless photos of the president giving speeches and inaugurating buildings are accompanied by Nazarbayev’s own drawings that served as a guidelines for Astana’s landmark monuments, such as the Baiterek tower, first sketched on a tissue.

The question that everybody wants answering now is when is he going to stand aside and allow another president to run the country. Even when he does though, there is little doubt that Nazarbayev, as the Leader of the Nation, will be standing and watching not too far behind the scenes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Turkmenistan launches satellite into space

APRIL 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan successfully launched its first telecommunications satellite, raising the country’s international status and handing President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov a nice PR boost.

The satellite, known as TurkmenAlem52E, the launch to will beam television services 1.2b people across the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and Europe for the next 15 years, reports said.

Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between France’s Thales and Italy’s Finmeccanica, built the satellite which was launched into space by a private company called SpaceX.

A Turkmen government website said that Mr Berdymukahmedov watched the launch at the Cape Canaveral Air Force base in Florida via a video-link from Ashgabat.

As usual emphasised the website Turkmenistan’s neutrality, a constant theme that the country plays to whenever it can in international affairs.

“As a neutral country, our country acts on the international scene with peace-loving and humanist initiatives consistently following the principles of good-neighbourliness, friendship and brotherhood,” the website said.

Presumably, as well as boosting Turkmenistan’s international standing, the satellite will also generate an income.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Kyrgyz PM resigns after failure to end gold row

APRIL 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Djoomart Otorbayev resigned as Kyrgyzstan’s PM after barely a year in office.

The 59-year-old former international economist was the fourth Kyrgyz PM to resign since constitutional reform shifted power from the president to parliament in 2010.

Earlier this month the Kyrgyz government appeared to change tack significantly and argue for a great number of directors on the Centerra Gold board rather than the creation of a new company, with a 50:50 ownership, to run Kumtor.

His resignation was linked to the failure to secure a permanent solution to the ongoing row with Canada’s Centerra Gold over ownership of the Kumtor gold mine in east Kyrgyzstan — the country’s single biggest industrial asset.

“I think my decision to resign will allow the majority coalition to choose a more decisive prime minister,” Kyrgyz media quoted Mr Otorbayev as saying.

Kyrgyzstan owns 32.7% of Centerra Gold, which is listed in Toronto, and has been looking to boost its influence over the mine.

Importantly, Mr Otorbayev’s resignation highlights the unstable nature of Kyrgyz politics and also the dominance of the Kumtor ownership issue.

The three-party majority coalition now has 15 days to nominate a new PM for parliament.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Turkmens celebrate horses

APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan celebrated one of its biggest holidays of the year on the Day of the Horse, an important symbol for the country that celebrates horsemanship as a key skill and sign of manhood. Not the retiring type, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov also accepted a new title of the People’s Horse Breeder.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Kazakhstan elects Nazarbayev as president for fifth time

>>Real question facing Kazakhstan is what happens next

APRIL 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Nursultan Nazarbayev won a fifth presidential election in Kazakhstan with a 97.7% share of the vote.

Western election monitors complained that there had been little, or no, real opposition. The only two alternative candidates to Mr Nazarbayev both supported his re-election.

Not that this seemed to bother Mr Nazarbayev.

“I’m sorry that these numbers may seem inadmissible to super- democratic countries. But there is nothing I can do about them. Had I interfered, that would have been anti-democratic,” he said according to reports.

The key now — for interested observers of Kazakhstan’s business, political and social scenes — is to watch out for what happens next. Mr Nazarbayev and his close band of elites called an early election to impose his authority over the country at an increasingly difficult period. The economy is under pressure from a drop in oil prices and a sharp fall in Russia’s economic vitality. This has generated pressure on the Kazakh tenge to devalue,

<<Election was a prelude to more important decisions <<

With a successful election, now may be the opportune time for Kazakhstan to devalue its currency without triggering social upheaval.

And then, of course, there is the question of succession. At 74-years-old, Mr Nazarbayev’s years in office are probably numbered. He has yet to anoint a successor. Now, though, may be his chance.

The 2015 presidential election is most likely a prelude to more important decisions facing Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Kyrgyz newspaper complains

APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A major newspaper in Kyrgyzstan complained of repressive action ordered by President Almazbek Atambayev in the build up to a parliamentary election later this year, Eurasianet reported. The Vechernii Bishkek newspaper supports the opposition, Eurasianet reported.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Massimov re-affirmed as Kazakh PM

APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a constitutional formality, the Kazakh government resigned immediately after Nursultan Nazerbayev was re-elected as president for the fifth time. He re-appointed his trusted lieutenant Karim Massimov as PM, ensuring stability in the government.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

No devaluation, says Kazakh President

APRIL 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev dismissed rumours a devaluation of the tenge was now imminent after he had won another election. “There are no such plans,” he said at a news conference. The tenge has come under enormous pressure to devalue because of a fall in oil prices and a drop in the Russian rouble.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Georgia hands bonus for WW2 vets

APRIL 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government said it will hand out a one-off bonus of 1,000 lari ($431) to the 2,000 World War II veterans still alive to mark the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany. The payment will boost the Georgian Dream coalition which has seen its popularity drop.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)