Tag Archives: politics

Armenia joins the Eurasian Economic Union

JAN. 1 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — After a year long build up, Armenia joined the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU). The EaEU also includes Kazakhstan and Belarus. Kyrgyzstan will join in May. Critics of the project have said that it is a Kremlin power grab.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Uzbekistan sets presidential election

DEC. 26 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek Central Election Commission set a presidential election for March 29 2015. It is thought that the incumbent president, Islam Karimov, will campaign in the election. He has been in power since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, although his personal authority has waned.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7

2015)

Nazarbayev closes in on his enemies

>>Aliyev charged in Austria, Ketebayev arrested in Spain>>

DEC. 30 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his associates have scored two more notable victories over their opponents.

A court in Austria charged Rakhat Aliyev, Mr Nazarbayev’s former son-in-law, with kidnapping and murdering two bankers in 2007 in Kazakhstan. Three days earlier, police in Spain arrested Muratbek Ketebayev, a Kazakh opposition leader linked to the 2011 uprising in the town of Zhanaozen in western Kazakhstan.

Mr Ketebayev was co-founder of the Alga! Party which was close to Mukhtar Ablyazov, for many year’s Mr Nazarbayev’s main opponent until his arrest in France in 2013.

Mr Nazarbayev has been after the extradition of both Mr Aliyev and Mr Ketebayev for years. He wants to avenge what he considers his betrayal by Mr Aliyev in the mid-2000s when he was married to Dariga Nazarbayeva, Mr Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter, and also the uprising at Zhanaozen when police shot dead 15 protesters, triggering the most serious crisis of his presidency.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Georgian MPs fight in parliament

>>Fighting breaks out after opposition MP swears during speech>>

DEC. 26 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s parliament descended into farce when a mass brawl reportedly lasting half-an-hour broke out.

The brawl not only debases parliament and parliamentarians in Georgia but also illustrates the deep and intensifying hatred between the two main factions. These are MPs belonging to the Georgian Dream ruling coalition and MPs belonging to the former ruling party of the United National Movement (UNM), the party of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.

Video footage from the new parliament in Khutaisi showed dozens of MPs pushing, shouting and trying to punch one another.

Several MPs ripped off the microphones from their desks and hurled them at opponents. The fighting started after MP Akaki Bobokhidze from the UNM used expletives to describe his rivals in the Georgian Dream.

The fight paints Georgian democracy in a bad light. It has made Georgian MPs a laughing stock and portrayed them as a sweary bunch of bar brawlers rather than serious minded politicians.

Both sides will have a lot of cleaning up to do — literally and figuratively — after this debacle. It also, graphically, depicts a increasingly dangerous and personal divide in Georgian politics.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Kyrgyzstan to join Eurasian Economic Union

>>Membership to become political ahead of elections>>

DEC. 23 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan signed a deal that will make it the fifth member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) in May.

At a meeting in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the union, which from Jan. 1 includes Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia as well as Russia, would benefit from Kyrgyzstan’s membership.

“All the participants of this integration process are already experiencing its real benefits,” media quoted Mr Putin as saying.

“We are convinced that Armenia and Kyrgyzstan’s membership in the Eurasian [Economic] Union meets the key national interests of both countries.”

Many analysts, though, and people on the streets of Bishkek questioned whether there would be any real economic benefit. Instead, they said that Kyrgyzstan had joined the Eurasian Economic Union for political rather than economic reasons.

Kyrgyzstan is, largely reliant on Russia for economic and military support, but its membership of the Eurasian Economic Union is likely to become a political issue later this year in the run up to its parliamentary election, scheduled for October.

In an interview with Russian state-linked newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta before the official signing ceremony, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev waived aside concern.

“When making decisions, we guide solely by economic expediency,” he said.

“This step will revive our industry, strengthen security, open borders with neighbouring countries, improve the standard of living of the people. Entry into this union opens up new opportunities for economic development.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Nazarbayev grandson becomes deputy mayor

DEC. 21 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Nurali Aliyev, the 30-year-old grandson of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, became deputy mayor of Astana. The move sparked both allegations of nepotism and speculation that Mr Nazarbayev may be grooming Mr Aliyev, son of his eldest daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva as a successor.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

CIS mission to observe Uzbek election

DEC. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) said it had dispatched its mission to observe parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan later this month. The OSCE, Europe’s election and democracy watchdog, has already said it is going to send a limited mission because it expects the vote to be fixed.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Armenia’s parliament approves EaEU

DEC. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s parliament overwhelmingly passed a treaty to join the Russia- led Eurasian Economic Union in 2015. The vote rubber stamps earlier decisions taken by President Serzh Sargsyan. Alongside Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus are members of the Customs Union which will morph into the Eurasian Economic Union in 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

NGOs row in Kyrgyzstan

DEC. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – At least 40 NGOs in Kyrgyzstan signed a petition urging Pres. Almazbek Atambayev to avoid signing into law a bill which will make overseas funding illegal, media reported. Mr Atambayev has previous said the law is important because it prevents foreign states from using NGOs to spy on Kyrgyzstan. The NGOs say the funding is a vital lifeline.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Former Georgian minister takes role in Ukraine

DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko appointed a former health minister under ex-Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, an arch foe of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, to his government.

Alexander Kvitashvili served as health minister under Mr Saakashvili from 2008 until 2010 and will now take over the same post in Mr Poroshenko’s government.

Although Mr Kvitashvili will not head a high-profile department it is nonetheless significant. Russia’s President Putin reviles Mr Saakashvili, Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in 2008, and any link between the current Ukraine government and the former Georgian government will probably irk him.

“I’ve been working on reforms in Ukraine for the last three months, but my love for this country has a much longer history,” Mr Kvitashvili said.

He has now taken Ukrainian citizenship.

Ukraine’s government is currently fighting a civil war in the east of the country. It has accused Russia of supply weapons and soldiers to the rebels.

Mr Saakashvili, currently living in New York, also said that he had turned down a post in Mr Poroshenko’s government. He said Mr Poroshenko had offered him the post of deputy PM but that he had turned down the position because he didn’t want to renounce his Georgian citizenship.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)